ETHDenver showed good vibes are back in crypto, but questions remain

Multiple people I spoke to expressed a desire for crypto to focus less on building technical infrastructure and more on creating apps and use cases for the real world.

Through its emphasis on infrastructure, crypto has been “building for ourselves,” Andy Bromberg, CEO of the company behind payments app Beam, told me. Now it’s time to “build for others.”

This news apparently didn’t make it to the developer-focused event next door, where coders were hunched over keyboards on the floor of an arena typically used for rodeos.

Source: EthDenver

A couple devs napped on beanbags. “FRONT END NEEDED,” read a sign propped up on one project’s table.

I spoke to a duo who was working on a decentralized AI audio transcription project. They said they expected more teams to be working on AI, but of the other projects submitted alongside theirs, the majority appeared to be infrastructure.

I trekked to Denver’s art district one morning to see Edge City, the soft launch of an organization hoping to become a “society incubator” aimed at human flourishing. Edge City is a spinoff of Zuzalu, an exclusive retreat Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin helped host in Montenegro last year.

As attendees did yoga or took advantage of the ice baths and sauna outside the venue, I sat inside with Edge City co-founder Gary Sheng. Sheng called ETHDenver the “biggest family reunion” for “soulful technologists,” but said side events like his are helpful for separating signal from noise.

“A lot of people, they feel really overwhelmed by ETHDenver. The quality of the average interaction is not very good. A lot of VCs, a lot of shilling,” Sheng said. “It’s like, overwhelming, a sea of information. You’re not sure what’s high quality. And so I think curators are really valuable today.”

The couple of Edge City attendees I spoke to generally echoed this sentiment. One joked that just like layer-2s arose to solve congestion on the Ethereum blockchain, side events are a solution for congestion at ETHDenver.

Of course, conference goers also escaped the crush of the main venue with the evening happy hours that various projects threw. At an event for the oracle platform Pyth, I chatted with a DeFi fanatic who said he’d be taking it easier by only going to four crypto conferences this year.

“I love talking crypto,” he said. “If only it was all hot girls here,” he added, gesturing at the majority-male group around us.

On top of being largely male, the ETHDenver attendees also skewed younger. Despite spot bitcoin ETF approval and the slow march of institutions into crypto, the conference made it seem like crypto’s crop of quirky outsiders were still at the space’s forefront. I saw zero people in suits at ETHDenver. I spotted someone in a collared shirt, but its wearer made up for the formality with pajama pants and sequined shoes.

Somewhat rudely during an interview, I remarked to Coinbase vice president of engineering Will Robinson that he might feel like he’s surrounded by kids. Robinson, who has worked in engineering for two decades, shrugged in response.

“I’m surrounded by people who see the future,” he told me. “Kids often see the future.”

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