The annual Web3 feast Token2049 has come to an end. A total of 10,000 people participated in the conference this year, and many participants said it was more lively than in previous years and the quality of the event had also been improved. The SideEvents of this conference include Demo Day, hackathon, industry conference, City Walk, private dinner and so on. The two peripheral activities organized by BlockBeats BlockBeats also received unanimous praise.
So what new opportunities will emerge from this Token2049 conference? What new insights did the participants gain? Let’s take a look at this year’s post-meeting “essay.” If you also have some insights and gains you want to share, please contact us: @BlockBeatsAsia
Phyrex_Ni: Singapore Token2049 in my eyes
As today comes to an end, the working journey of web3 in Singapore also ends. In fact, as a practitioner, it ended yesterday. In other words, the main process of Token2049 can be completed in about 6 hours, so I wrote three words last night. It ends today. I may interpret this Token2049 from a different perspective.
The first word: pay.
The exhibition hall this time is not very big. There were not many platforms present, but about one-third of the projects involved payment. Not only were local companies in Singapore, but also companies with main entities in the EU or companies registered in offshore islands, all surprisingly Overcome payment channels.
And if you add asset custody and financial audit companies, this part of the project accounts for more than half. There was one area where all the booths were finance-related projects. Moreover, most of the projects are essentially compliant or non-fully compliant OTCs. Of course, they are mainly aimed at US dollars and euros. Most of them involve RMB, even if they are not fully compliant, they still have a certain relationship with foreign trade.
What's even more interesting is. I have talked to almost every payment company. No matter what type it is, the main focus is on withdrawals. This means that the current withdrawal environment is more prosperous, and more investors in the crypto are investing in it, including those around the world. Find a compliant and medium-to-large withdrawal plan. I remember that even when BTC exceeded US$64,000 in 2021, there were not so many payment-related applications at various overseas exhibitions, and the payment category was undoubtedly centralized.
Second word: English
When I was in Hong Kong, I also posted that almost everyone spoke ABC. Even if they knew that the other person could speak Chinese better, they would still choose to speak English. Of course, Cantonese is also very popular. This time it was quite interesting. Although most of the platforms were from so-called Singapore, Chinese communication was very smooth. Almost all Asian platforms could speak fluent Chinese. Of course, their English was better.
The few booths in India, the Middle East (suspected), Europe and the United States are definitely in English, but if you find that you don’t understand, they will work hard to explain it to you, which makes me feel that they have done their homework, but it is true that they came from Hong Kong In Singapore, there are still too few "white people" attending conferences, and most project parties can speak Mandarin better than me.
The third word: It’s nice to have money
This is no nonsense. The cost of downtown Singapore is not cheaper than that of Hong Kong, but my daily expenses include no food expenses except accommodation and transportation. It can be said that in Singapore, you get an address and you can go out to eat. Most events will hardly verify whether you are going there, but to be honest, most of the meals provided at this event in Singapore are of Indian taste.
The past few days of Token2049 happened to be the prelude to the F1 competition in Singapore, which made air tickets and hotels extremely expensive. The only way to get there was 2,000 yuan a night. Those who can stay in Sands are all big guys. Oh, I almost forgot. , this time the ticket price of Token2049 is 500 US dollars, which is in charge of food. Friends who have experience in Hong Kong basically go to get tickets. On the morning of the first day, the management was not strict. Basically, I just got in with a ticket. The ticket was actually two, one bracelet and one tag. At that time, I only saw I also slipped in the tag. In the afternoon, I found that there were too many people checking in. I started looking at my bracelets, and many people were blocked. The next day, the management was even stricter, and some people even had their tags taken away.
It can be said that there are two types of people who live the best life in Singapore. One is that they themselves are very rich, including the project team, and enjoy the support of many stars. The second type is friends who have enough budget (reimbursement), and they can also laugh at the situation, and most of these friends are good people, and they are basically the ones who borrow tickets. Others are just people like me who are just messing around. As long as they are thick-skinned enough, they should still be able to make money from eating and drinking.
This is only on the surface. Slightly niche groups have directly increased the income of Singapore’s entertainment industry. Starting at 3 pm near Sands, Google Maps shows that they are closed. There are also some private parties and yacht parties, which I won’t mention. Anyway, I didn’t go.
Finally, let’s review this time of Token2049. In the past, institutions were all over the place and VCs were almost as numerous as dogs. The various exchanges that created a big cycle of prosperity are almost gone. A few well-known large firms have emerged, and the remaining Everything is Dex, especially there are a lot of Dex on L2, among which the third brother is the main team. In the past, you could get freebies by attending conferences, but now, in addition to the promotional page, you can get a power bank. There are fewer and fewer people discussing Bulid. In the past two days, except for a small temporary gathering to discuss RWA, everyone around me is focusing on whether there is a bull market and whether BTC will rise, even if it is a public chain. This is all the case. The only industry that works hard is the exchanges, which are really capable.
Summarize
Those who suffer from drought will die from drought, and those who suffer from waterlogging will die from waterlogging. The rich want people, and the others are short of money. Crows crow every day and carrots are everywhere. A friend I have known for 18 years complained to me that the project I heard the most when I came to Singapore this time was RWA. Everyone was planning RWA overnight. Everyone is a master of RWA, but unfortunately, the vast majority of people Don’t you know that RWA needs to be compliant, and even STO needs a license, so RWA can go wild? But what is certain is that RWA is the next form of DeFi, and it is very likely that the driver of the next cycle will be RWA. Original link
Warren_XF: Some experiences in Token2049
Participants come from all over the world, with less than 50% Chinese faces at many events, and almost all communications are in English. Judging from the speakers at the conference, Token2049’s heavyweight speeches were all about well-known projects disclosing important information. In contrast, half of the Hong Kong conference in April were speeches by officials. It can be seen that the gap between the two places is quite large. Practitioners in Singapore The level of internationalization and professionalism is still much higher than that of Hong Kong.
In addition to well-known public chains and exchanges, many new exchanges and payment solutions that have never been heard of occupy most of the other booths at the main venue, while new Crypto projects account for relatively less. It seems that it is still profitable to make centralized financial instruments for digital currencies, but simple narrative innovation is difficult to sustain by burning money for a long time, and the most difficult time is approaching.
The most popular FT and Tg bots on the Internet recently have not been discussed by many people offline. Ton's public chain has been officially recognized by Telegram, and it has a huge space for imagination to accept the entrance of 800 million Telegram users. But Ton officials don’t know much about Tg bot.
Infrastructure Zk, L2, user portal wallets, and games are still the most talked about topics offline. Infrastructure developers are working hard to improve Ethereum and gain Ethereum legitimacy, while user portals are thinking about how to When it is difficult to obtain new growth on the C side, turn to 2B or even To public chain solutions to obtain positive cash flow to survive. Metamask's new interface, which fits both front and back, deserves attention.
Continuing to do things in a bear market is the cheapest way to accumulate industry visibility and influence. In a bull market, the resource and cognitive gaps that you have to spend a lot of energy to level can be filled by the long bear market.
Everyone seems to think that 2024 will be the bull market, which will be the end of 2024 at the latest. It may be linked to Bitcoin's halving cycle, but no one can tell why the Nasdaq, which has been following for several years, suddenly failed recently. No one dares to think about 2025. How many people will be able to hold on by then? Combine the previous point, and then combine the first two rounds
The alternation of bulls and bears leads to the conclusion: if you live well, you will win. Does anyone know which one, F1 or Token2049, brings the highest income to Singapore?
