On September 13th, the two-day TOKEN 2049 conference officially kicked off in Singapore.
TOKEN 2049 is one of the largest cryptocurrency events in Asia, with support from top development companies, investment institutions, media, and project management teams. It attracted over 10,000 participants and more than 200 speakers. Topics include regulatory landscape, artificial intelligence, Web3 games, NFTs, scalability, and interoperability, among others.
This article collects and organizes insights from industry thought leaders. It is recommended to bookmark.
Ripple CEO: The United States is currently the only country that crypto startups should avoid
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse: The United States is currently the only country that crypto startups should avoid. He hopes that the United States can learn from the practices of countries such as Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland, and formulate policies that encourage crypto innovation while protecting consumers. Garlinghouse blames the SEC, stating that it is waging a political war against the crypto industry through litigation.
Etherscan CEO: Combining blockchain and Web3 data with AI needs to solve engineering challenges in smart contract understanding and prompts
Etherscan CEO Matthew Tan: There are currently two major pain points in combining blockchain and Web3 data with AI. Firstly, many people need better understanding in the smart contract field. Therefore, we have developed the Code Reader tool, which allows users to access verified smart contract source code and ask basic questions to help them understand the functionality and core features of smart contracts. This is very useful for beginners who are essentially asking very basic questions, such as wanting to know what a smart contract does.
The second pain point involves prompt engineering, or how to ask the right questions. This is similar to the development of internet search engines in the past, where search engines became increasingly intelligent and able to guess user intent and provide relevant results based on the content entered by users. Now, we also need appropriate prompt engineering to help users ask the right questions and obtain accurate answers. This is an important direction for development that can improve the usability and user experience of blockchain and smart contracts.
Dune Co-founder and CEO: AI and LLM are overhyped, and some technical products are yet to be developed
Dune Co-founder and CEO Fredrik Haga: Just like the work in LLM and artificial intelligence, I think it’s clearly overhyped. Many people think that you can just add some artificial intelligence and everything will be great. I don’t think it’s that simple, everything doesn’t seem that easy, you need to understand some complex things. One of them is that you need to write a single dashboard to interact with the data, but you also need to understand what’s happening on the blockchain, what smart contracts are, what these events are, and that itself is quite complex.
I think a lot of what we’re doing is spending time understanding what this actually means, for example, what a transaction means in various systems. So, it takes a combination of these factors to make LLM work, and they are not trivial. I think there’s also an interesting question, usually either you have a very technical audience or you have a broader, less technical consumer audience. And for some LLM things, it kind of falls in between. You need to understand what questions you should ask, and I think that’s an area that hasn’t been developed yet for general technical products.
Near Co-founder: AI and Large Models Bring Consistency Issues, Not Security Issues
Near Co-founder Illia Polosukhin: On one hand, this is about the proxy or model I use, which represents me, and I want its behavior to align with my expectations. This seems more like a problem that OpenAI and other companies are solving, presenting it as a product to ensure its behavior aligns with the company’s values without deviating.
However, from a global perspective, I believe the real issue is not the security of AI, but the need for addressing consistency issues in humans. The challenges of generated content and fake news cover the entire history of humanity. In Web3, we actually make Byzantine fault tolerance as the core, because there are incorrect information in the Byzantine army and they are trying to figure out how to deal with this situation. So, in actuality, the whole field is based on incorrect information and malicious actors. Therefore, this is a human problem about malicious actors, and AI, this type of language model, and generated content are new tools that allow for filtering.
Former CTO of Coinbase: Building a Network State is Feasible, Similar to Materializing DAO in the Physical World
Former CTO of Coinbase Balaji Srinivasan: A network state is a decentralized state, just like Bitcoin is a decentralized currency. It has the population, income, and real estate footprint of a traditional state, but distributed worldwide and interconnected. Similar to the islands in the region of Indonesia, these islands are physical land fragments separated by the ocean, and the islands of the network state are physical land fragments separated by the internet.
Just like Bitcoin, it is everywhere, and this is actually its advantage. It is designed to resist and surpass traditional states and their systems. In a sense, it simply materializes DAO in the physical world, allowing people to not only hold the same currency but also live together, build things, and so on.
Arthur Hayes: Personally Holds FIL, Bullish on Filecoin
Co-founder and former CEO of BitMEX Arthur Hayes: In Europe, people are using SEAL to help reduce data costs, and SEAL earns FIL rewards by storing this data on the Filecoin network. The University of California, Berkeley is also doing similar things with SEAL. SEAL also has collaborations with NASA and several other universities in the United States. I hope I have briefly explained why I believe Filecoin will see a significant increase, and I hold FIL.
Creator of Smart Contracts Nic Carter: Developing Stablecoins on Bitcoin Has Tremendous Potential
Creator of smart contracts Nic Carter: Stablecoins have appeared on Bitcoin, with Tether initially issuing USDT on the Omni blockchain. However, over time, the use of USDT on Bitcoin has gradually decreased, while other blockchains such as Ethereum have adopted stablecoins more.
