As I walked out of the door of Stanford 71 and got on a taxi home, Token2049 finally came to an end. The reason why it is a stage is that only the "social" part has been completed, and with social networking come more arduous long-tail tasks.
Yes, this is Token2049’s essay. It is different from what you imagine. I really don’t want to write a single word now, but if I don’t write it down, I feel like I am incomplete. I went home and ate two bowls of instant noodles, a roujiamo, and a box of grapes after the meal. This should be the cheapest meal I have had in these four days, but it tasted especially sweet.
My role in Token2049 is constantly changing. Sometimes I am the organizer of the meeting, sometimes I am a partner of the project, sometimes I am a guest of the exchange, and sometimes I am a worker to promote the project. But when I returned home, I realized that these are all my roles on the Internet. Only now when I am sitting in front of the computer, I am the real me.
This time, Token2049 is different from the past. In the past, I was just a spectator, judging everything that happened in the event from a high and mighty perspective, but this time I became a part of the matrix myself. If Token2049 is a matrix, then the project party, capital, KOL, exchange, and spectators are all part of an interconnected chain.
Maybe many of you don’t know that there are almost no “leeks” participating in Token2049. The tickets that cost over a thousand dollars are not for ordinary users. Those who pay for the ticket prices are often those unwilling people in the industry. This also means that Token2049 itself is a large social stage, a stage for the project party to show itself to capital, exchanges, and KOLs, but not directly to users.
The glamour of the exhibitors is actually a whip on the project owners, while the investors, exchanges and KOLs are the carrots hanging in front of the mule. They look very close and you want to take a bite, but no matter how hard you try, you can only get closer, but there is almost no possibility of taking a bite, because Token2049 is not a place where transactions can be made directly, and further blending is still required in the end. But is it okay without Token2049?
The answer is no. There is often a barrier between people, and this barrier can be easily removed when facing each other. This is why Shang K was bought out early during Token2049. There is nothing that can't be solved by a glass of wine and a young lady. If there is, just have another glass of wine and a young lady.
Many people think so. In fact, although they are brothers when drinking, they still have to do what they have to do once they sober up. Token2049 is also a shackle on the project party. If you don’t hold a party, your voice will not be heard by users, the financing you want will not be so easy to achieve, and the exchange you want to cooperate with will not give in so easily.
It is true that some are happy while others are sad. The top projects on the stage can talk freely. They have enough funds to perform better and enough ability to attract attention from higher dimensions. But this is only a small part after all. It is difficult for most project parties just to survive. "Transaction" is the focus of Token2049 this time. The liquidity of the market is already very poor. If the transaction cannot be completed, no one knows whether it can last until liquidity returns. However, transaction is often the most difficult because most of the participants are also confused.
If we say who pays the biggest bill for 2049, it should be the project party. After all, the project party needs to spend money on booths, publicity, and hospitality. But where does the money of the project party come from? That's the VC's friends. When I say that VCs are suffering, many friends may not believe it, but this time VCs are really suffering. When I was eating Haidilao with several VCs and market maker friends, they all said that they were the real leeks.
Maybe you think that I only deal with Chinese VCs and market makers, but you are wrong. Several VCs with some fame overseas are also having a hard time now. The shackles on their heads are the exchanges. In fact, the more top-level VCs are, the more difficult it is to bypass the constraints of the exchanges. It seems a bit far-fetched, but it is actually true. The four words "book profit" are the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of VCs.
The more you spend, the more you lose, which is a consensus among VCs. The two- and three-year lock-up forces some VCs to think of some crooked ways. It’s not that there are no real VCs doing things. On the contrary, I think several acceleration camps and incubators are doing a good job. This has been proven to be useful in Web2 and will not be wrong in Web3. Therefore, acceleration camps between VCs and project parties have a strong voice, especially acceleration camps backed by leading public chains or ecosystems. They often go smoothly. Therefore, in the future, high-quality acceleration camps will give birth to a batch of projects that can stand out even in the shortage of liquidity.
Market makers are slightly better, and the top market makers can survive even in a PVP environment. However, it is a bit difficult for smaller market makers, and they have to quit in order to maintain their profits. An old soldier who does not want to reveal his name described it to me like this: market makers and exchanges are one "roving bandits" and the other "stationed bandit". I didn't make any sense at first, but when I think about it carefully, it is true.
