Journey to Web 3— 2022 ETH Denver
Vivid story of my journey to ETH Denver
Disclaimer: This article is written only to provide information and is not responsible for any areas such as investment, law, or advice. We don’t recommend investing in a specific asset, so please do not make investment decisions solely based on the contents of the article.
Intro — ETHDenver, a festival for degens
I have attended ETH Denver, which was held for about two weeks from February 11, 2022. ETH Denver is Ethereum’s largest annual networking and hacking event, which takes place in Denver, Colorado, USA. About 120,000 people from all over the world took place this year. ETH Denver was literally a “festival”, which provided a myriad of amuses to degens. Everyone participating in the blockchain ecosystem with different interests and goals could gather and share each other’s dreams and ideals passionately all day long. In this article, I would like to deliver every vivid scene of ETH Denver.
The bazaar of ideas and knowledges
‘Bazaar’ would be the most appropriate word that expresses ETH Denver. Attendees incessantly shared each other’s idea in the chaos of the bazaar. There were total four official venues in ETH Denver — Art Hotel, Mirus/Temple Club, The Castle, Jonas. Those venues were adjacent to each other, only taking roughly 5 minutes to move from one to another. Various speeches, panel discussions, workshops and hackathons that took at least 20 minutes to a few hours were scheduled in the four venues. You could choose a tempting schedule for time table and freely attend to your choice. The venues and streets were wholely bustling with those who were strolling around looking for their best menu. The hallways of venues were full of people’s conversation and their audio even invaded the room where speeches were being delivered. People told each other which project or idea they are engaged with, and asked question to each other. Even a team for hackathons were formed impromptu. The goods that were traded in the bazaar named ETH Denver weren’t stuff like food, articles, or shirts, but rather glittering ideas, and they were all free. When you make eye contact with anyone on the way, you could naturally say wassup and introduce your project or idea. ETH Denver was an open space full of oppurtunities to show yourself off and learn from others.
Ben Kim, the CEO of Superblock also delivered aspeech about his paper ‘Ethanos’ and a mainnet project Superblock is currently proceeding.
Glimpse into the next trend
Annual conferences like ETH Denver provide us with a good oppurtunity to take a glimpse into the next trend. If there is any keyword being mentioned frequently in the place like ETH Denver bunch of people across the globe, it means that the keyword is ‘hot’, certainly full of potential to be the next trend. 2022 ETH Denver not only covered ‘Ethereum’ but rather dealed with a much broader topic, ‘Blockchain’. Vast range of projects and ideas took part in ETH Denver, but I would like to introduce you some trends that impressed me particularly.
1. DAO
I was quite astonished to learn how much DAO was hyped these days. People no longer introduces their identity with which school or company they are going to. Instead, more than half of people I met started their introduction with ‘I’m one of OOO DAO’ or ‘I’m building OOO DAO’. A large portion of people had their own clear purpose besides financial profit such as environment conservation, helping students, or aiding developing countries etc, and they built DAO in order to fulfill their purpose. Before DAO came out, it was almost impossible for an individual to solve a problem like ‘saving ocean’. Thus, they should heavily rely on the large institution such as a charity or a firm. However, it’s different now. Those who share common purpose can now build a community and prepare cornerstone for operating the community in decentralized way, and eventually make DAO.
There were some interesting DAO I met during ETH Denver. Eric Lee of a41 Ventures, who accompanied me in ETH Denver, got granted by Padawan DAO. Padawan DAO provide financial supports to students who are willing to attend blockchain-related events like ETH Denver. Also, people who dropped out their schools in skepticism against traditional education system made Dropout DAO to encourage younsters to kick off their own Web 3 projects or career without wasting time in traditional education. The conversation with one of the core team members of Moon DAO, attempting to send internally chosen astronaut to the moon(Believe me, it’s the real moon!) intrigued my curiousity. Every one of those held clear purpose and gathered in the form of DAO, promptly making action. In addition, DAO is no longer the community only in online space. They mingled up together offline during ETH Denver. Some DAOs rented restaurants or bars for meeting, and made a reservation on AirBnB and stayed together. The fact that the account of teenagers who are running these DAO is unexpectedly high also astonished me. They didn’t take care about each other’s age or affiliation. They just made a move and gradually ran toward their goal by building DAO.
