Have you ever told your normie friends you attended a crypto conference?

“A conference? For crypto? What’s the crowd like there?” Then there’s the glazed and disinterested look before the conversation is terminated, and they wander back to the bar.

And can you blame them? We know that they know, that we know what they’re thinking.

Sure, it’s what we do, it’s our job. We have to be there. But they’re your friends, and they get it, right? Right?!

However, bias, taboo, and judgment are all very present, and you know what? We probably deserve it. Something about attending these things feels a bit… dirty.

We’re constantly chatting about ‘onboarding the masses’, yet I even open this by using the term ‘normies’ to categorize and (basically) alienate folks who don’t share the same obsession we do with a counterculture that orbits Bitcoin.

So I reckon people can be forgiven for thinking that we’re gimps for flying to the other side of the world to attend what they perceive as one big circle jerk for that big ugly word: cryptocurrency.

I’m half-kidding. I work in this industry and spend most of my time on a business that tries to support the overall growth, fun, and education of crypto.

But we can and probably should collectively do better to support positive PR for crypto by weeding out the garbage and not even entertaining the trash, despite how funny it can be.

Crypto… a grifter’s paradise

I’m not virtue signaling; it’s not as if we aren’t already massively against it. Just check this recent clip from Bill Maher.

“A grifter’s paradise,” she says. It’s nothing new, though. Setting aside the wild inaccuracies in Bill’s rant, this view is fuelled by crypto’s association with the SBFs and Do Kwons of the world.

The publicly shamed embarrassments that always act as the swords we’re all forced to fall on because we’re mostly tarred with the same brush.

There’s a lot of good about TOKEN2049, but it’s often overshadowed. I mean, this recent DL News article hurts my soul. If the content doesn’t make you nauseous, I don't know what will.

In light of that, this feature will be everything we took from this year’s trip from a blocmates point of view. Putting the bullshit aside and trying to cover the parts you don’t necessarily hear about.

I’ll get into why the good stuff is good and why we should be focusing on that. And not fucking KOL of the year.

Is TOKEN2049 worth going to?

These events put in broad daylight the fact that in crypto, there’s a direct line in the sand between those of us who are here for the right reasons and those who are purely here to exploit it for personal gain.

I don’t mean to sound high and mighty because, yeah, you can ask, who am I to say what the right reasons are? But having drilled down on it, I think it’s actually simpler than we think.

There’s crypto YouTube, and then there’s the real crypto. It’s like two parallel universes that only ever come close to meeting at these huge events.

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The former being those with the shocked faces in the YouTube thumbnails and titles littered with hyperbole. The ones who lost your mate at work $500 that time, and probably the ones who hacked your uncle’s Instagram account last week.

How can builders behind say, Infinex or Celestia, Bittensor or Hyperliquid exist in the same stratosphere as a Professor Crypto? Never mind share the same industry. I need to rinse off.

But they do. These parasitic individuals crawl from the underbelly a few times a year, and you do unfortunately get that sobering reminder that they are here with us, even though most of the time, you don’t have to think about them.

Even the project in the DL article is named ‘Redacted.’ In what world, if you’re serious about DeFi would you not be aware of the glaringly obvious? Who are these people?

But regardless of whether you attended TOKEN2049 and Breakpoint to meet fellow devs and builders, link up with teams, network, or just take a selfie with Ansem, hopefully, you didn’t leave feeling apathetic toward crypto.

Because despite the abundance of wankers and slimeballs that this industry attracts, they’re all fundamentally drowned out by the builders, big brains, and degens that you’ve likely carefully crafted your crypto twitter (CT) feed to concentrate on.

So did we enjoy it, or what?

Starting with TOKEN, having now been twice, I’m pretty settled in my view in that I think you can pull more value (depending on your goals) from spending less time at the main conference hall.

It’s not redundant, it’s the reason we’re all there. It’s also exceptionally organized and perfectly planned and put together.

But in the same way you’d dip Dua Lipa’s headline slot at Glastonbury to catch Fontaines DC, you’d avoid the dross for where the real good stuff is: the side events.

The main hall is like Toys R Us for crypto, but none of the good toys are in stock.

