The Web3 event in April is still ongoing.
Shortly after the end of the carnival in Hong Kong, from April 18th to April 19th, more than 10,000 attendees from over 4,000 companies and over 100 countries gathered for the annual industry summit Token2049.
This year, instead of Singapore and Hong Kong, Token2049 chose Dubai as the host city, seemingly reflecting the current competitive development pattern of Web3 cities. Looking at the global Web3 landscape, apart from the unique position of the United States, regional sectors are still competing. Southeast Asia pivoting around Singapore, the Middle East with Dubai as the gateway, and Hong Kong leveraging its connection to the mainland are all engaged in differentiated competition. At present, it is clearly too early to determine the winner, as there are weak markets with strong technology, strong regulation with a lack of ecosystem, and obvious barriers within and outside the industry.
The advantages of Dubai are obvious. Compared to Southeast Asia, where the average wealth per capita is lower, and Europe, where regulation is overly detailed and strict, the Middle Eastern market has the characteristics of concentrated capital flow, high regional wealth, and greater inclusiveness, laying a relatively solid foundation for the development of Dubai's crypto industry. Specifically, the open regulation has led to the establishment of exchanges, with over ten well-known exchanges such as OKX, Bybit, and HTX having offices in Dubai. Just recently, Binance also revealed that it has obtained a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license in Dubai. However, the disadvantages are equally apparent. In addition to the perennial challenges of weak internet infrastructure, misaligned talent structure, and high living costs, Dubai, which has excellent geopolitical conditions to obtain global dividends, is constrained by its geography. First, it is constantly affected by the conflicts in the neighboring Persian Gulf countries, which impact its geopolitical stability, as exemplified by the recent Iran-Israel conflict. Second, the cultural conflicts and market segmentation caused by the fusion of politics and religion and the immigrant city. Perhaps for this reason, many of Dubai's crypto enterprises exist in the form of streamlined operational departments.
Returning to this conference, unlike Hong Kong, which is more inclined towards the Chinese community, Token2049, as always, covers a more diverse overseas community, emphasizing global exchanges and highlighting the diversity of the crypto industry. On the other hand, in terms of the themes, the hot topics in Dubai are more focused on the Western industry hotspots, such as DePin and AI, rather than the Bitcoin ecosystem, which is particularly popular in Hong Kong.
Interestingly, the start of Token2049 did not go smoothly. Just two days before the conference, on April 16th, Dubai experienced its largest thunderstorm since 1949, with a day's rainfall reaching one and a half to two years' worth of rain, causing complete paralysis of transportation. Luxury cars were seen wading through water, people were stranded in the rain, and there were reports of overcharging for taxis. Various memes flooded social media platforms, and some people jokingly referred to the conference as "Web3 in distress." Despite many flight delays and some people having to return home, the heavy rain did not dampen the industry's enthusiasm. Instead, in the heavy rain, the industry gained a deeper understanding of the true state of this luxurious Middle Eastern city in difficult times. Many attendees also described and reflected on this heavy rain, allowing everyone to experience the alternative charm of Dubai.
In addition, compared to the gossip-filled atmosphere of last year's conference in Singapore, this year's Dubai conference was more restrained. This may be partly due to the impact of the heavy rain, which left little room for people to focus on other off-site information. However, it is more likely due to the improvement in the market, which has allowed the public to see positive signals in the industry, providing more hot topics and exchangeable resources.
Of course, for the actual attendees, Dubai and crypto have left a more vivid impression. Here, Gyro Finance has carefully selected some participants' short essays on Dubai Token2049, allowing the audience who did not attend to feel the heat and humidity of Dubai.
Fred@Dacongfred
Twitter link: https://twitter.com/Dacongfred
One-sentence summary of Dubai Token2049: Below expectations, somewhat disappointing
1. Nothing new: Almost no difference from the hot topics in Hong Kong
If you have already attended events in Hong Kong, attending events in Dubai will yield relatively little. Overall, Dubai Token2049 is more like a diverse Hong Kong Web3 Festival. The popular topics and activities are still AI/DePIN + BTC ecosystem, with Ethereum having almost no presence:
There were many attendees at AI/DePIN events, and several events were packed with people. Various types of DePIN projects are emerging, and VC peers are also paying attention to this track.
There were also many BTC ecosystem events, and it was clear that the Chinese community played a dominant role, with about one-third to half of the attendees being Chinese (including but not limited to those from mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia).
SOL had a booth at the main venue, and Western builders generally have a bullish view of the SOL ecosystem.
