Liying

8 Takeaways from ETHCC Let’s start with applications! 1. Regarding payments, I've noticed increasing use of Gnosis Pay cards. At a side event, Gnosis Cards were given as perks, with a quick 5-minute KYC process to obtain them. Several founders mentioned they are also using these cards quite often. I guess this is one of the few products announced at last year's ETHCC that has continued to progress. Hope it will be rolled out in Asia soon. 2. RWA show clearer progress. Besides the continued involvement of large financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, there are also startups aiming to create RWA versions of Moody's. Founders are also more focus on unique and interesting assets. For example, @StoryProtocol aims to bring IP on-chain and solve complex IP licensing and payment issues through smart contracts. By leveraging the permissionless nature of blockchain, it enhances the composability and playability of IP. Looks like RWA projects aren't just about putting traditional financial assets on the blockchain anymore. They're also using blockchain to tokenize hard-to-financialize assets and boost their liquidity. 3. In the AI/DePIN sector, not much new is happening. Most projects are still focused on pooling computational resources without addressing the key question: where's the demand? However, more projects are now using AI to analyze user intent for customer support, marketing, and yield strategies. AI is transforming many industries, so it makes sense it would impact crypto too. 4. In the gaming ecosystem, TON is definitely the spotlight. Even at a developer-focused event like ETHCC, there were one or two TON-related side events, and their attendance was higher than many other side events. Okay, not much progress on applications, but what about infrastructure? 5. After solving scaling and gas fee issues, the EVM ecosystem is now focusing on latency issues, aiming to reduce finality to meet certain DeFi demand (maybe derivatives?) People are discussing topics like preconfirmation and based rollups, but latency on Layer 1 doesn't seem like a real pain point. For example, dydx has already tackled latency issues with off-chain computation while keeping self-custody of assets. 6. Last year, RaaS was a big topic at ETHCC. The EVM ecosystem is now moving towards an App Chain vision with many Layer 2 and Layer 3 blockchains, but also causing liquidity fragmentation. This year, ETHCC focused on solutions like chain abstraction and shared sequencers to do de-fragmentation. Builders, solvers, MEV researchers, and preconfirmers are becoming super important, but with all the uncertainty around competitiveness and market size, it's tough for VCs to invest. The main goal of these Layer 1-3 solutions is still to boost developer monetization, not because users need different app chains— they need apps, not chains. That's why chain abstraction is so important. 7. There is a significant gap between what EVM developers and Solana are currently discussing. While the Ethereum ecosystem is still addressing liquidity fragmentation issues, Solana is experimenting with new approaches like Blink and Bond, which focus on end-user UX. Solana doesn’t need to discuss other Layer 2 solutions and can concentrate solely on user distribution or acquisition. We see TON, Solana, and Base as the three blockchains most actively thinking about user acquisition. 8. As for other cutting-edge cryptographic technologies like ZK, MPC, TEE, besides their use as blockchain scaling technologies, there don't seem to be any widely adopted applications. Privacy-preserving KYC might be the first application scenario, but it requires collaboration with regulatory authorities, which could slow down progress. That’s all! It's always awesome to connect with everyone in person and feel the energy. Big shout out to builders and investors like @sohkai, @edeusm, @samclamdisco, @lucasfulks, @corigrohman, @ray_mandar, @MikeSilagadze, @daniel_web3, @cxgonzalez, @HarperLi_CN, @benlakoff, @tzedonn and many others for their insights! Can't wait to see you all in Singapore and Thailand later this year!