Devcon 5: A Mixed Review
This year’s edition of the ethereum developer conference took place in Osaka, Japan.
Builders and enthusiasts from across the world gathered to debate, collaborate and learn about all things Ethereum.
We hitched a ride on the Shinkansen (bullet train) with the Forbole team to get from Tokyo to Osaka the day before Devcon.
The Organization
A number of disappointments were echoed by attendees with regard to both the venue and organization of the event. First, the venue was the Asia-Pacific Trade Center Hall, a large mall-like building about 45 minutes outside the city (last stop on the metro line). While the event itself was held on the first, second, and sixth floors, the in-between floors were littered with various miscellaneous shops and restaurants residing within the mall.
The second criticism that many shared was that many of the best, technical projects did not get to present on the main stage, and were, instead, relegated to the small conference rooms on the sixth floor (e.g. the Uniswap presentation suffered this fate). This resulted in eager developers overflowing out of the rooms due to the lack of available space.
While Japan boasted absolutely phenomenal food, the conference was far from a showcase of the cuisine. Although minimal catering was provided within the event, attendees were provided 7,000 Yen each worth of coupons that could be spent with the businesses within the mall. While this enabled independent food selection, it also unintentionally resulted in builders either wandering around the mall to locate food or simply not eating.
The Tech
Of course, Ethereum 2.0 was the major topic being discussed — particularly sharding and comparability challenges. Many talks also focused on decentralized finance (DeFi), proof-of-stake (including staking-as-a-service), various layer 2 scaling solutions, zero-knowledge proofs, optimistic roll-up, and governance among other topics. A number of Ethereum competitors (or systems completely outside the Ethereum ecosystem) were also showcased. The state of Ethereum 1.0 as well as the Ethereum 1.5 roadmap were also discussed.
The decision to feature (including on the main stage) non-Ethereum ecosystem solutions resulted in some controversy amongst the community, particularly OpenLibra, Solana, and others.
Kong.cash also announced a physical cash concept for crypto ease of use.
Satellite Events
In addition to the conference itself, the week was rich with other external events and meetups. These included a Cosmos Guardians meetup, where we (Stake Capital) announced our on-ramp product that’s currently in-development and Sikka announced a fee increase (from 0% to 3%!).
MakerDAO hosted a lively party and Asseth and Ethereum Japan hosted a joint Japan & France meetup at the Yahoo! Japan headquarters. Solana also hosted a meetup the first evening of Devcon.
We (Stake Capital) also had the opportunity to meet with a number of projects we’re currently working with, including the Synthetix, Elrond Network and IDEX teams during our time in Osaka.
Post-Devcon
Devcon ended in somewhat of a frenzy, as attendees scattered in attempts to avoid the impending typhoon Hagibis. Ultimately the typhoon hit Tokyo hardest, only bringing heavy rain and wind to the Osaka-Kyoto area.
After the Typhoon passed, those who stayed on took the opportunity to explore Japan further, including Kyoto, Tokyo, and spending some time with the local fauna.
Speculation also began flying about the location for next year’s Devcon. Candidates discussed included Buenos Aires, Marrakech, and New York City, among others.
Focus on what you do best and delegate staking to Stake Capital.
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