Heavy rain, compliance, AI and voice - a brief talk about the experience of the Token2049 conference

Original author: Wang Yonghuan, Web3 investor

This is my first time to attend a Token2049 event. As a Web3 learner (yes, I always think this identity is the most suitable for me), I have two purposes for attending the conference:

1. Feel the atmosphere of Web3 up close. In Web3, atmosphere is something that is hard to explain but particularly emphasized.

2. Understand the cutting-edge topics or narratives discussed in the current industry, which is especially important in a rapidly changing industry.

The main Token2049 conference was held on April 18-19, but there have been various side events, small events and parties since April 15. As someone who used to work in a Web2 Internet company, the atmosphere of this conference is completely different. Generally speaking, Web3 activities are conferences, but they are more like parties to meet friends. You can listen to the speakers share their insights in the venue, or you can find a place to chat with people from different countries and regions in the world with a drink. Of course, if you have time in the evening, various organizers will have different parties, and you can meet new friends again by just taking a beer. The atmosphere of casualness and freedom runs through the entire Web3 event.

In addition to casualness and freedom, when it comes to my feelings about the city of Dubai and this Token2049 topic discussion, I think it can be summarized with a few keywords:

Keyword 1: Heavy rain

If you are a participant in this industry, you must have seen the news of this rare heavy rain in Dubai from social media/friend circle. On April 16, Dubai experienced the largest single-day rainstorm since 1949, with a large number of luxury cars submerged in the water and the public transportation system paralyzed.

Dubai has always been known for its luxury and prosperity. Until April 18, the entire city was still partially or completely shut down in public functions. A rainstorm tested the sewers of this city that brings together the rich material life of mankind, and also exposed the vulnerability of wealthy cities.

If extended to the Web3 industry, this rainstorm is also very inspiring:

1. A sound system needs to take into account any low-probability risks and make plans for them, even if the probability of occurrence is really low. For example, when we are working on a Defi project-will we be aware of a risk with a very small probability, but because the probability of its occurrence is small, we choose to turn a blind eye out of luck?

2. A sound system must also be prepared for the emergence of black swans at any time. Now that we are in a bull market, the overall atmosphere and sentiment tend to be optimistic, but we need to be vigilant at all times, because in this industry, it is impossible to determine when black swan events will come and how they will appear. Cautious optimism is always better than blind optimism.

Keyword 2: Regulation and Compliance

Regulation and compliance are the words I heard most in Dubai this time. The first panel event at the main venue on April 18 was about regulation and compliance. Guests such as Binance CEO Richard Teng and Bloq co-founder Matthew Roszak discussed their views on global regulation of the crypto industry. At the same time, in my exchanges with different project parties, I can also feel their emphasis on industry regulation and compliance. For project parties, the issues they generally care about are: ① Which countries/regions have friendly regulatory and compliance policies; ② How to obtain corresponding compliance licenses in these countries/regions, etc.

My feeling is that everyone has a consensus on the need for regulation and compliance in this industry. The only difference in the discussion is the way and rhythm of regulation. After all, the regulatory policies of each country and region are different.

At the same time, this also makes me think about a question: Is there a contradictory relationship between obtaining high returns and the increasing compliance of the industry? For example, in the early stages of blockchain, due to the lag in regulation and compliance, there are many projects and individuals who have obtained rich returns. As the industry develops and becomes more standardized, will there be a myth of individuals or projects making fortunes quickly like in the past?

Keyword 3: AI

In addition to regulation and compliance, AI is another hot word I heard at this Token2049 event. At the main meeting of Token2049, guests including IIIia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol, and Ahmad Shadid, founder of io.net, discussed what AI and Web3 can do in decentralized intelligence. Similarly, of the projects I discussed outside the venue and at the party, about half were related to AI, including AI distributed storage and computing, decentralized GPU, intent-based AI applications, AI social networking and creator economy, etc. The popularity of the AI+Web3 narrative is evident.

An interesting discovery is that in the past, when discussing Web3 mass adoption, people generally placed their hopes on GameFi and SocialFi, but this time, my feeling is that now everyone thinks that if Web3 is to be mass adopted, AI has a greater chance.

Keyword 4: Chinese discourse power

The Token2049 event was held very close to the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival Summit. The comparison between the two events has also become an interesting topic. After communicating with some Chinese practitioners, I found that everyone has two common feelings: ① The concentration of Chinese participation in the Token2049 event is not as high as that in the Hong Kong Carnival event (this is understandable, after all, Dubai is far from Greater China); ② There are differences in the focus of the discussion topics. For example, in the Hong Kong Carnival event, the topic of Bitcoin ecology is very popular, but in the Token2049 event, the discussion of this topic is relatively not so hot.

Everyone is very curious, is this like two worlds?

This question is difficult to answer, and there is no way to characterize it now. My opinion is:

From a practical point of view, Chinese people will definitely have their own discourse system in Web3.

On the one hand, many Chinese project entrepreneurs and investors now have good backgrounds, can speak fluent English, study and work abroad, and have a global mindset. At the same time, Chinese people themselves have the gene of "daring to take risks", so in the next ten years, I believe that more and more Chinese will be active in the global technology competition arena.

On the other hand, there are many Chinese entrepreneurs in the Bitcoin ecosystem now, which is itself an effort and proof of building a discourse system.

From the perspective of vision, I think the Web3 industry should not be divided into countries/regions, skin colors or backgrounds. Because this industry emphasizes consensus, when the consensus is consistent, we are like-minded people, and we will not set where you come from, what skin color, education/work background, etc. as restrictions. So from this perspective, whether Chinese or non-Chinese, we should weaken the difference in identity. After all, the emergence of new things like Bitcoin itself is breaking the barriers of traditional sovereign state boundaries.

The above keywords are my stronger feelings when participating in the Token2049 event this time. It should be noted that this is just my personal feeling, which may be subjective, so it cannot represent the thoughts of every participant. Secondly, at this Token2049 event, there were many other topics that were discussed very enthusiastically, such as Depin, RWA, Bitcoin ETF, Restaking, etc. My above feelings cannot cover all of these topics. But in general, events like Token2049 can reflect the direction of the current Web3 industry hot narrative. Regardless of everyone's subjective feelings, I believe that through participating in the conference, a common judgment will be formed on the industry's hot tracks and narratives.

This article is from a contribution and does not represent the views of BlockBeats

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