After Two Days of TOKEN2049, Here’s What We’ve Learned

After months of anticipation, TOKEN2049 has come and gone quicker than Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 McLaren. But with all the hype leading up to Singapore’s most significant crypto conference of the year, was TOKEN2049 a moonshot or a rug pull?

Having been to our fair share of crypto festivals both in and out of the Little Red Dot, it’s safe to say we were somewhat skeptical about TOKEN2049. Whilst the sheer size of the conference and the lineup were equally as impressive, we feared that its international appeal would result in dry, predictable, safe and uninspired talks.

Fortunately, we were proven wrong.

Highlights & Lessons

Whilst some of the panels matched the dreary level we’d expected, some seemed refreshingly more uninhibited. A rather unconventional welcome of “good morning motherfuckers!” from BitMex Co-founder Arthur Hayes kicked day two off to a good start, and “it’s always the same questions. It gets old sometimes” from FTX COO Constance Wang was the honest take we all needed to hear.

SimpDAO founder Eric Wall shared his extremely bullish DeFi belief that “traditional finance is going to die…They’re coming over to us, we’re not going over there.”

Meanwhile, Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz unpacked the Terra fallout, stating “intelligence and success created a cockiness.”

Other more philosophical quotes include “It doesn’t take that much capital to build in crypto. That’s why crypto is so beautiful,” from Dragonfly’s managing partner Haseeb Qureshi on navigating crypto as a venture fund.

At the same panel discussion, Paul Veradittakit, partner at Pantera, advised builders, “If you do not have enough runway, try to focus on one thing and do it very well,” saying that “Entrepreneurs do remember investors who grind with them through the hard times”

With regards to the crypto sector’s outlook, punk 6529 shared “You should think of NFTs being at the level of maturity of crypto at around 2012 to 2013,” whilst Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s VP regional head of Asia, said “Asia will be one of the key drivers of the next bull run.”

Aside from the panels, TOKEN2049 also offered the typical array of company booths with the typical range of tacky merch for shameless hoarding, and strikingly dressed sales girls to attract simps. That said, OKX’s driving simulator and free beer were particular favourites.