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) is essentially like a surreal showpiece for vaporware and expensive booths that I’m still trying to understand how anyone is getting any ROI on.

It was even bigger and bolder this year, with padel courts, ice baths and more tacky merch than you could fit home in 10 suitcases, and talks that I’m just not convinced anyone’s listening to.

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Yes, that’s F1’s Lando Norris on stage at a crypto event. I dunno, either.

But regardless, it’s there and even if the talks are corny and the booths are mostly soulless, the goal, I suppose, is the right one: promoting the industry and putting mass adoption vehicles in front of people who may not even know where to start.

What I will say is that despite all the free coffee, ice cream, and BingX smoothies you could ever need, there’s nowhere to sit.

Give me a chair to park my arse while I eat this Thai green curry; I’m in my thirties.  

Why side events are the way to go

On the flip side, the side events are so solid. And again, to be clear - these wouldn’t exist without TOKEN. So don’t get it twisted despite my shading on the main conference.

We were methodical this year and similar to a festival line up, had a hit list of who and what we wanted to see and hear from, from hour to hour. Shout out Luma, by the way - such a sick app.

With TOKEN kicking off on Wednesday, the Berachain hype had already arrived in Singapore. And the buzz we’ve seen across CT over the past year or so was in full view, in person.

The Berachain x OKX launch party had people lining up around the mall's corners to try to get in. Emiri’s right - we need an L2 for humans.

These parties are not for me, and certainly not what I’m going to Singapore for. But you can’t argue that the excitement and noise isn’t real, and this is proof.

This is CT in the flesh, and the Beras are not messing around.

Game-Fi deserves its time

The day we landed, we dipped into a Skale side event. Though Game-Fi has struggled to properly capture mindshare, here you were meeting builders who are genuinely grafting to find a PMF.

There is so much potential in this corner of the space, if we can onboard gamers to blockchain tech with the right UI/UX, the floodgates will open.

And on top of having good food and surprisingly smooth Guinness, this event was littered with devs looking to crack the Game-Fi puzzle, flocking to a base and infrastructure in Skale that’s genuinely supportive of these builders’ products.

Enter the Arbiverse and burgers with Ava Labs

We dipped into the Arbiverse event for, you guessed it, a collection of builders on Arbitrum. Despite what you may think of Offchain Labs' management of Arb, it was well put together. 

But there’s still a lingering feeling, similar to the hall at MBS: what’s everyone actually doing here? However, it seemed a smart move by the team to pull a separate showcase for what’s going on over there.

With a DAO like Arbitrum, you’re trying to turn a cruiseliner to keep up with a fleet of jet skis. 

And anyone who’s been in this industry long enough knows that shit moves way too fast for you to not be nimble enough to stay ahead of the curve. 

Moving on, Ava Labs had snagged one of the best spots in the area for burgers. Knocking back beers and eating good food with good people like our industry friends Magnus Capital made it worthwhile.

What’s Ava Labs getting out of it? Couldn’t tell you. A strong show of might, maybe. But the event had seemingly attracted a good crowd and the one-in, one-out system kept it lean.

There’s some really good shit going on in the Avalanche ecosystem, but you can’t be the world’s best centre-back, while playing in goal and also scoring all the goals. 

We're all rooting for Avalanche and want to see it find its best position and become the star player it deserves to be, and the plaudits will follow.

Loading up on $FTM after hours, after Sonic’s After Hours

The top of the hit list for me personally was the Sonic event. We wanted to get there and check out who’d be snooping around to see who else was excited about the ecosystem.

Not only are we revved up on Andre and Fantom’s resurgence, and the Sonic upgrade, but we were keen to see who else would be. And on a rooftop in central Singapore, in a surprisingly cool area, we chatted with LayerZero devs and new app-chain builders over drinks.

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The lads also befriended the barman and had bespoke cocktails coming hand over foot, so it wasn’t long before professionalism was left at the door and Ubers were booked.

The bottom line here is that Sonic's energy feels right.

The team is lean and locked in, and it's being led by Michael Kong (soon to be on our podcast) and, of course, Andre Cronje, whose vision and expectations I expect to be delivered against. I bet it’ll resemble a well-oiled machine going into 2025.

