Written by: @LiamWang88
This is my first time to attend a Token2049 event. As a Web3 learner (yes, I always think this identity is the most suitable for me), I attended the event for two purposes:
Feel the atmosphere of Web3 up close. In Web3, atmosphere is something that is hard to explain but is particularly emphasized.
Understanding the cutting-edge topics or narratives being discussed in the industry is especially important in a rapidly changing industry.
The main Token2049 conference was held on April 18-19, but there have been various side events, small events and parties since April 15. As someone who used to work in a Web2 Internet company, the atmosphere of this conference is completely different. Generally speaking, Web3 events are conferences, but more like parties to meet friends. You can listen to the speakers share their insights in the venue, or you can grab a drink and find a place to communicate with people from different countries and regions in the world. Of course, if you have time in the evening, various organizers will have different parties, and you only need to grab a beer to meet new friends. The casual and free atmosphere runs through the entire Web3 event.
In addition to casualness and freedom, I think my feelings about Dubai and the Token2049 discussion can be summarized in a few key words:
Keyword 1: Heavy rain
If you are a participant in this industry, you must have seen the news of the rare rainstorm in Dubai from social media/friend circle. On April 16, Dubai experienced the largest single-day rainstorm since 1949. A large number of luxury cars were submerged in the water and the public transportation system was paralyzed.
Dubai has always been known for its luxury and prosperity, but until April 18, the entire city was still partially or completely shut down. A heavy rain tested the sewers of this city that brings together people's rich material life, and also exposed the fragility of wealthy cities.
If extended to the Web3 industry, this rainstorm is also very inspiring:
A sound system needs to take into account any low-probability risk and prepare for it, even if the probability of occurrence is really low. For example, when we are working on a DeFi project, will we be aware of a risk with a very low probability, but because of its low probability of occurrence, we choose to ignore it out of luck?
A sound system must also be prepared for the emergence of black swans at any time. Now in a bull market, the overall atmosphere and sentiment tend to be optimistic, but we need to be vigilant at all times, because in this industry, it is impossible to determine when a black swan event will occur and how it will appear. Cautious optimism is always better than blind optimism.
Keyword 2: Regulation and Compliance
Regulation and compliance are the words I heard most in Dubai this time. The first panel event at the main venue on April 18 was about regulation and compliance. Guests such as Binance CEO Richard Teng and Bloq co-founder Matthew Roszak discussed their views on global regulation of the crypto industry. At the same time, when I communicated with different project parties, I could also feel their emphasis on industry regulation and compliance. For project parties, the issues they generally care about are: ① Which countries/regions have friendly regulatory and compliance policies; ② How to obtain corresponding compliance licenses in these countries/regions, etc.
My feeling is that there is a consensus that this industry needs supervision and compliance. The differences in discussion are nothing more than the methods and pace of supervision. After all, the regulatory policies of each country and region are different.
At the same time, this also makes me think about a question: Is there a contradiction between getting high returns and the industry becoming more and more compliant? For example, in the early stages of blockchain, due to the lag in supervision and compliance, many projects and individuals received generous returns. As the industry develops and becomes more regulated, will there be a myth of individuals or projects getting rich quickly like in the past?
Keyword 3: AI
In addition to regulation and compliance, AI is another hot word I heard at this Token2049 event. At the main conference of Token2049, guests including Ilia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol, Ahmad Shadid, founder of http://io.net, and others discussed what can be done by combining AI and Web3 in decentralized intelligence. Similarly, about half of the projects I discussed outside the venue and at the party were related to AI, including AI distributed storage and computing, decentralized GPUs, intent-based AI applications, AI social and creator economy, etc. The popularity of AI+Web3 narrative is evident.
An interesting discovery is that in the past, when discussing Web3 mass adoption, people generally placed their hopes on GameFi and SocialFi, but this time my feeling is that now everyone thinks that if Web3 is to be mass adopted, AI has a greater chance.
Keyword 4: Chinese people’s right to speak
The Token2049 event was held very close to the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival Summit. The comparison between the two events has also become an interesting topic. After communicating with some Chinese practitioners, I found that everyone has two common feelings: ① The concentration of Chinese participants in the Token2049 event is not as high as that in the Hong Kong Carnival event (this is understandable, after all, Dubai is far from Greater China); ② There are differences in the focus of the discussion topics. For example, in the Hong Kong Carnival event, the topic of Bitcoin ecology was very popular, but at the Token2049 event, the discussion of this topic was relatively less popular.
Everyone is very curious, do these seem like two different worlds?
This question is difficult to answer, and there is no way to determine it right now. My opinion is:
From a practical point of view, Chinese people will definitely have their own discourse system in Web3.
On the one hand, many Chinese project entrepreneurs and investors now have good backgrounds, can speak fluent English, have studied and worked abroad, and have a global mindset. At the same time, the Chinese themselves have the "daring" gene, so in the next ten years, I believe that more and more Chinese will be active in the global technology competition arena.
On the other hand, there are now many Chinese entrepreneurs in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which in itself is an effort and proof of building a discourse system.
From the perspective of vision, I think the Web3 industry should not be divided by country/region, skin color or background. Because this industry emphasizes consensus, when there is consensus, we are like-minded people, and we will not set restrictions on where you come from, your skin color, education/work background, etc. So from this perspective, whether you are Chinese or non-Chinese, you should weaken the differences in identity. After all, the emergence of new things like Bitcoin itself is breaking the barriers of traditional sovereign state boundaries.
The above keywords are my stronger feelings during the Token2049 event. It should be noted that this is only my personal feeling, which may be subjective, so it cannot represent the thoughts of every participant. Secondly, there are many topics that were discussed very enthusiastically at the Token2049 event, such as Depin, RWA, Bitcoin ETF, Restaking, etc. My above feelings cannot cover these topics one by one. But in general, events like Token2049 can reflect the direction of the current Web3 industry hot narrative. Regardless of everyone's subjective feelings, I believe that through participating in the conference, a common judgment will be formed on the industry's hot tracks and narratives.
