[Dive #180] ETH Denver Recap
🤝 An Ethereum Conference for the Builders and for the Culture
I’m back from ETH Denver in one piece, and my heart and brain are full again after all the great people and conversations I had over 4 days at the conference.
For those of you that have recently joined the Web3 with TPan party, I provide recaps of themes, insights, and notes from IRL events I attend. A sample of recaps I’ve done:
Note that this piece isn’t representative of the whole event and these takeaways are my POV. That said, I hope this breakdown provides insight, inspiration, and a peek into ETH Denver as the broader ecosystem continues to grow and evolve.
My personal goal for this conference was to learn more about the infra (infrastructure) and Defi (decentralized finance) portions of the ecosystem. Though I have infinitely more to learn, I can confidently say that I was exposed to many more concepts beyond the consumer side of the space.
For many people (myself included) that have entered web3 over the past couple of years, the typical entry point has been through NFTs or generally easier to understand concepts and use cases. Some people are content and happy to stay within this lane, and that’s been the case for me for about 2 years. However, as I continue to spend more time in the space, I believe that it’s imperative to better understand other parts of the ecosystem as I continue to learn, grow, and share insights.
At times, it feels like I’m a salmon swimming upstream. It feels unnatural, is intimidating, and hard to do. But there’s this gut feeling that it’s the right thing to do.
The other benefit of going outside my knowledge comfort zone is that it helps me to connect more dots and create more insights. There’s nothing wrong with understanding a specific portion of an ecosystem well, but if you don’t zoom out at all, you don’t understand the big picture.
Enough with the memes and horrendous dot connecting. Let’s get into it. What did TPan learn at ETH Denver?
(PS: If you’re receiving this via e-mail and the content is cut off towards the end, I would consider opening via browser because I have links to additional notes and resources that may be helpful at the bottom!)
Themes
Energy > Everything Else
Consistent with the other events I’ve been to, the energy of the conference was through the roof. Despite the constant online chatter about the price of crypto, regulatory pressure, and mainstream opinions of this space, the energy was palpable.
The above issues should not ignored by any means, but this event was insulated from much of that. As a result, attendees were able to have the emotional and mental space to connect, learn, share ideas, and have fun with others that hold similar values and interests in the space.
Diversity
This will be an issue that will persist: We need more diversity in the space if we want to onboard the next billion to web3.
That said, I do believe that we have seen more progress on this front. On the gender side, I would say the split was ~70/30 male/female with ~40% of the speakers being female from my limited observation.
A notable anecdote for me was with my Uber driver who took me from the Denver airport to my hotel. She was pleasantly surprised at the diversity of attendees.
It’s interesting to compare her experience of driving conference attendees around and the standard middle-aged male in suit and tie. It’s nice to hear that this experience was refreshing for her.
Also shoutout to another Uber driver who asked me if investing in DOGE was a good idea. TLDR: I did not provide any financial advice.
There is more work to be done, and the steady progress on the diversity front is promising.
There’s always something…
It feels like every web3 conference has an issue. Unfortunately the main one for ETH Denver this year it was the wifi and network reception.
As thousands of attendees (I heard some say there were a total of 25,000 attendees 👀) descended upon the conference, many were left without reliable service. As a result, this made it difficult to communicate (coordinating meetups) or interact (eg: can’t scan and mint POAPs).
When I first entered the venue and realized my cell network and wifi didn’t work, I literally thought my phone broke. You can see the panicked texts to my fiancée 😂
As poor as this experience was, it’s something that can be addressed in the future.
An opportunity to learn and connect
If you know me, you know I take a lot of notes.
It’s been a habit since my school and early professional days, and the action itself helps me retain info 🤷🏻♂️
On the professional side, these notes can be polished and distributed to a broader audience, whether publicly or internally within an organization. Additionally, it’s a way to show colleagues and bosses that you are creating value by being at a conference and not just going to the side events and partying. You can do both!
What if companies/teams incorporated a process encouraging their conference attendees (particularly junior team members) to:
Take notes on the people they met
Take notes on the sessions they attended
Take notes on themes, insights and takeaways for the event itself and their company at the event
If it’s a multi-day event, this could be structured as a requirement for the team to do this for at least one day of the conference or X hours per day at the conference.