One way to increase the value payload of each byte on the Bitcoin blockchain is by incorporating stablecoins into the Bitcoin blockchain. Doing so can increase the economic density of Bitcoin to meet various needs, including currency tools.
In summary, developing stablecoins on Bitcoin has tremendous potential, whether it is through settlement on the Lightning Network or creating synthetic stablecoins based on Bitcoin. This will help meet the needs of different users, thereby improving the utility and attractiveness of Bitcoin.
Yuga Labs CEO: It is not feasible to integrate Web3 components into Web2 games, and native Web3 core gameplay needs to be developed
Yuga Labs CEO Daniel Alegre: I am passionate about what Yuga Labs is doing, and we have a very strong and passionate community. Six months ago, when I became CEO, the first thing I did was announce our next APE Fest event, which is our global annual community event planned for November in Hong Kong. My experience in the Asia-Pacific region goes back decades, from the early days of Google to now Yuga Labs. Here, I see not only entrepreneurial spirit but also levels of foresight and reshaping. Investment and foresight in the Asia-Pacific region are unparalleled globally.
Some game companies in Korea are considering using Web 2.0 to create flagship IPs and introduce them into the Web 3.0 environment, which is not happening in the United States. When thinking about how to truly attract players in Web 3.0, you have to start from the infrastructure of the game and Web 2.0 players see through it. If you just connect a Web 3.0 component for the sake of making money, they will be skeptical. But if you fundamentally consider Web 3.0 as the core gameplay, then a truly unique experience will be generated. In the United States, the regulatory environment is not as friendly as in other parts of the world, but it is starting to change. One obvious reason is that they see that this is actually beneficial and if done right, investment and possible job opportunities will contribute to economic growth.
Author of “The Network State”: Decentralized network states are possible, preferable, and profitable
Author of “The Network State” Balaji Srinivasan: It is possible, preferable, and profitable to establish a decentralized network state. He states that the conditions for the birth of network states are already in place, with businesses forming globally interconnected networks of individuals, and community identity being the core of today’s society. In terms of network currencies, tech giants like Nvidia and Tesla have already joined the crypto wave, and El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, so network states may be born in the near future, with the timing still uncertain. In network states, digital citizenship will be realized, and further diplomatic recognition will have social and political implications for network states. Traditional states and social media giants generate significant GDP and market value through large populations or users and high ARPU, while future network states can rival traditional states and social media giants in scale through Saas (Society-as-a-Service).
Uniswap COO: Uniswap has a small number of users located in the United States, facing regulatory uncertainty
Uniswap COO Mary-Catherine: Uniswap is a globally available product and an internationalized product. However, the Uniswap team is located in the United States, with a physical office in New York, and a portion of its users are also located in the United States, which brings regulatory uncertainty. But Uniswap is actively communicating with regulatory agencies.
Castle Islander Ventures partner: ZK Rollup has been validated on Ethereum and can also be implemented on Bitcoin
Castle Islander Ventures partner Nic Carter: ZK Rollup has been validated on Ethereum and can also be implemented on Bitcoin. Implementing ZK Rollup on Bitcoin is currently one of the most important things and is a relatively achievable goal. This will demonstrate that Bitcoin can continuously upgrade itself. He also believes that there is great potential in developing stablecoins on Bitcoin, whether it is through Lightning Network settlement or creating Bitcoin-based stablecoins, both are worthy directions to explore.
LianGuaintera partner: Mobility is necessary for the global adoption and user reach of cryptocurrency products
LianGuaintera partner LianGuaiul Veradittakit stated at the “Next Generation Cryptocurrency Projects” roundtable that cryptocurrency is an interoperable layer across industries in the global economy. Mobility is necessary for the global adoption and user reach of cryptocurrency products. Specifically in terms of investment, he focuses on the cryptocurrency tracks of global brokerage, financial infrastructure and development tools, NFTs and games. For example, investing in infrastructure and middleware in the European Union, games in South Korea, and financial infrastructure in Japan. In terms of DeFi, the current focus is on decentralized derivatives, investment in cross-border payment facilitation, tokenized national debt, and yield products, and these products must adapt to local regulations in their strategies.
Founders Fund partner: The intersection of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence is coming
Founders Fund partner Joey Krug discussed the cryptocurrency tracks he is currently focusing on at the “Next Generation Cryptocurrency Projects” roundtable, mainly focusing on new verticals with historical data, oracle services, and the intersection of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. However, he also mentioned that the projects he currently sees do not have much significance. He also talked about some other insights, such as the potential interest in AI agents, the meaninglessness of text-to-speech, the interesting aspect of achieving optimal yields through automated refinancing, and issues with fiat currency inflows and outflows.
MakerDAO co-founder: MakerDAO has decided to ban US IP addresses due to US regulatory influence
MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen: Due to the influence of US regulations, MakerDAO has made a governance decision to ban US IP addresses from its product UI. He also stated that MakerDAO is committed to eliminating any dependence on development companies to ensure the protocol’s sustainability over time.
Like what you're reading? Subscribe to our top stories.
We will continue to update Gambling Chain; if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us!
