I Went to Two Crypto Conferences: Here’s What I Learned
Hey everyone! I hope everyone is doing alright. I know these are “unprecedented times” (I hope people won’t start using this in their emails again, but who knows), but it is expected. With the influx of money into the system, people trying to make a quick buck, and inflation being considered “transitory,” this cycle of prosperity was bound to end at some point. However, the current world state is an entirely different topic that I don’t want to get into and really have no place getting into, so we’ll end that talk there.
In this piece, I want to talk about what I learned over the last few weeks while doing arguably the first adult-ish thing I have ever done: attending a conference. Now, if you read my two previous blogs (or the blog title), you would know that these conferences were web 3.0 related.
The first conference I attended was Permissionless, located in Palm Beach, Florida, hosted by Blockworks and my favorite crypto podcast Bankless. It took place from May 16–19 (the day before my graduation, rallying was a necessity), and about 7,500 people attended this inaugural conference. I initially purchased a student ticket for this event for $99 (a 90% discount from the retail price, you could say I like to ball on a budget). However, I then minted a Permie NFT for 1.11 ETH (budget not followed), which gave me VIP access this year and lifetime access for future conferences (worth it?).
The next conference I attended was Consensus in Austin, Texas, from June 8–12, hosted by crypto media company CoinDesk. This conference took place the day after I returned from a weeklong vacation for my brother’s graduation in Chicago, so just like the last conference, rallying needed to get done. Consensus has been around for a while, starting in 2018, and is the largest crypto conference in the world, with this year’s installment hosting over 20,000 people. Like Permissionless, I bought a student ticket (which cost me twice as much) and stayed at a friend’s place near UT’s campus (much cheaper than my Palm Beach housing, thank you again, Price.)
I was supposed to attend a third conference called VeeCon, but graduation took precedent for obvious reasons.
One of the most ironic aspects about attending these conferences was that they both happened around the same time as major, market-crushing events in the crypto space. The first was the Terra Luna collapse, which happened about a week before Permissionless. This cataclysmic meltdown completely wiped out people’s life savings and shouldn’t be a laughing matter. However, I thought it was funny that Terra was supposed to be a lead sponsor of the conference, and their infamous leader, Do Kwon, was meant to speak on the main stage. At Consensus, we saw the crypto markets sink 10% over the duration of the conference. However, the night the conference ended, lending platform Celcius announced they would pause withdrawals for customers, causing markets to crash even further. A few days later, one of the top crypto hedge funds and VC firms, Three Arrows Capital, started showing signs of insolvency issues with a massive selloff of their assets (funny cause I searched their available jobs the day before).
Even with the recent market events, my overall experience at Permissionless and Consensus was incredibly positive. You’re probably getting a little tired of my BS, so here are my takeaways:
More Focus on Building than Price
Out of all the people and companies I met at the conferences, few spoke about the market crashing. Instead, the stage lights shined on big product releases (such as Robinhood announcing a Web 3.0 wallet), the upcoming Ethereum merge, new, innovative projects, smart and supportive government regulations (starting with stablecoins: watch the recording of the talk here) and more. If it weren’t for some main stage speakers talking about the Luna crash, someone who does not know the industry would’ve thought web 3.0 is doing better than ever.
People From All Walks of Life
One aspect that really shocked me about these conferences was the vast differences between many attendees. Besides everyone being somewhat of a nerd (myself included), I heard about seven different languages spoken, saw every type of race and ethnicity, and met people that are old enough to be my grandparent and young enough to be my child (there was a mom who brought her 2-year-old for clarification). There were people of different occupational backgrounds, such as US Senators, athletes (as seen above), and more. No matter the individual’s background, everyone was friendly and there to learn more. The point is, this industry is for anyone and everyone, and the people who already have their foot in the door are open and willing to help others who have no idea about the topic do the same. So, if you’re interested in learning more, don’t hesitate to reach out (myself included).
Student Tickets are a Cheat Code
I kind of luckily fell into student tickets for both of these conferences. For Permissionless, I was randomly browsing social media during the Darwin Fenner class I wrote a proposal about (check out my last piece!) when I stumbled across the Permissionless conference. With just a few clicks, I secured a student ticket for 90% off. For Consensus, I received a random email from a company I signed up for months ago promoting the conference. In ten minutes, I was able to contact the CoinDesk team and get a student ticket for about 80–90% off retail. For those prices, the amount of connections, knowledge, and experiences you get access to is ridiculous. I even met a few students who got job offers at these conferences (I wasn’t lucky enough myself, lol. I Became a struggling writer instead). Even if you are passionate about another industry, I would HIGHLY recommend any high school or college (grad school included) student to attend conferences while they can get tickets at such a reduced cost.
It Pays to be Nice…Literally
I referenced students getting jobs, so I’ll mention how one student (shout-out Zuhayr) got his job offer. He was simply walking down the street next to the conference hall when he saw two guys in suits sitting on the curb eating hamburgers. Being the nice guy he is, he simply went up to them and asked how their day was going. One thing leads to another, and he ends up getting dinner with one of those guys (at the table across from me coincidentally) and receives a job offer at a company I’ve applied many times for to no avail (I’ve got to tip my cap to Z there). Another instance involves a free basketball competition I entered at Consensus, where the winner would receive a whole Bitcoin. Unfortunately, I lost after my first shot (could’ve sworn I was buckets during warmups), and my friend Ajit, shown in one of the pictures above, made it to the finals before losing with the Bitcoin almost in his grasp. After the competition ended, Ajit and I said thank you to all the staffers we befriended and who had to deal with some difficult people (to put it nicely) at the basketball court. Suddenly, one of the staffers gave each of us brand new, unwrapped boxes of a Ledger Nano X (priced at $149) and told us they all appreciated our thoughtfulness. So, word of advice: just be nice to people…simple as that.
Everything is Free
Not literally everything, but the amount of merch, food, and entertainment I got for free paid the cost of my tickets two times over (if I drank alcohol, it probably would be three times over). For example, at Permissionless, there was a nighttime event hosted by Avalanche (originally supposed to be Terra before they collapsed, lol) where all the food and drinks at a food hall were completely free. On top of that, they had a DJ that performed at the venue for three hours. Additionally, at both conferences, every company with a booth on the conference room floor handed out T-shirts, stickers, bags, pens, etc., with their brand. I guess that’s what the tickets pay for, but for what I paid as a student at the conferences, it was like robbing candy from a baby.
Conclusion
These conferences were kickass and gave me more conviction about this industry in the long run than previously. Hopefully, this blog can help make me eligible for press passes in the future, as I would love to go to more events in the future! If you are interested in attending a conference, you can check this list to see upcoming conferences in the web 3.0 space.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment whatever you want. If this is the first time reading my blog, please check out my first piece, where I lay the plan for my blog. Be on the lookout for my next piece coming soon!