This becomes a forcing function that turns into a good habit while provides value on an individual and organizational level when all those notes are aggregated together.
This also incorporates a ‘paying it forward’ model. Colleagues that don’t attend will be able to gain insights and learnings from the event, while having the mindset of taking notes for future events.
This could also turn into a content play where the company shares their aggregated takeaways (minus the private conversations) for the broader space.
This idea is biased towards those that are more inclined to take notes, but I think there is a lot of lost value for event attendees when there isn’t a mindset of at least some degree of documentation and reflection.
So what might this look like in practice? Well…this piece! And the session notes at the bottom of this piece.
IRL unlocks a different part of the brain
One of the things that’s been nagging at me for a while is how I provide more tangible value to my premium subscribers.
A series of serendipitous conversations at the conference helped me to crystallize the path forward and I’m looking forward to rolling this out 😉
This ‘a-ha’ moment alone made the conference worth it for me.
Shoutout to my premium subscribers for supporting me at this stage of Web3 with TPan. It does not and will not go unnoticed. In the meantime, if you do want to schedule time for complimentary consults (that’s part of the premium perks), reach out!
Additionally, learning IRL was more effective as many of the world’s top experts in various topics were under one roof. Booths are incentivized to educate the curious regardless of experience, and attendees could easily bounce from one booth to another asking questions (or even the same question) to fill knowledge gaps and solicit different perspectives.
As valuable as Youtube University and online content is for education, IRL events will always have a place in the learning journey when utilized effectively.
ETH Denver isn’t for everyone
This event has evolved over the years with a larger attendance, a more diverse attendance, and a growing number of companies and projects participating.
However it’s not for everyone. An example of this would be the opening ceremony. If you’re around kids or colleagues, put your earbuds in.
ETH Denver as an event is attractive for attendees for the same reasons it’s unattractive for others. It’s rich in culture and quirkiness specific to web3. Professionalism shows up in some aspects of the conference, but is not uniformly adhered to.
If you’re an executive Fortune 500, this might not be the event for you. However, if you’re the analyst at the same company, it might be.
Interesting insights, companies, and products
Skillet: A NFT bid aggregator
Why? Currently, marketplaces like Blur are focused on aggregating listings. However, Skillet is coming from the other side of the equation to focus on aggregating bids across marketplaces. This is another example of how the financialization of NFTs (NFTfi) is coming, inspired by the innovations from Defi.
1inch: The defi aggregator is coming out with a hardware wallet later this year
Why? 1inch is platform that helps to provide more efficient trading by aggregating liquidity from various exchanges. The move to creating a hardware wallet suggests that more web3 products and platforms won’t only move into the mobile app space, but also the hardware spaces for power users and specific use cases. Ledger will have some company soon. And don’t forget Solana Phone, they should start shipping soon 👀
Patch Wallet: Non-custodial wallet platform to onboard the masses
Why? (from their website)
ERC (Ethereum Request for Comments) vs EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal)
This has been bugging me for some time and I keep forgetting to dig into this. I finally had the chance to understand the distinction.
Simply put:
EIP - A change that affects most or all Ethereum implementations. These are deployed at the protocol level and requires consensus within the governing community. EIPs must be widely adopted (nodes must upgrade to remain part of the network).
Example: EIP-3675 - Upgrading Ethereum from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake, aka The Merge
ERC - A specific category of EIP, ERCs are deployed at the application level and don’t need to be widely adopted. They still adhere to a largely similar proposal process however.
Examples: ERC-20 (fungible tokens) and ERC-721 (NFTS)
Learn more about EIPs and ERCs here
Fairy.win: On-chain verifiable raffles
Why? Raffles have always had an inherent problem of trust. It’s common for influencers to run raffles without any winners or accountability. Fairy.win creates a simple solution to this problem.
Paradox: P2P betting protocol
Why? I’m not a sports better, but it’s interesting to see how web3 can help create experiences like these. What’s also notable here is this is P2P (you’re betting against another person), not the standard betting we see in sports today which is typically against the house (casino, etc.).
Shoutout to Zack for educating me about how the protocol works at the PizzaDAO event!
Courtyard: Physical collectibles are going on-chain!
