Written by: starzq , Ruby Wang
The 5-day Singapore Crypto Week (Token2049 & Solana Breakpoint & Network State Conference) has finally ended. I am now exhausted and writing this short essay in the hotel. On the one hand, it is to make a summary, and on the other hand, it is to bring you some different perspectives.
This was my first time attending Token2049, and I also attended 3 conferences in one go. Overall, it exceeded my expectations:
- Sort by most interesting: Network State Conference > Breakpoint > Token 2049
- What we felt at Token 2049 was a strong business atmosphere and high-level topics (of course, the guests invited were all big names);
- What I feel at Solana Breakpoint is the active product building atmosphere, engineering culture, innovation in the financial industry, and the emphasis on the Chinese-speaking community;
- At the Network State Conference, I felt the most diverse attendees and speakers, the most cutting-edge Network State attempts and progress, and I could truly appreciate the concerns of the pan- crypto/tech community about society, health, and private property, as well as everyone's yearning for a state of "super individuals who can freely live a global life." If you are not in the Crypto/Web3 circle, this part is still attractive. In fact, I did meet non-Crypto people at this conference.
In addition, we found a way to "buy for zero yuan" during this conference, saving 2,000 US dollars. I will share it with you too, haha.
Below is my summary and feelings about these three meetings, enjoy!
We also recorded a podcast about our experience at the conference, which is more emotional and three-dimensional. You are welcome to listen to it on the following platforms: Xiaoyuzhou , Apple , Youtube , Spotify
1. Token2049: Big brands gather, old narratives are ignored, and consumer applications become popular
Token2049 has been criticized for its "high ticket prices" and "business atmosphere" every time, but I have to say that the guests are really good, especially the OKX Main Stage on the first day:
- Balaji: Share "Technodemocracy"
- Polymarket founder Coplan, Founders Fund partner Joey, Alliance DAO founder Wang Qiao: Discussing Building Web3 Consumer Apps
- Arthur Hayes: Sharing the impact of macro factors on the crypto
- Polychain founder Olaf: Sharing Crypto x AI
- Vitalik: Share your thoughts on the future of cryptocurrencies, sing "Castle in the Sky" and "Spirited Away"
- Vitalik, OKX CEO Star Xu, Circle CEO Jeremy: Continue to discuss the future of crypto
- Polymarket founders Coplan & Balaji: Fireside Chat
- Bryan Johnson, an Internet celebrity who studies immortality, released the Don't Die App
- Snowden
- …
These high-level guests shared high-level topics, but listening to them once was enough, and there was too much pie to eat; in addition, there were 3 main stages with dozens of speeches, but there was really nothing new, and more people chose to go for business socializing.
It is worth mentioning that "apps" have been mentioned repeatedly, including in the sharing of Vitalik Buterin. It can be said that everyone is looking forward to it, but very few of them have become popular. No wonder Coplan, the founder of Polymarket, was given two opportunities to appear.
Coplan’s sharing in the “Building Web3 Consumer Apps” panel was also very sharp, not giving VCs any face at all, and once again demonstrated his spirit of independent thinking:
Confrontation 1:
- VC: We pay more attention to whether an application uses Crypto features;
- Coplan: The most important thing is that the needs of consumers are met. There is no need to emphasize Crypto.
Confrontation 2:
- VC: We will pay more attention to applications with gamification design, which can attract more users;
- Coplan: As a consumer, I like Temu (the overseas version of Pinduoduo) very much, but "gamification" is not the most important thing. The core of Temu is to get the product selection and price right.
My own feeling is that I finally see a product manager-type founder. If the founder or the industry doesn't care about demand and users, what qualifications do they have to talk about "Mass Adoption"?
In addition, more and more founders are involved in investment, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to be a VC these days.
2. Solana Breakpoint: Full of product updates, Demo Day-like experience, and emphasis on the Chinese community
In August, Solana released a short video mocking the current state of "crypto conferences": there are more speakers than audiences, all of them are sickles, and no leeks.
Then he announced early on that he wanted to "do something different" with his event Breakpoint.
My feeling is that it is "really different" and "interesting", and basically meets my expectations.
The most intuitive: official souvenirs are different.
Unlike token2049’s paper bag, T-shirt and a pack of flyers, Solana Breakpoint’s official product is a thick tote bag + double-layer jacket, which instantly raises the level of quality.
The most interesting thing: Demo day-like keynote sharing
There are very few panels in Breakpoint. Instead, there are 5-15 minute keynote presentations:
- Basically no nonsense, all product introductions and updates. The last page is the QR code of the beta version. We took notes on Jupiter, helio, phantom, Hivemapper, and travala. You can click on the link to experience it.
- This format is very similar to Apple's press conference or CES, and it also pushes project owners to deliver new product features at this point, rather than just telling stories.
There are a few more impressive points
- Solana places great emphasis on engineering culture. Tensor said on the spot that they only have two engineers; participants around him often took out their notebooks and started typing code when they got tired of listening.
- The Solana Foundation itself is also very down-to-earth, with basically no big words. The words "Build for users, not for podcasts" from the opening speech by Lily Liu, the chairman of the foundation, are, I think, both a reflection on the current crypto conferences and a requirement for Solana.
- A high percentage of participants were from Europe and America, and I saw several families pushing strollers to the event. I guess there was no one at home to help take care of the children. That was amazing.
In addition, Solana has a unique community called Superteam, where community members can earn cash by getting grants by creating content around the project. It combines content creators, marketing, and applications very well, but unfortunately it does not cover the Chinese-speaking region.
So one of the highlights of this event was launching Solana’s official Chinese community Solar the night before breakpoint. The atmosphere was great. Here are my notes of my feelings.
