ETH Denver Wrap Up: A Winter Bull Market
An ETH Denver Breakdown
Gm Somaeks — last week I attended ETH Denver and although I had a short trip, there were a lot of exciting happenings making me even more bullish for 2024.
A few themes stood out 👇
- EigenLayer ecosystem
- Decentralized AI
- Network States
EigenLayer ecosystem
I would say apart from AI, staking/restocking dominated the side event space and was a huge theme during ETH Denver itself.
What is EigenLayer?
EigenLayer is a protocol built on Ethereum that introduces restaking, a new primitive in cryptoeconomic security. Essentially allowing you to “restake” your staked ETH assets (such as stETH) and earn yield through the EigenLayer protocol.
Why was EL so hot at ETH Denver?
It’s hard to ignore protocols such as EtherFi, who recently announced a $27 million seed round, or protocols like KelpDAO reaching $650m in TVL.
EL itself is building the foundation for a new economy on ETH. Builders can now take advantage of restaked assets to create entirely new use cases for ETH that might not yet been available before, like Unstable Money which allows you to borrow stable coins against any staked or restaked asset.
EigenLayer will bring new utility to ETH, ultra-sound money may no longer be a meme.
Decentralized AI
Many events focused around AI. Personally, its hard to tell right now which projects are truly AI or just using the name for their next seed round. Nonetheless, events like Bittensor brunch and Decentralized AI day at Edge City brought interesting crowds.
Projects to look out for in AI
After attending several AI panels, one thing is clear Bittensor (TAO) is leading the race in blockchain AI.
What is Bittensor (TAO)?
Bittensor Protocol is decentralized machine learning protocol that enables the exchange of machine learning capabilities and predictions among participants in a network. It facilitates the sharing and collaboration of machine learning models and services in a peer-to-peer manner.
Yeah, that confused me too. In simpler terms, Bittensor allows builders to share and monetize their AI models.
In my opinion, AI will shape up to be one of the biggest narratives in crypto.
Network States
In the last year, the pitch of Network states, originally coined by Balaji Srinivasan, has made its way through the crypto ranks. There was no shortage of network state events at ETH Denver.
Edge City was a 7-day event hosted during the annual gathering. Topics from AI, community, to longevity were discussed throughout the week.
What is a Network State?
A network state is a highly aligned online community with a capacity for collective action that crowdfunds territory around the world and eventually gains diplomatic recognition from existing states
In short, digital communities become digital nations.
While an ambitious endeavor, there are communities already building cities, decentralized neighborhoods, and Digital nations in Africa.
Since learning about Network States for the first time at Zuzalu in 2023, the concept has fascinated me. The ability to coordinate societies via blockchain could be powerful. Something I’ve been exploring with SojuDAO.
ETH Denver is always a fun one. Looking forward to seeing everyone again at ETH Seoul in a few weeks 🙂