Why? I believe this space is nascent and there will be room for innovation. Courtyard also incorporates a passive income component. Shoutout to (another) Zach for educating me!
Raid guild: A decentralized agency of product and dev professionals.
Why? They brew their own beer. Their Red Pil is not only tasty, but an amazing interactive activation. I was so impressed I had go to their booth the following morning. On top of great beer, they do great work.
NAYMS: A marketplace for tokenized insurance
Why? Though I’m clueless about insurance, this side event caught my eye because how little insurance is discussed in the space. It’s great to see ‘unsexy’ industries continue to move into the space. Oftentimes these are the opportunities that benefit the most from web3 tech.
People I met
Crier: I couldn’t have asked for a better roommate for ETH Denver! I’m so grateful for all the knowledge you shared with me, as someone that’s knowledgeable about Defi and the broader space.
I’m looking forward to listening to more Old Dog New Tricks episodes. Fun Fact: Crier hosts this podcast with his 70 year old uncle in law, how awesome is that?!
Gr0w: You were also so helpful in educating me and sharing your stories during the early days of Defi. There needs to be more opportunities for OG’s to share stories from the old days in a way that allows newbies like me be comfortable asking dumb questions. Thank you for that.
Old faces, new places: The JUMP and Safary crews
It’s always a good time catching up with the folks from these groups and hearing the latest and greatest over a coffee or drink. To many more conferences and new faces in these communities!
Lena and Victoria from Zeitg3ist: It was great to hear more about your founding story and all the ambitions you have for Z3! Rooting for you, keep hustling 💪
The Zelus team: Will, Dale, and Kyle. It was great to bump into you at multiple events and learn more about the team’s multichain ambitions. I’m looking forward to attending your Consensus side event inspired by yours truly 😉
Jacob: I met you while waiting for my Uber back to my hotel at the first night. You were a little disoriented and I’m not sure if you were serious about being broke and walking back to your hotel which was 40 minutes away.
I’m glad I got you a ride back to your hotel and thanks for letting me know you got back safe.
Please get your personal stuff in order first and then go make an impact in wonderful world of Desci!
Sarah: Thanks for sharing that you’re a Bitcoiner infiltrating ETH Denver. I hope you explore ETH more, it's fun here!
Marcus: It was such a pleasure chatting with you and learning about your Fellowship at the Ethereum Foundation. Congrats on publishing your Next Billion Report v1 for Latin America. This is a great resource for anyone looking to learn about the state of affairs for the region and how crypto can support it!
Also, shoutout to the token-gated components you implemented. It serves as inspiration for myself as my content is still web2-centric (intentionally). But no excuses for my premium audience. I’ll get to that soon 😉
Sonya: When I wasn’t chatting with Marcus at the same dinner, I was mostly chatting with you. You’ve taken a massive leap for yourself and your passions, and I resonate with that. I’m looking forward to seeing your reputation grow in the space and please keep creating content for finance professionals! Maybe throw in a meme or two, jk 🙃
The Vanderbilt and Duke students I met at the NAYMS event: It’s awesome to see the energy and youth representation in the space. This not only makes me excited for our future, but the ambition that you all have to making an impact in the space. It makes me wonder what I was doing with my life watching silly Youtube clips until 3AM in my college days.
One of you is working with your blockchain club on a decentralized ID effort for PHI (protected health information) for individuals with rare diseases. That’s a tough problem to solve, and one of the most admirable I’ve heard of!
Notes
Walking the talk of my earlier points about taking notes, I listened to several talks and have provided notes from those sessions. Feel free to share them with anyone that would find these notes to be helpful!
Wallet Infrastructure alternatives
Designing for Multiplayer Mode
How we can 10x the web3 gaming experience
The Cross-section of NFTs & DeFi: The Financialization of NFTs
So there you have it folks, that’s my recap of ETH Denver. I’m looking forward to the next conference and recap at Consensus next month :)
See you Thursday!
Awesome, really appreciate the extra notes at the end of this piece. Reading through all of it now. Can't wait to join you at Consensus in April.
It is always a great experience meeting someone you know online in person. Takes the 2d view of the online persona and fills in all the details you just pictured in your head. Excited on what we all can add to the ecosystem!