Another conference down, and @consensus2024 wasn't quite as hot as I expected (I might even call it mild by ATX standards).
My biggest takeaways (hint: not that much new) 👇
1/ TradFi! Institutions! - they were literally everywhere. In some sense, that's who this conference caters to. But they also have the ETF wind behind their backs and it's clear that the institutional part of the market is here and they have big plans for crypto. Most of their efforts (cough*tokenization) have little to do with permissionless blockchains and crypto, but the exposure and marketing is still good for all of us
2/ In the same sense, the future of regulation in crypto was the most discussed topic -> getting this right is core for the US' ability to compete in this market
3/ Bitcoin - no I don't mean the ETFs or spot BTC, but Bitcoin ecosystem projects, runes, L2s, sidechains, and ordinals are as discussed as any other ecosystem. More of this than there was SOL memecoin discussions, despite what was happening on twitter
4/ AI - still one the largest topics of discussion, as it has been all year. But people are much more guarded on the potential outcomes here than they have been in months. It seems like people are catching up to me as its become more fashionable to talk about how most the projects / promises coming out of the AIxCrypto market seem to be, at best, extremely far fetched. One reporter told me that he heard from more people than not that most of the AIxCrypto market was vaporware (and likely BS). That's a real change.
5/ DePIN - This seems to be the area that is evolving in the most interesting way, in my opinion. I've been critical of this market in the past but there are real entrepreneurs trying to make honest strides - and even if the projects don't work, it seems like there is less grifting and more just innovating. As Chamath would say, they are in the Arena trying things.
6/ Tokenization - truly does not seem like anyone outside of the major institutions understands who the clients are for tokenized products (if you are an entrepreneur and believe you are different, please hit me up and prove me wrong). And the institutions understand it's just themselves, saving on software and capital efficiency. This market on permissionless chains doesn't seem much further along than it did the last time we had this theme
7/ Frankly, there's a general lack of "new" themes -> seems like it might be time to go heads down and focus on building while the institutional adoption wave just keeps flowing over us
My biggest takeaways (hint: not that much new) 👇
1/ TradFi! Institutions! - they were literally everywhere. In some sense, that's who this conference caters to. But they also have the ETF wind behind their backs and it's clear that the institutional part of the market is here and they have big plans for crypto. Most of their efforts (cough*tokenization) have little to do with permissionless blockchains and crypto, but the exposure and marketing is still good for all of us
2/ In the same sense, the future of regulation in crypto was the most discussed topic -> getting this right is core for the US' ability to compete in this market
3/ Bitcoin - no I don't mean the ETFs or spot BTC, but Bitcoin ecosystem projects, runes, L2s, sidechains, and ordinals are as discussed as any other ecosystem. More of this than there was SOL memecoin discussions, despite what was happening on twitter
4/ AI - still one the largest topics of discussion, as it has been all year. But people are much more guarded on the potential outcomes here than they have been in months. It seems like people are catching up to me as its become more fashionable to talk about how most the projects / promises coming out of the AIxCrypto market seem to be, at best, extremely far fetched. One reporter told me that he heard from more people than not that most of the AIxCrypto market was vaporware (and likely BS). That's a real change.
5/ DePIN - This seems to be the area that is evolving in the most interesting way, in my opinion. I've been critical of this market in the past but there are real entrepreneurs trying to make honest strides - and even if the projects don't work, it seems like there is less grifting and more just innovating. As Chamath would say, they are in the Arena trying things.
6/ Tokenization - truly does not seem like anyone outside of the major institutions understands who the clients are for tokenized products (if you are an entrepreneur and believe you are different, please hit me up and prove me wrong). And the institutions understand it's just themselves, saving on software and capital efficiency. This market on permissionless chains doesn't seem much further along than it did the last time we had this theme
7/ Frankly, there's a general lack of "new" themes -> seems like it might be time to go heads down and focus on building while the institutional adoption wave just keeps flowing over us
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