The most active participants were still exchanges, with Binance hosting consecutive days of Clubhouse events, and exchanges such as Bitget, HTX, Gate, CoinW, Kucoin, and BingX making appearances at the main venue.
2. Disappearance of the United States: Projects from Europe and Asia are predominant
Most of the project teams encountered were from Asia and Europe. There were many teams from Italy and Russia in Europe, and teams from Southeast Asia, China, and local teams from Dubai in Asia.
There were relatively few project teams from the United States. I had hoped to meet the Base and Blast teams and ecosystem projects, but I only encountered a Dex team from Blast, and had a comprehensive understanding of Blast (I will share more with everyone later). There were relatively few people from Coinbase, and there was only a small-scale event in Dubai, with a higher level of activity in the United States.
3. Miscellaneous thoughts: Thunderstorm and culture
The heavy rain in Dubai took many people by surprise, and many side events were canceled. Various "Token2049 sub-venues" were created in Doha, Oman, Abu Dhabi, and other places. This included my own unforgettable experience of being stranded in Doha for two days and the camaraderie formed with friends in the airport assistance group. These experiences also revealed the vulnerability of a modern city built rapidly with money in the face of heavy rain.
In addition, Dubai's weather is too dry and not very friendly to people from humid and hot regions in the south. I felt a sharp pain in my throat from the first day. Furthermore, the service attitude of the drivers was very good, and they were very friendly to Chinese people. Almost every time I took a taxi, the driver, upon hearing that I was from China, would say, "Oh, Chinese are my friends."
The overall atmosphere of the city is very similar to Shanghai, with its diverse population, doubled prices, and dryness.
Furthermore, I found that compared to Hong Kong, many people are more willing to show up at events abroad. In Dubai, I encountered many familiar faces, such as He Yi from the Binance Clubhouse event, Sun Yuchen at the main venue, and met Teacher Kong on the same flight back to China. We discussed our feelings about Dubai and resonated with the diversity of the attendees at this conference.
In addition, I felt the enthusiasm of my Twitter friends in Dubai. When attending side events offline, I met several people who mentioned, "Oh, you are Dacong, I have been following your Twitter." For a moment, there was a sense of familiarity with family members who had been connected for a long time, even though I was in a foreign land. Indeed, persistently sharing and outputting often brings unexpected surprises.
DeFi Teddy@DeFiTeddy2020
Twitter link: https://twitter.com/DeFiTeddy2020
Dubai Token2049 Short Essay
About the Crypto Industry
Three major narratives: re-staking (eigenlayer), parallel L1 (monad), DePin + AI (@ionet) - Investment: Many project teams plan to launch tokens in Q3/Q4, and some VCs have indicated that the primary investment window will only last for 2-3 months in the future.
AI + Web3: Many crypto projects are leaning towards AI, while traditional AI projects are disdainful of Web3 packaging.
Chinese market: Top projects in Europe and the United States are beginning to focus on promoting the Chinese market, realizing the importance of Chinese funds for token issuance.
About Dubai
The heavy rain greatly affected the conference experience. I slept on a chair in the hotel lobby for a night.
Many Chinese projects and funds are based in Dubai. The regulation is more open than in Hong Kong and Singapore. The "golden visa" program has been launched, attracting Web3 talent to settle in Dubai.
Rent is cheap, and property prices are equivalent to those in third- and fourth-tier cities in China.
Many taxi drivers are from Pakistan, while there are many Indian project parties at the venue. India itself has strict regulations on crypto, so many Indian project parties are in Dubai.
LiamWang@LiamWang88
Twitter link: https://twitter.com/LiamWang88
This is my first time attending a Token2049 event. As a Web3 learner (yes, I have always felt that this identity suits me best), I had two purposes for attending:
1. To experience the atmosphere of Web3 up close. In Web3, the atmosphere is something that cannot be clearly explained but is particularly emphasized.
2. To understand the cutting-edge topics or narratives being discussed in the industry, which is especially important in a rapidly changing industry.
The main conference of Token2049 took place over two days on April 18-19, but there were various side events, small-scale activities, and parties starting from April 15. As someone who has worked in Web2 internet companies, the atmosphere at this conference is completely different. Overall, Web3 events are conferences, but they are more like parties to meet friends. You can listen to speakers share their insights at the venue, and you can also find a place to chat with people from different countries and regions over a drink. Of course, in the evenings, various organizers host different parties, and you can meet new friends with just a beer in hand. The casual and free atmosphere runs through the entire Web3 event.
