Reflections from the Crypto Business Conference

Not a regular blockchain/web3 conference

I have been working in the space for 6 years or so and have been to many events and conferences during that time. What I realised after this one was that most of those events were for the crypto audience. They were organised for people who were already in the space: founders, traders, those who worked in the space, agencies, etc. It was eco-chambering and loads of repetition. After a certain point they were quite predictable too and often we were there for networking only.

Crypto Business Conference on the other hand was for "normies" who were curious about the space and wanted to understand it. Specifically, they were trying to wrap their heads around how blockchain technology could help them amplify and enhance their existing businesses. Now looking back I realised that it feels like there are no other events that actually serve that audience and approach the topic from that angle. But the interest was there indeed and Michael & his team made a good job filling that gap.

Passion

You can get professional speakers who would pack their expensive suits and their massive egos and later stand on the stage promoting their personal brand/shill their project...

or

you can get people who are passionate about what they've got to say and who walk the talk (if you were there and heard Anjali's speech, you know what I mean)

I'm sure you've already guessed who would the audience prefer to hear from!

Communities

Over and over again you would hear about how important communities were. In a space where everything is transparent and most of the projects have open source, things can be copied easily... features, products, blockchains... but the community can't be copied, forked or bought. There were tons of examples of how communities elevate, empower and grow projects. And I know it may be a bit controversial and not many may agree with me, but still - for me, the most powerful example so far of what a genuine and strong community is capable of are the Phunks!

Digital identities

It's not a "sexy" topic, but a digital identity as well as owning and controlling your own data is a very important these days. With massive giants out there benefiting from our data, gaining access to what we'd prefer to keep private and using it against us out there - we finally have the technology that can help us gain back control. We're not there yet - it's gonna take time. Time and mindset shift... but eventually we should be able to create, use and preserve our identities across the Metaverse.

DAOs

The idea of flipping the whole corporate structure and hierarchy on its head is so appealing to me. Web3 community-led decentralised organisations where people build fascinating things together without even knowing each other's real names is mind-blowing. It's still too early to say how exactly things are gonna shape but the change and the movement have already started - the genie is already out of the bottle and you can't push him back in!

IRL events

Yes (especially in this space) we spend most of our time online. That's where our communities are, that's where we engage with them and that's where we work too... The Metaverse provides options for more experiences these days too...

BUT

we all do enjoy meeting each other in person and nothing yet can replace real-life human interaction.

real-life humans

Also...

I have finally created my profile on Lens Protocol thanks to Stani! If you are on Lens - here it is. And following the web3 ethos as well as getting the nostalgic feeling from the good old Steemit days I will start publishing content there from now on (including the NFT Rebels episodes) - so stay tuned!

Meanwhile

I am also re-evaluating my role and contribution to the space and looking for meaningful, purpose-driven and creative/fun initiatives to potentially get involved in in the future. So hit me up if you've come across anything that you think will excite me.

That's it for now

To be continued...