Now that ETH Denver has come and gone, I can’t wait to go back! This was my very first ETH Denver event in my three years of working in crypto. I’m sad that I missed the previous events because ETH Denver was packed and it was super exciting to see the progress that’s being made across the various sectors.
Here are my top 5 takeaways from ETHDenver
1. ZKRollups, ZKevm, ZKbridges, ZKeverything
Privacy technology in blockchain has been making steady progress but during bear markets, revived focus places this sector back on center stage. I’m a big proponent of privacy and privacy based applications so it was refreshing to see the level of focus and effort into re-gaining some of our privacy, both financial and data. I am rooting for this one!
2. GameFi
ETH Denver had a huge gaming section and it was great to see the progress made in gamefi, in just the last few years! I am seeing a big shift in the quality of blockchain based chains, starting to rival top tier FPS games. This is a very exciting space to follow…
3. Layer 1’s (Cosmos, Aptos, Polkadot)
I know, I know… it's called ETH Denver for a reason but you can’t deny that other Layer 1’s were jockeying for position and for a shot at the title while some had a presence there that was palpable.
4. Layer 2s
Coinbase had a major presence at the event with their Basehub. There was lively discussion about Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism throughout the event as well. There were also roll ups-as-service projects that were worth checking out.
5. Very little to no NFT presence
This was a surprise to me as I expected to see a decent amount of NFT companies and talks throughout the event, but it was pretty minimal. Not a bad or good thing, just an observation. Maybe they’re more focused on NFT specific events, which I’ll be at this week – find me at OuterEdge LA!
Despite the bear market, despite FTX, Celsius, and all the other CeFi collapses, this event was huge! From what I heard, ETH Denver had roughly 35K registrants and over 20K attendees. You could feel the excitement in Spork Castle with lots of great projects and great teams. It was comforting to see that innovation in this space is thriving.
About Steve, Fordefi’s VP of Sales
Steve leads Fordefi’s sales team and has been active in crypto since 2016’s ICO boom beginnings. He’s been through the BTC/BCH wars, ran a masternode, and made and lost more money than he knew could be possible… but he’s still here! 😉
Professionally, Steve has been working in crypto since 2021, leading sales at Curv (acquired by Paypal), then moved on to CipherTrace (acquired by Mastercard), and is now enjoying his time back in the crypto infrastructure space with Fordefi.