In addition to the casual and free atmosphere, I would like to summarize my feelings about the city of Dubai and the discussions at Token2049 with a few keywords:
Keyword 1: Thunderstorm
If you are a participant in this industry, you must have seen the news of the rare thunderstorm in Dubai on social media. On April 16, Dubai experienced its largest single-day thunderstorm since 1949, with a large number of luxury cars submerged in water and the public transportation system paralyzed.
Dubai has always been known for its luxury and prosperity, but until April 18, the entire city was still partially or completely paralyzed. A thunderstorm tested the drainage system of this city, which gathers human wealth and materialistic life, and exposed the vulnerability of this prosperous city.
Expanding this to the Web3 industry, this thunderstorm is also very inspiring:
A sound system needs to consider any low-probability risks and be prepared for them, even if the probability of their occurrence is very low. For example, when we are doing a DeFi project, do we realize the small probability of a risk? But because the probability of its occurrence is small, do we choose to ignore it?
A sound system also needs to be prepared for the appearance of black swans at any time. We are currently in a bull market, and the overall atmosphere and emotions tend to be optimistic, but we need to remain vigilant at all times because in this industry, we cannot determine when a black swan event will occur and in what manner. Cautious optimism is always better than blind optimism.
Keyword 2: Regulation and Compliance
Regulation and compliance are the words I heard the 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 in the crypto industry. At the same time, in my discussions with different project parties, I also felt their emphasis on industry regulation and compliance. For project parties, the common issues they are concerned about are: ① which countries/regions have friendly regulatory and compliance policies; ② how to obtain the corresponding compliance licenses in these countries/regions.
My feeling is that there is a consensus in this industry on the need for regulation and compliance. The differences in discussions are mainly in the methods and pace of regulation, as the regulatory policies of each country and region are different.
At the same time, this also made me think about a question: Is there a contradiction between obtaining high returns and the industry becoming more compliant? For example, in the early stages of blockchain, due to the lag in regulation and compliance, many individuals and projects have made substantial returns. So, as this industry becomes more standardized, will there still be individuals or projects rapidly creating wealth as in the past?
Keyword 3: AI
In addition to regulation and compliance, AI is another hot topic I heard at the Token2049 event. At the main conference of Token2049, guests including Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol, and Ahmad Shadid, founder of io.net, discussed what can be done with AI in decentralized intelligence combined with Web3. Similarly, in some of the projects I discussed outside the venue and at parties, about half of them were related to AI, including AI distributed storage and computing, decentralized GPUs, intent-based AI applications, AI social and creator economies, etc. The popularity of the 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 people believe that if Web3 is to achieve mass adoption, AI has a greater potential.
Keyword 4: Chinese Discourse Power
The timing of the Token2049 event is very close to the Web3 Summit in Hong Kong. The comparison between the two events has become an interesting topic. After communicating with some Chinese practitioners, I found two common feelings: ① the concentration of Chinese participation in the Token2049 event is not as high as in the Hong Kong Summit (which is understandable, as Dubai is far from the Greater China region); ② there are differences in the focus of the discussions. For example, in the Hong Kong Summit, the topic of the Bitcoin ecosystem was very popular, but at the Token2049 event, the discussion on this topic was relatively less intense.
Everyone is quite curious, does this seem like two different worlds?
This question is difficult to answer and cannot be definitively categorized at this time. My view is:
From a practical perspective, Chinese people will definitely have their own discourse system in Web3.
On the one hand, many Chinese project entrepreneurs and investors have a good background, are fluent in English, have studied and worked abroad, and have a global mindset. At the same time, Chinese people have the "dare to venture" gene, so in the next decade, I believe that more and more Chinese people will be active on the global stage of technological competition.
On the other hand, there are many Chinese entrepreneurs in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which in itself is an effort to build a discourse system and proof.
From a vision perspective, I believe that 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 should not set restrictions based on where you come from, what skin color you have, or your educational/work background. So from this perspective, whether Chinese or non-Chinese, we should weaken the differences in identity, because the emergence of new things like Bitcoin itself is breaking the traditional sovereign national boundaries.
These are the strong feelings I had during my participation in the Token2049 event. It should be noted that this is only my personal feeling and may contain subjective judgments, so it cannot represent the thoughts of every participant. Secondly, at this Token2049 event, there were many heated discussions on topics such as DePin, RWA, Bitcoin ETF, Restaking, etc. My above feelings cannot cover all these topics. But overall, events like Token2049 can reflect the direction of the current Web3 industry hot narratives. Regardless of individual subjective feelings, I believe that attending the event can form a common judgment on industry hot topics and narratives.
※This article is a collection of viewpoints, for sharing only, and does not constitute any investment advice. The short essay can also be viewed on the corresponding author's X platform account
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