Bittensor steals the show

The Bittensor Asia meet-up can only be described in two words: slick and professional. This is literally the crosshairs of AI, tech and crypto, and it’s being done properly.

If you attended the event and didn’t come away TAO-pilled, I question your sanity. Though I’m certain we were the only ones there not already fully plugged in.

A small stage in an intimate room saw Bittensor subnet builders take turns taking the floor to pitch their projects. What’s being built? Why is it important? What steps are they taking to ensure its success?

The best part is the audience asked questions—every single one. This is a properly engaged group of folks, so dialled in on the Bittensor ecosystem that it’s contagious.

I ate tuna sandwiches at the back, pretended I had any clue that I knew what people were talking about, and took notes that I could bring home to pick 563’s brain with, feeling ashamed of myself for not loading up on $TAO at the lows.

We were approached by guys who recognized the blocmates t-shirts, asked us about TAO Talk (our newest podcast dedicated to Bittensor), and said they enjoyed the research.

So for all the shitcoin shenanigans, I promise we know what we’re doing, especially behind the Meal Deal curtain.

Hyperliquid, the last bastion of hope

At HypurrCollective, a collection of builders and more on Hyperliquid, you were once again met with an energy of people who are 100% locked into an ecosystem.

A small, quiet affair where it’s easy to chat, and grifters are weeded out. Your name’s not down; you’re not getting in.

Some fella approaches me: “Yo, are you the guy who wrote the piece on DYAD?” He recognizes the blocmates tee. “I’m big on KEROSENE; your article is my reference point I just send it to anyone who asks me for more info.”

It wasn’t me; it was Grant’s fine work. But immediately, you know you’re in the zone where people have a genuine curiosity and belief in something, and it’s nice to see our work is appreciated.

This chap was ex-Messari and writes for himself these days. He told me he’s an Arsenal fan from New York and said that the U.S. would beat England in the next World Cup and that it’s never coming home.

That’s when I left.

A quick shout out to Pendle, who also invited us to their office that afternoon to see the operation, talk content, and just catch up. Those fellas are solid and deserve every success they’re getting with what is a unique and seriously impressive protocol.

Beers with the community

In typical fashion, we made a last-minute call. With so many people asking to catch up, we headed to a bar and sent the location.

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We’re hosting a proper side event at Devcon, so didn’t put much thought into this one. But the bar we told people to go to obviously had a private event, so we swerved to go upstairs and boozed with a bunch of people from the blocmates community and different spots from around the industry.

If you’re working in this industry, remember that your community is everything. Treat it that way; those who support you should have your full attention at all times.

Special mention to @alexNGMI, he’s a real one.

Rounding it off at Solana Breakpoint

Friday arrived in a mild hungover mist. We bolted to Breakpoint to see what was going down and were not disappointed.

Breakpoint was more relaxing. It’s cool and, of course, packed out with manlets and builders who are there for one thing only: to preach the word of the Solana gospel.

Look, I’m a big believer and long-term holder myself. So it’s nice to see such a vibrant ecosystem carry over to a real-life event. And you can fuck off if you thought for a second I was writing IRL.

After the year Solana has had, it’d be easy to rest on your laurels, but clearly, no foot shall be taken off the gas. Just look at everything we caught - and we were only there on Friday.

A packed room watched the busiest talk I’ve seen on any stage at any conference as Firedancer was unveiled in painstaking detail.

There’s no way that 95% of the room understood a word Kevin Bowers said.

But the collective nods of approval and glances to the left and right spoke a thousand words that you can ultimately package into one: bullish.

Should you be going next year?

Look, it’s dependent on you and who you are. If you want to travel to see how the industry looks in real life, you’ll certainly get that, as long as you plan accordingly.

The city is amassed with nerds, and it’s odd to see some of the CT day walkers out in the open. You can meet teams you admire, ask questions, link up with people you’ve maybe been in contact with for ages, and generally kick it.

One girl actually asked me, “Are you a crypto bro?” and it’ll take me a while to get over that.

But if I were to offer any final words of advice, it would be this: avoid people who take selfies with their tongues out at all costs.