However, we still should be careful about how much of existing DAOs would have real value and long-term sustainability. I have also seen a few people who are exploiting the word DAO as a buzzword, introducing themselves as a builder of DAO even though the only thing they did was making Discord channel or Twitter page and just chat around without any evident vision. Also, DAO is certainly in infancy, facing lots of problems to be solved. I had a chance to have a private conversation with one of former Constitution DAO core team members. Constitution DAO attempted to purchase original copy of the United States Constitution only to fail. I wouldn’t mention specifically, but the last sentence he told me was ‘Money corrupts people.’ DAO is ‘a decentralized autonomous organization’, but still a constructed and operated by people. DAO is still somehow centralized in the matter that it relies heavily on the individuals consisting the DAO. Also measures should be prepared to handle and coordinate moral hazards incurring from each individual’s selfishness.
As forementioned, DAO is still in infancy. However, the fact that problems related to DAO are keep being raised may also mean that DAO is a hot potato nowadays. Had nobody had any interest and put their efforts into DAO, these problems wouldn’t have appeared at first. Nothing is perfect from the beginning. I believe that DAO’s expedition has just started and it will be continuously improved and enhanced. Korea’s market tends to be a bit late adopting global trends. I assure that DAO would be a major trend in Korea within few months.
Institutions’ entry into Defi
Traditional financial institutions’ influx into Defi ecosystem was also mentioned a lot in 2022 ETH Denver. VCs have invested more than $33B into blockchain startups in the past year. As blockchain has started to explosively grow, traditional institutions are planning to enter Defi scene. Unfortunately, it’s still difficult for them to do so due to regulations and information assymetry. Most Defi services do not proceed KYC(Know Your Customer) and are filled with unknown participants. The permissionless and decentralized nature of Defi has made lots of people possible to participate in various finance activities, but also act as obstacles blocking regulated entities to tap into benefits of Defi services.
In January, Aave has launched Aave Arc, which is totally identical with the existing Aave Protocol except that only whitelisted corporates can use it. Even though it may be somehow centralized, numerous Defi services are developing independent platforms where entities who have gone through KYC can participate in Defi services and handle legal issues. I could meet a great deal of Defi services which focus on onboarding traditional institutions in ETH Denver this year. 1inch Network has stated that their main goal for the next 12 months is to onboard as many traditional institutions as possible. As more and more entities are willing to enter Defi, the need for new methods of KYC is being more emphasized. I also met several teams that are developing safe and efficient KYC system for institutions that utilizes zero knowledge proof.
Currently, more capital should flow into Defi protocols to enable Defi projects’ growth. However, most Defi protocols are relying on the rise of tokens’ price to increase TVL and usage. This may make sense in the short term, but whenever tokens’ price decrease, huge amount of capital exits the protocol. Relying heavily on the rise of tokens’ price isn’t desirable in the long term. The capital of enormous traditional institutions is still asleep outside Defi ecosystem. While existing Defi services are termed as ‘Permissionless Defi’, now Defi services solely for regulated entities are called ‘Permissioned Defi’. The term ‘Permissioned Defi’ was mentioned a lot of time in the conference. It would be worth to look at how Defi ecosystem changes after onboarding of institutions kicks off in earnest.
Blockchain projects are also ‘businesses’
Blockchain is a technology, ideology, but also a business. Meeting various projects at this Edenver, I could feel how much effort they were putting into the aspect of business to expose their projects and grow their communities. No one can deny that blockchain is a leading technology bringing new paradigm by breaking down the problems and limitations of existing Web 2. However, in the end, the technology of blockchain will be valuable only when it is substantially used by people. Blockchain technology is not only for Degen in the long run, but should eventually become a technology that can be accessed by the general public. Many of the projects I met at Edenver were not just focusing on delivering how excellent and sophisticated their technology inside were to people, but also struggled to enhance brand power through various marketing strategies. Ordinary users do not pay that much attention to the internal technology behind a project as we expect. Rather, they are often moved by a much simpler and more superficial story and brand power. At a time when the blockchain industry continues to grow and ultimately runs toward mass adoption, a business perspective as well as a technical aspect will come as essential for those working on the Web 3 project.