Seeing this, some friends may think that exchanges are indeed at the top of the food chain. Projects and VCs have to look at the faces of exchanges. It seems that exchanges are in the limelight, but in fact, exchanges also have their own troubles. "Consumption" is a pain point that exchanges are currently facing and cannot get rid of. This consumption is the consumption of users, the internal consumption of the exchanges themselves, and the loss between industries.
User consumption may be the most troublesome problem for exchanges. If you list a high-quality project, users may not thank you, thinking that it is the result of the efforts of the project party and the market maker. If you list a project that has a good reputation but a very low price, not only the project party will be criticized, but the exchange itself will also be criticized. Not to mention listing a project with both a bad reputation and a bad price, that would be a nightmare. Therefore, exchanges are also troubled. After all, users are the real core, and the most terrible thing is that this core is constantly consumed. However, the experience and time required to make up for user consumption are often higher than the cost of attracting new users.
In addition to the consumption of users, there is also internal consumption. Too many people and too little meat is the pain in the hearts of every friend fighting on the front line. If the difficulty I passed in these four days is level 5, then their difficulty is at least level 20. Sometimes, not only do my colleagues hold me back, but they also create difficulties when there are no difficulties. On the one hand, I worry that there are not enough voices in the market, and on the other hand, I worry that the voices in the market are not good. The KOLs who were invited at a high price have to be served carefully, and they have to ask every now and then, "Did you eat well? Did you have fun?"
The losses between industries are also something that everyone tries to avoid talking about. Today I poached yours, tomorrow my company was poached by his, and the day after tomorrow his company was poached by yours. Do you think I’m only talking about the staff? When you are young, and information is disseminated at a high speed, KOL is also a battleground. Only by mastering the right to speak can you be more at ease.
From this perspective, KOL is the top layer of the industry. Project owners need KOLs to promote, VCs are willing to organize KOLs, and exchanges hope to use KOLs for input and output. They are definitely winners in life. But in fact, most KOLs think that "no money" is not profitable. There are always friends who say that someone makes a lot of money just by posting an advertisement, someone makes a lot of money by bringing in orders, and someone makes a lot of money by rebates.
It is true that some "KOLs" do make money, but these people are often not needed in every link. Some of you may not understand what I mean. To put it bluntly, KOLs who make money are not what Token2049 needs, because Token2049 needs people who can speak out for the market, for the industry, and spread the "spirit of the conference". Of course, the so-called not making money is different from what everyone imagines. When I say not making money, I only mean that they don't make money in the KOL's side job, and the side job is the most profitable link. It's a pity that "being cut off" is the mainstream of current KOLs.
KOLs are often weak in the hands of project parties. There are too many examples of this. Although some KOLs will help some project parties with publicity, in fact, they are often helpless. They must ensure that they live long enough, get enough attention, and ensure their output. So you see, those who are still posting after socializing every day are often diligent KOLs, but it is this kind of diligence that does not make money. The reason for not making money is often that they are too diligent and unwilling to bow their heads. Therefore, balance is what KOLs need to master most.
Having said all this, everything is interconnected and mutually restricted. This is the truth behind Token2049. On the contrary, what you are doing and how well you are doing it are not that important, because the hot spots of the track are not determined by the project, but by capital, and the money piled up by capital needs to have enough users to pay for it, and the user's terminal is the exchange. The exchange's customer acquisition is inseparable from one KOL after another, but KOL and the project party love and hate each other.
I can talk about a lot of serious stuff, such as track analysis, project analysis, and industry analysis, but all of this is just superficial. Back to the basics, you and I in the industry are just drifting with the tide. We don’t have much choice. Whether it’s for our own pockets or our own dreams, we can only rush forward, even if we know that the road ahead may be bumpy, but don’t even think about retreating. As long as you stop, you may be trampled under the torrent.
Being tired is the truth about Token2049. Everyone is tired and has to be tired. If you are not tired, you may not have to be tired. You think I am talking about the small soldiers, but the big bosses are the same. It is true that they are forced to operate. Every family has its own problems. There are some things that you don’t like and are already very tired, but you still have to do them. This is the essence of Token2049.
Finally, English is a hurdle that every cryptocurrency friend cannot overcome. Once you overcome it, you will find that the world is a different place. But if you cannot overcome it, you can only watch my unhelpful rants.
This tweet is sponsored by @ApeXProtocolCN | Dex With ApeX
