Reporting from a rainy but packed Token2049 in Dubai this week, still buzzing from Paris Blockchain Week. My hectic travel schedule made me skip the last field notes, so this edition is packed with value.
While Paris focused on Western crypto enthusiasts, Dubai has a bigger, more global vibe. Here, Bitcoin L2s, runes, ordinals, L3s, DeFi 2.0, and Memecoins dominate the conversations. Right now, this is the place to be for crypto.
“Respond from the center of the hurricane, rather than reacting from the chaos of the storm.” ― George Mumford
This week, crypto world is meeting in Dubai for Token2049. Here’s the talk of the town:
Zooming out: In a “computable economy”, almost everything we own or do will be tokenized. Our behavior will become tradeable, trackable, measurable and tied to onchain digital identities.
Be smart: This opens two big opportunities for consumer brands.
Be smarter: While NFTs were a first inning of “tokenized culture”, most of these NFTs weren’t “currencies”, i.e. much less liquid.
Now, we’re entering “memecoins”, cryptocurrencies based on cultural references or internet jokes. The more they circulate, the more value they have.
The bigger picture: To outsiders, memecoins might appear as a fad or just pure gambling. But that’s just half of the truth. They’re part of a bigger trend of shifting power back to consumers.