The Castle, the main venue of ETH Denver, was full of booths for various projects, and it was like the heaven to me. I was able to visit booths of numerous projects that I usually researched and watched only through the Internet and chat with the team members in person. The booths in The Castle were more reminiscent of clothing stores than blockchain booths and the booth staffs were like clothing store employees. Various goods such as T-shirts, stickers, hats, bags, etc. were prepared on the table, and staffs shouted “Which size do you want?” and distributed T-shirts. The Layer 1 project called Reef whose main theme was coral reef gave prizes if you took a picture in front of a coral reef sculpture at an art museum in Denver. And the Layer 1 project called Vega provided a brand-new electric lighter that lights up an electric spark without the need for gas, while the DEX project called Bancor distributed condoms with witty phrases. In addition, the DOG Token Project, which fractionalizes the Doge NFT exposed its brand to people by deliberately parking its doge-wrapped sports car at the main entrance of Art Hotel.
In particular, the marketing of the Layer 1 project called Harmony was the most impressive in Etherdenver. Harmony’s team members wore mint-colored eye-catching beanies and hoodies that throughout the Etherdenver. I could see Harmony’s logo everywhere, and the team members distributed bracelets that endow the right to enter Harmony Party. Harmony Party is an after-party hosted by Harmony, starring a famous DJ named Dead Mouse, and has also attempted to draw attention from the BAYC community, including the benefit of free admission to BAYC owners. The party was so hot that it took three hours to enter.
The act of airdropping merchandises and holding parties has nothing to do with the technology behind the blockchain project. Airdropping merchandises and holding parties does not mean that users will be better aware of the technical excellence of the project. However, these actions attract people’s attention and ultimately help to grow communities and fans. In order for the Web 3 project to succeed, good technology must be supported first for sure. However, technology with comparative advantage alone cannot grow a project. There must be a enthusiastic community that supports the project. Raising a community to participate in one’s journey is also as important as technology development. To be honest, I have met and talked to so many projects in ETH Denver, so I don’t remember all of the aforementioned projects in detail. However, when I look at the my lighters, T-shirts, and condoms I have received from the projects, they remind me of those projects.
Conclusion — Eventually, We need ‘Mainnet’
I had valuable time to meet endless projects at ETH Denver and talk to people with different fields of interest and expertise. However, what is important in the end is the good ‘mainnet’ that can act as a platform for these projects. In ETH Denver, I met so many people who wanted to build DApp on the existing mainnet, such as NFT, DAO, Defi, and game, but I rarely met anyone who said they were creating a new mainnet. The layer 1 projects I met were often “one-chain-one-application” with only one DApp being deployed, and many were just the forked version of another layer 1, showing no particular difference. When I told those I met at ETH Denver that Superblock, the team I am working with, is currently creating a new mainnet, most people were very interested, saying that I was the first person to create a new mainnet they met in ETH Denver in person. When talking to those I met in ETH Denver, most of the concerns and demands were “demand for a good mainnet.” A good mainnet will be a necessary factor not only for those who attended ETH Denver but also for all participants in the Web 3 ecosystem.
Superblock is currently building a super-light mainnet where everyone can run a full node. Today, the internet is moving on from client-server model based Web2 to blockchain based Web 3. In order to process the data based on Web 3’s [Blockchain-Client] model, a client have to download the data and run a full node. Unfortunately, the capacity and cost required to run a full node of the blockchain increases rapidly, acting as an high entry barrier. Therefore, current Web3 services still have to rely on middleware such as Infura and Alchemy based on [Server-Client] model in order to process the data. Even though the blockchain is a distributed system, the middleware still becomes a single point of failure, which leads to the same problem occuring in the existing [Server-Client] model. Superblock defines Web3 as an environment where users can communicate directly with the blockchain without relying on middleware. The [Blockchain-Client] model implements a decentralized web, Mesh Web, and Standalone Dapp.
Blockchain and Web 3 are growing, and it has already become a trend that no one can deny. Once again, I was able to feel the vivid enthusiasm and hot atmosphere in ETH Denver. The world was changing so rapidly that it was even freaking me out, and numerous ideas were being created and realized. By building our new mainnet Over Protocol, Superblock aims to lay the cornerstone for all of these ideas to be implemented in truely decentralized environment. Next year in ETH Denver, you will be able to see the booth of Over Protocol and the logo of Over Protocol here and there. I truely care for the future of blockchain and web 3 ecosystem, which will grow and become more colorful next year. Stay tuned with Over Protocol :)
Contact information
email : ricky@superblock.co
twitter : @SatoshiN0bunaga
telegram : @jjh8477
