Opinion: Token2049 Unveils a Blend of Speculation, Deluges, Hasbullah Appearances, Bargains, Celebrations, and Beyond #Rumors
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Each week, crypto.news presents #hearsay, a column of rumors and stories that shape the world of crypto. If you have a tip, contact Dorian Batycka at [email protected]
In this week’s edition, we go behind the scenes of Blockchain Week in Dubai.
As Dubai’s streets were drenched with heavy rain during the Token2049 event of Blockchain Week, the city found itself not only flooded with water but also flooded with announcements, partnerships, and promises from the crypto community. Despite the chaos caused by the rain, the world’s attention turned to the desert city to catch a glimpse of the future of finance. Among the botoxed influencers, business development girls, and sightings of Hasbullah (who was there to promote his newly launched Web3 and memecoin launchpad, hasbiland.io), I found myself overwhelmed, desolate, and almost swept away by the rain.
Image courtesy of Instagram stories Dmitri Juvkok, OBS world
Arriving in Dubai early in the week, I immediately immersed myself in familiar territory: art. At the Blockchain Life conference on April 15, I stumbled upon the 10101.art booth, a new platform that sells NFT tokens/shares of original works by renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Dali, Picasso, and Banksy. At their launch party at Monada Gallery in Dubai’s financial center (DIFC), a limited number of presale tokens were available. The business model, which is somewhat similar to masterworks.io but with an added layer of cryptocurrency NFTs, aims to make art accessible to a wider audience by offering shares in blue-chip artworks as an investment option for those who cannot afford to own the entire piece. Can’t afford to spend millions on a Picasso? Just buy a $100 slice!
Arm candy accompanying Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup / Scott Broth F & S II.49” (1968). Image courtesy of Dorian Batycka for crypto.news
And then it happened. The great biblical flood of Dubai in 2024 completely disrupted the second day of the Blockchain Life conference and nearly everything else in the Gulf petro state. Within a span of 12 hours, Dubai experienced a year’s worth of rainfall, causing homes and businesses across the emirates to struggle without essential utilities like water and electricity. As I found myself trapped in downtown Dubai, I had to walk 17km back to my hotel, most of it barefoot because my waterlogged shoes were causing blisters on my feet.
The rain did not stop Token2049, but it did cause significant delays for attendees coming from out of town. Pavel Durov, the enigmatic and elusive founder of the Telegram messenger, stole the spotlight at Token2049 with several announcements aimed at strengthening and expanding Telegram’s crypto functionality. Durov unveiled plans to allow ordinary Telegram users to participate in the TON ecosystem, enabling payments in TON for advertising to Telegram channel admins and introducing tipping in TON for content creators. Not stopping there, Durov also suggested the possibility of trading stickers in TON as NFTs, with artists receiving 95% of the proceeds. In addition, Durov invited Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino to the stage, where they announced the integration of USDT into the TON blockchain. In my opinion, with USDT facing its own issues with auditing and transparency, a native TON stablecoin could have further shaken up the industry.
From left to right: Andrew Rogozov, Pavel Durov, and Paolo Ardoino. Image courtesy Dorian Batycka for crypto.news.
The backroom deals did not stop there. Singapore-based QCP and Further Ventures announced their entry into Abu Dhabi. Together, they will form a strategic partnership aimed at promoting digital asset innovation in Abu Dhabi and the MENA region. While details are scarce, as is typical with strategic partnerships in the MENA region, we do know that QCP plans to establish an office in the Emirate, while Further Ventures will leverage its broker-dealer license and custodial products to facilitate sales.
Abra also made headlines this week with the announcement of SEC-approved offerings, Abra Prime and Abra Private. This integrated digital asset solution is tailored for institutional and private clients and has received approval from the SEC for its subsidiary, Abra Capital Management LP, to operate as a registered investment advisor. Abra’s goal is to connect on-chain and off-chain ecosystems for private clients and institutions, delving into the world of earning yield and borrowing against crypto assets. Let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate as other high-yield promises we’ve seen over the years (shout out to Voyager).
Another notable development this week was Drift’s announcement of a DAO and airdrop of a new governance token, with the genesis airdrop set to reward Solana DEX traders. As the rain subsided in Dubai, Drift users found themselves showered with newly minted governance tokens, marking a new era for the platform. 10% of the tokens, amounting to 100 million, were distributed to 180,000 of Drift’s active users based on their platform activity.
The Data Ownership Protocol (DOP) also made waves this week with a newly announced partnership with Bitcoin.com. This partnership aims to integrate DOP’s native 48 million wallets and 1 million monthly active users with Bitcoin.com’s 4 million monthly news readers, creating new opportunities for growth among Bitcoin enthusiasts who value privacy, sound money, and censorship-resistant protocols. Personally, I am eager to see and support this potential sea of growth.
Lastly, let me tell you about the party of the century. Or at least, that’s what I thought. Will Heckman from TheStreet.com and Roundtable Media reached out, promising extravagant yacht dinners and afterparties during Blockchain Life and Token2049. It sounded like the perfect blend of networking and fun, with the chance to mingle with industry elites. However, as the week of April 15-20 came and went, my inbox remained empty. No invitations, no yacht parties, just the deafening sound of being ghosted from the party of my dreams. Perhaps my RSVP got lost at sea or washed away during the biblical flood. Along with it, any hopes of rubbing shoulders with crypto bigwigs. Maybe next year.
Your columnist enjoying the closing event of Token2049 at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, on April 19, 2024.
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