Token2049: a personal report by the Pontem Network team

Pontem’s team has just returned from Token2049, a massive blockchain event in Singapore. Learn what our Marketing Lead Vincy Hsu and Product Manager Gregory Kair have to say about their experience, new partnerships, and insights from the event.

About Token2049

Token2049 is one of the biggest blockchain events of the year. The 2023 edition, which took place in Singapore on September 11-17, featured over 10,000 visitors and 300 speakers, including CZ, Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh, Justin Sun, and Arthur Hayes.

Naturally, Pontem was there, too: our co-founder Stas Oskin, product manager Gregory Kair, and business lead Vincy Hsu all had their own packed agendas. We asked Gregory and Vincy to share their insights, impressions, and tips for projects that wish to leverage networking and large crypto events.

What was your personal objective at Token2049? Did you achieve it?

Grigorii Kair

Three full days of non-stop meetings and over 100 new contacts that could become Pontem’s partners – that’s the key outcome of 2049 for me. It was a pleasure to talk to legends from Uniswap, Avalanche, LayerZero, ZKsync, Arbitrum, etc. But it’s also great to see new faces – a whole new wave of Web3 startups that has emerged in spite of the bear market.

As Product Manager, I enjoy telling people about Pontem Wallet, Liquidswap AMM, and our development tools like Move Code Playground. But it’s also an opportunity to get feedback and see how we can develop our products and make them better.

Vincy Hsu

My goal at Token2049 was to connect with intriguing new projects, ventures, institutional traders, and KOLs (key opinion leaders) in the crypto space. Perhaps the biggest focus was on cultiating high-quality connections with KOLs and engaging in discussions on product research.

I found what I was looking for mainly at side events: drinks, meetups, parties… Token2049 had dozens of those on every single day – around 450 side events in total. That’s my preferred method for connecting with Web3 executives who are open to collaborations and networking.

In networking conversations, I highlight Pontem’s innovative features – because I do believe that we are among the biggest innovators in the Move ecosystem. My job is to showcase the potential of our products and of Aptos as a whole to drive adoption and innovation in Web3.

What would be your advice for Web3 projects attending a major event for the first time?

Gregory

Real work begins after the event. All those new contacts need to be nurtured: you have to reconnect with each one, remind them who you are, and think of how you can create value for each other. 100+ new contacts made at the conference = 100+ calls to be scheduled and a lot of potential collaborations. Start right after the event, or they will have forgotten about you.

Vincy

Study the calendar of side events – there people come to network, as opposed to central events, where people come to listen to the headline speakers. Select those that align with your objectives and, once there, identify the right individuals. Try to strike up meaningful interactions with them. The goal is to invest your time in conversations that can benefit your project.

What’s the key insight you drew from the event?

Gregory

Web2 is starting to notice Web3 – I would even say that these two realms are beginning to merge. In Singapore, there were black-and-white cabs on the streets promoting the partnership between LayerZero and Google Cloud – and you could get a ride for free showing your Token2049 pass. Circle partnered up with Grab – one of the most popular superapps in Asia, which now supports NFT vouchers for shopping and experiences in Singapore. There were events featuring Amazon, Alibaba, and other Web2 giants.

Vincy

I was delighted to see the influx of institutional whales and TradFi trading companies. They are definitely making a foray into the crypto space, and Token2049 provided a platform for fostering connections between them and Web3 projects. For Pontem, too, there were promising opportunities for partnerships, including with TradFi companies. I’m really excited about the collaborations that will soon come out of this Token2049.

Our team strikes up new collaborations at every Web3 event it attends - and we attend many! Follow Pontem on Telegram, Twitter, and Discord for updates and insights from the next blockchain conference!

About Pontem

Pontem Network is a product studio building the first-ever suite of foundational dApps for Aptos. Pontem Wallet, the first wallet for Aptos, is available for Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Android, and iOS.

Use Pontem Wallet to store and send any tokens on Aptos. The wallet is integrated with our Liquidswap DEX, the first DEX and AMM for Aptos, Topaz and Souffl3 NFT marketplaces, Ditto and Tortuga liquid staking platforms, Argo and Aries lending protocols, and all other major Aptos dApps.

Our other products include the browser code editor Move Playground,  the Move IntelliJ IDE plugin for developers, and the Solidity-to-Move code translator ByteBabel – the first ever implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine for Aptos.