- The Solana community is very cohesive and attaches great importance to the Chinese community (this is also reflected in the fact that Break Point held its first conference in Asia). This is in stark contrast to the fragmentation and individuality of the more than 50 ETH L2s.
- Everyone was full of energy and interacted frequently, which was in contrast to the slightly serious venue of token2049 (Community first, not PR first)
- The density of beauties is very high! The ratio of men to women is relatively balanced
3. Network State Conference: The most diverse group of attendees and speakers, exploring the future life of super individuals
If token2049 and solana breakpoint are essentially "crypto conferences" where everyone comes to work, then Network State Conference is more like a "super individual gathering":
- No one came here to "work". Instead, I saw several friends who bought tickets six months ago and came here specifically to participate.
- The participants were not all from the crypto. Their common characteristic was their yearning for the state of "super individuals who can freely live a global life". The guests that day were also full of super individuals. The two I was most interested in were Naval and Pieter Levels, an independent developer who earns 420,000 US dollars a month.
- The topics shared revolved around "how to provide better living facilities for super individuals in the network country", covering physical facilities, communities, health, transportation, finance, culture... It was very diverse;
- The meeting was at 10 o'clock, and everyone started lining up at the door at 9:50. As soon as the door opened, they rushed in to grab the front row. The contrast with the sparsely populated crypto conference made me feel the enthusiasm of attending the TED conference 10 years ago.
Here is my first-hand experience with Ruby:
The proportion of Chinese people at the venue was not high, but the friends I met today were very interesting and genuine. Two female friends even flew to Singapore last night and went straight to Changi Airport after the meeting just to attend today's meeting. They are concerned about the implementation of Network State and are big fans of Balaji and Naval.
Although the most eye-catching discussions about Crypto are always about price and making money, I really felt at the NS conference that everyone cares about society, life, and health; and being able to integrate Crypto as one of the tools and take action to change society and life is the practical way to really make this thing break the circle.
After all, what ultimately brings people together for a long time and makes them appreciate each other is never just interests; it is common hobbies, interests and values.
The amount of information is overwhelming. I will post some pictures of the event first. We will do a separate program to talk about Network State Conference and Network School later.
Balaji's opening
We have given birth to new companies like Google, new communities like Facebook, new currencies like Bitcoin, and new countries like Network State. Is it possible for them to be established?
Pop-up city practices in various places: Argentina, Montenegro, California, Honduras...
The distribution of wealth in the crypto and the recommendation of a global passport:
- 560 million crypto users worldwide, with a total wealth of 2.3 trillion US dollars
- 170,000 people with more than one million US dollars, 325 people with more than 100 million US dollars, and 28 people with more than 1 billion US dollars
- The 8 fastest growing passports. Those with sharp eyes can take a look at which countries they are from.
The most popular post of the day was shared by Naval.
Share a note
• Solving your material situation (financial freedom) is the foundation for building your life
• Wealth = the ability to effect change • If ChatGPT can copy it, you probably won’t be able to profit from it
• Creativity is solving problems in new ways • Real value lies in solving problems that are not yet known
• Self-improvement is the real progress
• Naval's greatest achievements stem from his fascination with nature
• Loneliness is the fate of all great souls - Schopenhauer
• Book recommendations: The Beginning of Infinity and The Fabric of Reality
• Satisfy material needs by creating things that society needs
• You can’t buy: a healthy body, a peaceful mind, and a loving house
• Don’t seek respect; it makes you famous and makes you a (usually painful) celebrity
Awkward moment: Super independent developer Pieter Levels said he didn’t particularly believe in Crypto (but he has a friend working on the ZK project), and Balaji promoted it on the spot for several minutes haha, I will organize it and share it with everyone later.
4. Why do we, as content creators, come to Singapore Crypto Week, and how can we buy for free?
Friends who are familiar with us know that we pay close attention to the consumer applications and use cases of Crypto/Web3, because these are the ways to bring more incremental users into Crypto.
The Solana chain focuses on consumer applications, and this is the first time they hold a conference in Asia. We thought we should learn from them, so we checked the official website immediately and found that a ticket costs $499. Even if you apply for a Creator, it costs $199, which is still a bit expensive.
Then we found that there was a small word "Media Pass" on the breakpoint official website! If you have your own media position, you can apply for it. I immediately opened the form and filled in the items very easily. After filling it in, I received a confirmation email the next day. Great!
Using the same method, we also applied for the Media Pass of token2049. However, this time it was more strict. Each media could only issue two cards to the editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief, so we wrote the title as Co-Founder (the average number of Co-Founders in the crypto finally came in handy, haha).
There is another small detail. When applying, you need to write the official website and company email address. This is when the advantage of having an independent domain name is reflected. Combined with cloudflare, you can directly generate an email address with the suffix web3brand.io. It is very classy 😄
This also reflects the benefits of accumulating content on a daily basis and knowing a little bit of technology. Haha, friends who are interested can refer to it.
5. The happiest part: meeting so many people online
One of the great benefits of Crypto Week is that it brings everyone together in one space at the same time, making it convenient for friends who usually communicate remotely or netizens who interact on Twitter to meet in person.
So we met a lot of netizens at the venue and side event, including guests who had been on our podcast but I had never met them in person, haha.
A huge thanks to our reader Kelly (also one of the podcast guests!) for helping us find a super chill venue to organize a reader gathering where we met 20 netizens at once.
i People said that there is indeed a big difference between chatting online and meeting offline. Everyone has become more three-dimensional, haha.
There are many friends who added my contact information but I didn’t meet them for various reasons. See you next time!
