Singapore & IRL event

Token2049 is probably the biggest crypto conference worldwide. An estimate of 25,000 degens travelled to Singapore.

Side events I attended:

• Frontier Traders Solana Summit and watched Galileo take home the win. I am eager to participate in a live trading competition myself in London for Solana Breakpoint. The final winner takes home a nice Porsche GT3RS.

• Sui Basecamp: I got a customized perfume made by AI and watched https://x.com/MINHxDYNASTY trade.

• MetaMask Alpha Nights: A private event, invite only. It was great, but there is not much I can share just yet. Stay tuned for more updates.

• Pump.fun private FnF gathering for some beers and good vibes.

• Bitbase VIP yacht party that took us sailing along the bay.

• Coinbase x Aramco F1 Qualifying watch party.

• RFC: Real Steel in action, where robots battled each other. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t up to par with what I thought it would be. One robot basically knocked himself out in the Octagon and had an epileptic attack.

• Kaito AI hosted us for some beers by the bay, looking at Marina Bay Sands.

• Pudgy Penguins hosted several events. A hotpot dinner and meeting some of my oldest friends in web3 stood out. The community vibes are always top notch in the huddle.

• Surgence hosted a rooftop event where I tried to host my podcast with Leon, 95% humidity and the stress of my tech not working as supposed stressed me like few other live streams ever did. I was completely soaked after it and had to ask my bro Phil for a new shirt to go out to Marquee for a BloFin Wallet event.

• Shiv and Gigi hosted another Bing Bong even, powered by our friends from Phantom.

• Kast hosted me twice. First for an exclusive dinner, followed by an extensive party and then again at Amber Lounge, the premier Formula 1 race weekend afterparty held at Clifford Pier, The Fullerton Bay Hotel. Spoke to Raagul and the whole team and I just want to thank you all for always treating me like a VIP.

• Official Token2049 after party at Ce la vie rooftop.

StarPlatinum

Are IRL Events in Crypto Worth It?

This was my third year attending TOKEN2049 Singapore, a 19-hour journey in total from my home to the other side of the world to meet people I talk to on the internet.

Sounds weird, and let me tell you something, it’s also expensive, so it’s pretty common to ask yourself whether it’s worth going or not.

And I’m going to be honest with you, it’s only worth it if YOU make it worth it.

If you’re going to an event just to shake a few hands, take selfies, and grab some merch, my friends, you’re throwing your money away. You can do the same thing on a call or even through a reply on X, but it’s also very easy to make the trip worth it.

Look for real conversations, have a schedule with the events you want to attend, the people you want to meet, and the projects you’re genuinely interested in.

One of my favorite days, for example, was the MetaMask event, and this is what I consider the perfect kind of event to make such a long and expensive trip worth it.

The event was chill, the venue was spacious, and there were a lot of people, but you could actually have proper conversations, unlike those nightclubs that, sure, look amazing in a video, but we’re not here to party.

I’m not traveling all the way from Spain just to get drunk with people from CT. Forget about those events unless you’ve already finished everything you came to do. We’re here to do serious things.

And that event had the perfect atmosphere to have a good time, enjoy some good food, and also have conversations that could actually bring you value. By the way, keep an eye on MetaMask because there are already plenty of rumors that some interesting things are coming.

Maybe it’s finally time for the sleeping giant to wake up.

But that would be my general takeaway, explained through an event that I absolutely loved. I also strongly recommend finding a group of people you can stick together with and spend time with outside the events.

Carlitos has ended up becoming my ride or die on many occasions, ngl. Someone you can trust who helps you recharge your social battery when you’ve got nothing left HAHAHA.

And if you can, private dinners, my friend.

That’s also where things get interesting, being able to have a close-knit circle of people to connect with and have long conversations without anyone interrupting or music blasting your ears off.

Traveling to these events isn’t worth it if you don’t have a plan for what you want to achieve. And once you have one, go after it, even if you have to sacrifice days of rest or even your usual work pace.

Make the effort and the money worth it. But of course, while Carlitos and I are traveling around the world, CT moves 1,000 times faster. As always, something has to happen.

And perhaps this time we’ve witnessed one of the biggest recent disappointments for CT, especially for those who had high expectations because of the name Luca Netz and what he achieved with Pudgy Penguins.

Let’s talk about Abstract.