Token2049, the annual Web3 conference, opens its doors on Thursday, April 18, but those doors may well be barricaded with sandbags as the desert city has been inundated with a wall of water.
The city, which typically gets just 9.5 centimeters (about 4 inches) of rain in a year, has seen close to 15cm (about 6 inches) fall in just 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday evening, throwing the tinder-dry metropolis into chaos.
Social media is awash with videos and clips of the unlikely situation, with streets turned to rivers, cars submerged, planes spraying water on flooded runways, and tales of diverted flights and visitors to the conference trapped in their hotels.
The city’s international airport, the second busiest in the world with 87 million passengers, told travelers this morning not to come — a first for the desert nation.
The event itself is still scheduled to go ahead despite the inconveniences visitors are experiencing. The hope is that the return of the kind of weather the Emirates expects for this time of year — blue skies and temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius — will be sufficient to get the city back on its feet and wheels again.
Cointelegraph's reporter Ezra Reguerra is in Dubai to report on the event and has sent some eye-popping videos of the city after the storms.
TOKEN2049 will run from April 18-19, 2024, at the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai. Considered by some as one of tthe leading global Web3 and crypto community events of the year, 2024 marks the first time the event is taking place in Dubai.
Tickets sold out well in advance, and 10,000 attendees are expected over the two days. It will bring together founders, executives, and decision-makers from over 4,000 companies and 100 countries.
The agenda will cover a range of topics, including decentralized AI, Web3 gaming, DeFi, and blockchain scalability. And, as one would expect from the city of Dubai, the event will be accompanied by exhibitions, live DJ sets, and high-class hospitality.
TOKEN2049 actually began on April 15, with a week-long series of meetups, workshops, and parties. The second TOKEN2049 event of the year will take place in Singapore in September.