Breaking the infrastructure bubble: Key takeaways from Token2049 side event

A side event at Token2049 Singapore exploring whether the industry is in an infrastructure bubble and what is the way forward
Emre Günen
Posted by Emre Günen October 10, 2024 4 Mins Read
A side event at Token2049 Singapore exploring whether the industry is in an infrastructure bubble and what is the way forward

Presented by Sweat Economy

One of the most important gatherings in the crypto and Web3 space, Token2049 Singapore, brought together the brightest minds and influential leaders with more than 20,000 attendees. Attendees were inspired by insights from a star-studded lineup of speakers, such as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Binance CEO Richard Teng.

Token2049 expanded its presence in Singapore with a series of side events, including the ‘Beyond the Infrastructure Bubble’ event on Sept. 17, organized by Sweat Economy, Cointelegraph Accelerator, and onchain data aggregator Addressable. This side event explored pivotal questions about the current state of the blockchain industry and decentralized technologies.

With around 150 attendees ranging from journalists to venture capitalists and founders, the event explored the biggest narrative shift happening right in front of our eyes — away from building more layer 1s, layer 2s and other infrastructure toward investing in consumer crypto decentralized applications (DApps) that can drive true mass adoption.

The event centered on the current state of the crypto industry and what will happen once the “infrastructure bubble” pops. Speakers like Richard Muirhead from Fabric Ventures, Kelvin Koh from Spartan Capital and Sweat Economy co-founder Oleg Fomenko led discussions on the industry’s status. During the sessions, industry leaders challenged each other, offering bold predictions and innovative perspectives on what will drive success and mass adoption.

Panelists engaged in thought-provoking discussions on the infrastructure bubble. Source: Sweat Economy

Panelists engaged in thought-provoking discussions on the infrastructure bubble. Source: Sweat Economy

Key issues included “The Future of Consumer Crypto,” which examined how the industry can speed up mass adoption by addressing mobile distribution, building better user experiences and focusing on use cases that solve the problems of everyday users rather than building yet another clever chain.

The panel titled “The Race to a Billion Users: Which DApp Will Be First?” explored how DApps can capture mass consumer attention. Another session, “The Narratives to Onboard the Next Billion People,” examined marketing strategies for mainstream crypto adoption and provided a roadmap for scaling the blockchain ecosystem.

Wallet expansion unveiled

A standout announcement came from the Sweat Wallet team, unveiling their ambitious multichain development project. This new feature will allow more than 17 million SWEAT token holders and 3 million monthly active users on Sweat Wallet to easily transfer tokens between blockchain ecosystems using just one account, key, and token, spanning across six chains to begin with.

According to Oleg Fomenko, the wallet innovation will provide a seamless user experience and act as a gateway to bring Web2 users into Web3. Fomenko, known for advocating that physical movement will form the basis of a movement economy that can rival the size of the $7 trillion attention economy, is focused on creating products that engage users. He stated:

“We believe that consumer crypto is the future, and we will not stop building for users. With Near’s chain abstraction technology, we are launching a seamless multichain experience on Sweat Wallet, and we expect to see massive growth in users and adoption of the SWEAT token as a result.”

Mass adoption through chain abstraction

Chain abstraction technology was also emphasized at the event, where Proximity Labs (Near), Everclear, and Particle Network came together and shared their insights on Chain Abstraction solutions. Panelists agreed that chain abstraction will bring more competition among DApps, which will motivate builders to build apps with better quality and user experience, hence the industry will improve as a whole. By simplifying cross-chain interaction, they argued that the industry can break down barriers to entry and fuel greater mainstream participation.

The side event concluded with a keynote by Sweat’s chief marketing officer (CMO), Misha Lederman. He presented the company’s vision for the movement economy, a paradigm-shifting concept that draws on the intrinsic value of physical movement combined with technological innovation and academic research.

Lederman highlighted how physical activity holds measurable economic value, supported by recent research from the University of Birmingham, University of Cadiz and Blockchain Research Lab (BRL).

By quantifying an active day (10,000 steps) to be worth around $3.96 as a median among the academic research results, Sweat aims to redefine how society values daily physical movement, positioning the movement economy as a market that could eventually rival the $7 trillion attention economy. This vision underscores Sweat’s commitment to leading the next wave of crypto adoption through the building of a new movement-focused economy.

The “Beyond the Infrastructure Bubble” side event at Token2049 underscored the importance of collaboration and challenging the status quo to drive growth, specifically focused on the user and their simplified experience. With products like Sweat Wallet leading the charge, the future of blockchain seems increasingly focused on consumer adoption and ease of use.

Learn more about Sweat Economy

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