EthDenver 2023

What bear market?

EthDenver is notable as being the occasion that kicks off convention season annually. It consists of a hackathon adopted by a convention and web3 #BUIDLers and corporations flock en mass to attach with different technologists, firms and traders on the occasion.

This yr there have been regarded as round 25,000 individuals attending the convention, which is big. Each time I obtained in an Uber the driving force would ask me if I used to be there for this crypto convention and inform me they’d simply dropped somebody off for it! 

As soon as upon a time (5+ years in the past) one may really feel the heartbeat of web3 just by checking in on Reddit. Now there’s simply means an excessive amount of occurring to maintain up with every little thing — even in simply the Ethereum ecosystem. Nonetheless, there have been some very clear themes on the convention.

There have been mini summits through the week overlaying many areas of web3, however those who actually stood out had been:

There have been others, however being a developer convention, these are the large themes proper now that present a snapshot of the place we’re with respect to the evolution of this ecosystem.Interoperability and wallets have been mentioned for years inside web3, nevertheless, the progress being made right here is important. 

Interoperability is an attention-grabbing space, as all the assorted alt-layer one blockchains wish to discover seamless methods to switch belongings between each other, particularly Ethereum. 

There are numerous forms of interoperability between networks. The frequent theme we’re seeing is that nearly each blockchain community needs to help Ethereum with the power to execute EVM bytecode.

These networks then obtain larger efficiency by creating layer 2 networks on them which are secured by a base chain. Property might be transferred between layer 2 networks utilizing the bottom chain as an middleman — all of them profit from the underlying safety of the bottom chain. 

Essentially the most important problem lies in transferring belongings between non-native networks — i.e. from one layer one community reminiscent of Ethereum to a different reminiscent of Polkadot. This usually includes an middleman that bares a lot of the chance related to belongings going between chains and is a major honeypot for attackers. As enticing as the sort of switch is, it is nonetheless questionable if an environment friendly resolution can exist that may take away the requirement for a trusted middleman to handle the infrastructure facilitating the cross-chain switch of belongings. The perfect can be to do that on the protocol layer, however options don’t exist to bridge throughout totally different layer one protocols at present.

While at EthDenver there was an actual buzz about all of the exercise happening right here, how lengthy the “layer 2 wars” go on is more likely to be dictated by the adoption of ZK-EVMs that we see over the approaching months.

The groups engaged on this know-how all have important runway, however I do not envisage a future the place we’ve many alternative layer 2 applied sciences getting used. As an example, on the present time, the lion’s share of whole worth locked in layer 2 networks is throughout Arbitrum, Polygon and Optimism. 

Zero-knowledge applied sciences could also be underpinning the following technology of ZK-EVMs which are about to be launched, however they’re additionally thought of a vital privacy-enabling know-how for web3. 

Though zero-knowledge know-how is utilized in ZK-EVM, it is not used for privateness causes. Transactions which are happening on layer 2 networks are usually not personal between members. Though one may in concept create a non-public layer 2 community that would conceal a number of the on-chain exercise.

Such a privateness can be a sport changer for customers of blockchain networks, nevertheless, it is not as far alongside because the layer two applied sciences, and lots of proceed to drive true privateness ahead for blockchain networks.

Therefore the theme of zero-knowledge know-how is more likely to proceed to assemble extra momentum within the years to return. 

Essentially the most unbelievable takeaway from EthDenver was how vibrant the Ethereum ecosystem is in 2023, particularly contemplating we’re in a so-called bear market. I’ve at all times cherished being at Ethereum occasions reminiscent of DevCon, EdCon, EthCC and others, however had beforehand checked out EthDenver with a degree of FOMO having not attended. 

Loads of occasions are organised round EthDenver — a bunch of us went climbing!

Having had the possibility to attend, I consider the FOMO was justified and for anybody on the fence about attending, you need to. I promise you will not remorse it. Simply ensure you come armed with ChapStick and hand cream — the local weather there may be extremely dry!