My 3rd ETH Denver Was A Meeting Of The Besties

At the very last minute, I was tapped by my good friend Dani Osorio to MC one of the ETH Denver stages. Apparently, people were dropping like flies when they realized how much brainpower it takes to introduce crypto people and their tech voyager topics. My 4-hour shift was located on the Coral Stage, where I reported for official duty with a 56-year-young woman named Laura who usually works as an AV at the local Denver Pride Festival. 

“I have no idea what’s going on and why there are so many men with no rings,” she informed me when I asked her what she thought about ETH Denver. “Since this is a crypto festival, they are probably wearing digital rings.” I instantly thought about Reesa Teesa’s trust but verified dating commandments.

What I did the last two years at Eth Denver versus this year was similar.

My role in ETH Denver for the last two years was sponsor and hackathon judge on behalf of a developer tool. This year, I was going to represent myself, and my projects, as per my GitHub repos. From the presentations of people I was tasked to announce, this was the year of truth and enlightenment. The official conference was themed, “the Year of the Spork Whale,” a fictitious representation of crypto. Spork because that’s the digital coin currency of the ETH Denver, and Whale because it signifies the upcoming bull run. I’m not sure if this is completely true, but the power of these types of conferences is that these events hold space for people who have an original idea or project. You can leverage whatever decentralized thoughts you have.

My conference obsession started very early on in my career.

I used to be obsessed with the concept of attending conferences and networking in my early 20s. I’d apply to fashion conferences as a small freelance writer for The Examiner, Philadelphia region. It was a time when Instagram barely could accommodate videos, and I wasn’t on the tech side of Twitter to understand the brevity of how your network is your networth. This is pretty much true in crypto because your success depends on who you know to get a job, who can vouch for you, and what meme-coins you decide to buy.

 It was at a brunch when I discovered that a person I know bought a bitcoin a week when they were working as a barista at a coffee shop. These social events you get invited to are alpha sessions. Take notes because the token talk will be fast and web3 coded. I learned this very early on and have been grateful for the people who haven’t led me astray.

This year's energy was fueled by BTC hitting an ATH and setting off the bull market.

The energy of Eth Denver 2024 was absolutely pure fire. 🔥There were more new projects in the space and there were some noticeably absent projects in the space like Harmony and Truffle. A project's presence at a crypto conference does not necessarily translate to how well they will do in the space. However, the awareness is crucial because more builders are entering willing to try any tool. 

Let's face it: Eth Denver activations are expensive.

When you host intentional events to attract your target audience, your work will go along way when it comes to community building online. People will remember how you made them feel and be more likely to invest their time in getting to know your brand. Again, I learned this early on throwing and hosting events around the world, I have won over many super fan readers, contributors and supporters from my rooftop parties and panel discussions. 

Crypto runs off herd mentality and only the brave have authentic thoughts.

It takes a lot of courage to have an original thought. Eth Denver may be a meeting of the minds, but the narratives were very familiar. We need crypto to be more approachable and cross-chain to onboard a billion users, but there’s more to it than just some vague marketing copy.

Here are 6 Trends For Builders According to Eth Denver that are supposed to be onboarding the next billion users to web3.

• Mobile Wallet Experiences: From Beam.eco to Base, and Uniswap, there was an emphasis on quick ways to create noncustodial wallet experiences in 2 minutes or less for new users. 
• Consumer goods on-chain - IYK and Base, both made a huge splash at the Denver “shill village.” They both had a scavenger hunt where users had to scan codes around the conference center in order to redeem merchandise.  Beam.eco released a mobile wallet, and I was able to create a wallet in like 2 seconds. One of the brand ambassadors transferred me 21 USDC to get tacos at the food trucks outside the venue. With a QR code, the taco truck food merchant was able to receive the funds in less than 30 seconds. 
• Memecoin Mania - Cockinu on AVAX and Zoomer.Money, and $bonsai launched on Lens Protocol by airdropping top active social profiles.
• DePIN won the Web3 narrative: DePin stands for Decentralized physical infrastructure networks. It's giving real-world assets a blockchain infrastructure. For example, Helium Mobile, a $20 cell phone service, is the first to really experiment with this. By opting into this service, you earn tokens when people connect to your hotspot and at the same time help "kill dead zones." This solves the problem with cell outages as well because the mobile network is powered by blockchain.
• Culture Clubs: SHE.FI and BOYS CLUB continue to carry the inclusivity within crypto by providing safe spaces for women. 
• Cool Merch: Lukso came through with the pink beams and hats, custom jackets for the team, and cute mugs and blankets for the Boys' Club community. Cube AI data team had iconic Stanley cups. Meanwhile, Polygon blockchain was giving out wellness bags featuring organic toothpaste and mouthwash for the developers who need it... I guess. ZKSync attracted a huge crowd of attendees hoping to get their hands on a sleek black sweatsuit and Flow blockchain hosted a hacker host and I got my hands one of their trendy flow hoodies in anticipation of the Crescendo network upgrade.

In conclusion, ETH Denver 2024 re-invigorated my passion for exploring the deep and overflowing landscape of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. This past year has really taken a toll on my mental health, and I questioned if I should even be in this industry in the first place.  I needed to meet up with like-minded individuals to rally, and as I talked to my crypto besties, they too felt the same way. It was nice to chat with innovative projects in the spirit of collaboration.

From unique mobile wallet experiences to participating in scavenger hunts on-chain, not to mention the rise of memecoin experiences, the conference highlighted key trends shaping the narratives of Web3. As we navigate this rapidly evolving space, it's clear that fostering inclusivity, accessibility, and cross-chain interoperability will be essential for driving widespread adoption.