TOKEN2049 Singapore, a global conference to define the next steps in Web3, opened today. With hundreds of meetups, workshops and more over the two-day main event, Singapore has become a vibrant hub for Web3 activity, bringing together more than 7,000 companies and over 20,000 attendees from over 150 countries. For peripheral activities, please refer to: "Event Express | Token2049 will be launched on September 18, a summary of peripheral activities"
BlockBeats sent reporters to the event site to follow up and report on the conference in real time. The following are the latest developments:
Vitalik: The current encryption field is no longer in the early stages
On September 18, BlockBeats reporters reported on the scene that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin gave a speech on "What Excites Me About the Next Generation" on the first day of participating in the TOKEN2049 main venue. People tend to say it’s early days in crypto, we’re still building the infrastructure. Really, how long did it take for something like the internet to come to fruition, I think people have been saying that pretty much since Bitcoin launched. And one of the real challenges we face now is that it’s not early days in crypto anymore.
Ethereum as a project has been around for over 10 years, and in the 15 years since Bitcoin was born, we’ve seen things like ChatGPT go from not existing at all to suddenly emerging and completely changing people’s understanding of artificial intelligence.
So the question we have to ask ourselves is how do we really think about all of this? Are we really still in the early days? My answer to that question is that I don’t think we’re early in crypto, but we’re definitely in a special phase.
Pump.fun Investor: Gamification is not a long-term way to maintain user stickiness. High retention rate depends on whether the core needs of users are solved
On September 18, BlockBeats reported on the scene that Qiao Wang, the founding contributor of AllianceDAO and investor of Pump.fun, attended the roundtable discussion on the theme of "Going Mainstream: Building Web3 Consumer Apps" on the first day of the TOKEN2049 main venue. He said:
In the field of encryption, I don't think gamification is necessary to make a consumer application and succeed. Fundamentally, user stickiness is important, and whether there is a high retention rate comes from whether you solve a real core need for consumers. Gamification is sometimes interesting, and it does improve retention, but I don't think it's a long-term solution. What I want to say is that you can't "polish shit." If your product has loopholes, people don't want to use it, and even if they use it because of some incentive, they will leave immediately after using it. I don't think any more gamification can change this.
However, in highly saturated markets, especially those with serious product homogeneity, the gamification of applications is most obvious. In this case, companies need to maintain customer loyalty and retention through manual means because the switching cost between products is low.
Founders Fund Partner: Discussing prediction markets with Polymarket founders as early as 2016
On September 18, BlockBeats reporters reported on the scene that Founders Fund partner Joey Krug attended the "Going Mainstream: Building Web3 Consumer Apps" roundtable discussion on the first day of the TOKEN2049 main venue and spoke:
I think from the perspective of consumers. First of all, if the product is already online, you can judge a product based on its early attractiveness. Many people tend to think that success happens in an instant, but Shayne Coplan (founder of Polymarket) started emailing me about prediction markets in 2016 or 2017, and we chat occasionally a few times a year. Most people think that we invested in Polymarket because of the election, but the election is actually not that important. Even after the election, Polymarket will still have continued repeatable appeal.
Polymarket founder: To build a successful consumer product, you need to have a clear and clear "user portrait"
On September 18, BlockBeats reporter reported on the scene that Shayne Coplan, founder and CEO of Polymarket, spoke at the roundtable discussion on the theme of "Going Mainstream: Building Web3 Consumer Apps" on the first day of the TOKEN2049 main venue:
Why choose to use your product instead of other alternatives? I think the reason people are excited about Polymarket is that it provides the best service on the market, and it happens to be supported by encryption technology. Ultimately when building consumer products, everything needs to revolve around "who do you want to use it", what content you build for them, why they use it, and how you will reach them.
Framework Lianchuang: The competition in venture capital in this cycle is too fierce, and the bull market cycle from 2018 to 2022 may be difficult to replicate
On September 18, BlockBeats reporters reported on the scene that Vance Spencer, co-founder and general partner of Framework Ventures, attended the "Investors Roundtable: Navigating Crypto's Changing Landscape" (Investor Roundtable: Dealing with the Changing Landscape of Cryptocurrency) on the first day of the TOKEN2049 main venue. He said:
(If I start a fund from scratch now) I will be very focused, and we started like this in 2019. I might move to India, China, or Hong Kong. I will try to focus on a regional market, and I may go deep into a specific field. I think the difficulty of starting out as a venture investor now is that the competition is too fierce. We still haven't seen any fund show breakthrough performance in this cycle, like someone investing in a project and getting a 1,000-fold return, and then becoming a "big boss", but of course I think it may not be realistic (now). I think the period from 2018 to 2022 will be a very unique period in the history of this industry, so much so that I don't think everyone here can grow from a fund size of about $10 million to billions of dollars.
Multicoin Partner Kyle: Financial markets are becoming more and more democratized, and the crypto field will gradually converge with traditional finance
On September 18, BlockBeats reporters reported on the scene that Kyle Samani, managing partner of Multicoin Capital, attended the "Investors Roundtable: Navigating Crypto's Changing Landscape" theme roundtable discussion on the first day of the TOKEN2049 main venue and said:
Finance started out as something for the elite of the elite, like J.P. Morgan saving America. The history of finance over the last 100-150 years has been a history of democratizing access to opportunity, with things like Robinhood, and now crypto, to about 6-7 billion people around the world who aren’t too sensitive to price-to-earnings multiples when choosing what to buy. As the market becomes more mature and more hedge funds and traditional investors enter the cryptocurrency space, this could lead to more and more convergence between the two worlds (traditional finance and crypto).
