5 Highlights From My Week In Tel Aviv For Building Blocks ’25
On Thursday, March 27th, I had the pleasure of attending Building Blocks²⁵ in Tel Aviv. Following the success of Building Blocks²³, the 2025 edition was bigger and better, and highlighted Israel’s long held status as a crypto powerhouse. It was an awesome week filled with sun, sightseeing, amazing food, and great side events (including CryptoMondays Tel Aviv!). `
On my first trip to Israel as a crypto guy, in Dec. 2017, at the peak of that glorious bubble, I came to appreciate that Israel is crypto crazy. All it took was a visit to the bitcoin ATM across from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which enjoyed a never ending line of customers clamoring to buy bitcoin.
Since that trip, much has changed, in the world, in Israel, and in web3. But one thing that hasn’t changed, and only become clearer, is Israel’s status as a leading crypto hub. Below I note 5 highlights from my wonderful week:
1. The Excitement & Awe Surrounding Google’s $32B Acquisition of Cybersecurity Firm Wiz
On March 18th, the week prior to Building Blocks, Google announced the $32B acquisition of Wiz. It’s the sixth largest tech merger in history, and more than double the largest acquisition in the history of Israel (the $15B acquisition of Mobileye by Intel in 2017).
The Wiz acquisition is a reminder to the world that the Israel tech ecosystem is truly unique in it’s ability to drive massive value, in spite of it’s mini size. The deal equals ~$3,200 per Israeli citizen. A transaction would have to exceed $1.1T in value, or more than 3X the largest transaction ever, for a U.S. transaction to equal the same value per capita.
The pride across the Israeli the tech ecosystem was palpable. The coming wealth generated by the asle will add ever more fuel to one of the greatest tech ecosystems the world has ever known.
2. Tel Aviv Has Great Web3 VCs Helping Building The Ecosystem
The main organizer of Building Blocks was Collider, Israel’s largest web3 VC, co-founded by Adam Benayoun (who formerly ran 500 Startups Israel).
Collider’s impressive web3 portfolio includes EtherFi, Zengo (my favorite crypto wallet!), and Fhenex (a leader in fully homomorphic encryption). And their support of web3 in Tel Aviv is so impressive that it’s a masterclass on supporting a web3 ecosystem.
Amos Meiri of Node Capital was one of the early pioneers of crypto in Tel Aviv, co-founding Colored Coins — the first digital assets protocol — in 2012. Vitalik, who co-authored the Colored Coin white paper, would stay with Amos when he visited Tel Aviv. Today, Node is a leading investors in the Israeli web3 ecosystem. The Node Capital side event was a highlight of the week.
Another highlight of the week was “… an exclusive afternoon of networking, insightful discussions, and great food..” hosted by another leading Tel Aviv based web3 VC, MASTERKEY. Founded by Shauli Rejwan in 2021, MASTERKEY is “Powering the blockchain’s foundational technology layer,” and investing from pre seed to growth stages.
3. Israel’s Resilience Was On Full Display
Other than all the “Bring Them Home” posters across the city, there were few signs that Israel was still engaged in a war that had started 17 months earlier. Many of the ISraelis I met with during the week had been called up to serve at some point during the war. Some had been serving the previous week! I got to experience my first bomb shelter during CryptoMondays.
4. Building Blocks²⁵ Was An Epic Gathering Of The Israeli Web3 Ecosystem, Sprinkled With Some Crypto Globetrotters
It was so inspiring to see the web3 ecosystem gather in Tel Aviv for the first time in almost two years.
I had a fun time on my panel “Time is a flat circle”, with DCG’s Matt Kumell, Collider’s Adam Benayoun, and Paris Blockchain Week’s Michael Amar, where we discussed the striking parallels between previous tech cycles and the current web3 malaise.
I really enjoyed the panel on Israeli crypto unicorns:
And the food …
But the highlight of any crypto coinfernece, is catching up with old friends.
5. CryptoMondays Tel Aviv Rocked!
We had aa good crowd for CryptoMondays Tel Aviv. Thx to Zengo for hosting us at their gorgeous office.
The night featured a fireside chat with Henri Binsztok, Founder of OKcontract (a member of our Decentralized AI Agent Alliance). It was great to start the week spending time with Israeli friends I hadn’t seen in awhile. I also enjoyed the company of visiting friends like Ameen Soleimani and Jeremy Musighi, and we’ll always have that time we spent together in the bomb shelter!
I can’t wait to get back (for my 20th trip since I started going in 2015)!
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This content is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute trading advice. The author of this article may hold assets mentioned in the piece
