ETH Denver Insights: Diverse Conference Themes and a Memorable Pudgy Penguins Community Event
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ETH Denver Insights: Diverse Conference Themes and a Memorable Pudgy Penguins Community Event
This event still prioritizes builders, but goes far beyond that.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: TPAN
Translation: TechFlow
What will conferences look like as the market reactivates?
I’ve returned from ETH Denver, and I’ve already gained a wealth of insights from all the great conversations, events, and talks.
Today’s article will recap the themes I observed, the interesting products and companies I encountered, and notes from sessions I attended. However, these observations and notes do not represent the entire conference.
I wish I had an extra day to explore areas less familiar to me—such as the emerging Bitcoin L2 + DeFi ecosystem—and to speak with different projects/protocols/networks running booths. I guess I’ll have to save that for the next conference.
Themes
Mood in 2024 vs. Previous Years
One theme I was eager to observe was how sentiment this year compares to previous years. Although I only attended ETH Denver last year, the backdrop and context between ETH Denver 2023 and 2024 are vastly different.
In early 2023, the industry was at the depths of a bear market. FTX had just collapsed months earlier, venture capital funding was scarce, and only builders and true believers showed up. Nonetheless, over 15,000 attendees and 6,000 developers participated in the ETH Denver hackathon.
Given a more hopeful environment, what would ETH Denver 2024 look like? With the recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs, rising prices, and speakers including the Governor of Colorado, an SEC Commissioner, and even a presidential candidate, the momentum was palpable.
Crypto is having a strong moment, and the crypto market has now credibly returned to center stage.
Looking back at ETH Denver's history, it's clear that it used to be primarily an event for builders—but now it's an event for everyone.
ETH Denver has something for everyone:
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Are you a Bitcoin or Ordinals maximalist? There were several talks, side events, and parties tailored for the Bitcoin community, and many Bitcoin builders attended.
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A believer in the Solana community? There were activities and booths for them too.
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Interested in other sectors or specific chains? Everyone had their own events or booths.
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Not a builder? There were events and talks across various disciplines and communities.
The event still prioritizes builders, but it’s so much more than that now.
Product-Market Fit
Despite the diversity of attendees, I underestimated the number of people from the NFT space. Multiple projects hosted events and gatherings, but the one that stood out to me (partly because I attended both, haha) was Pudgy Penguins.
They didn’t just host one—they hosted two events.
Timing of Event Announcements
Typically, event announcements and links are shared weeks in advance. Pudgy Penguins broke this norm.
The builders’ event was announced just three days prior, while the NFT Happy Hour was announced just one day before.
If a non-NFT project or company announced an event just one day in advance, the team might be sweating bullets. This is where the power of NFT communities shines through. As a holder, I immediately applied and prioritized attending these events over conflicting ones. I assume other attendees and community members did the same.
Few organizations have this kind of influence—NFT communities are the exception.
Another interesting observation: the builders’ event was announced by the Pudgy Penguins account, while the NFT Happy Hour was announced by the Lil Pudgys account. I don’t have insight into why they did this, though it’s worth noting. Maybe it was to drive attention to the Lil Pudgys account, attract interest from different audiences, or simply to mix things up?
Partnerships and Themes
It was interesting to compare these two events and their approaches.
Most importantly, the Pudgy team took a “divide and conquer” approach while maintaining freshness for those who attended both events.
The team also understood their audience. Yes, it’s the Pudgy Penguins community, but ETH Denver is about building, and they acknowledged that differently for each event.
Strengthening Airdrop Strategy
I don’t believe this was the primary reason behind the Pudgy Builders event. However, considering how communities increase their chances of becoming airdrop communities, bringing more founders into or closer to the community is undoubtedly a strategic move.
Also, if you’re a builder, why not consider joining the PengPal Mafia? It consists of some of the best builders in the industry.
Tap is the new scan
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, conferences are becoming more interactive thanks to NFC chips and IYK.
Tapping offers a smoother experience than scanning QR codes and enables more effective connections (you can scan a QR code from afar, but you can’t tap from a distance).
IYK chips were embedded into 18,500 attendee badges (invisible to the eye), and participants redeemed 4,000 chip-enabled rewards after completing tasks and earning points.
ENS partnered with IYK and POAP to create personalized cards and distribute custom POAPs. This wasn’t just a fun experience—it allowed users to share contact info, record who they met and when, and reconnect later. Conference CRM is evolving and becoming more convenient than ever.
Interesting Insights, Companies, and Products
Safary’s Web3 Growth Summit: I was thrilled to speak at Safary’s inaugural growth summit. Great to meet other growth professionals in the space and share insights on content x growth.
I look forward to Justin (CEO & Co-founder) and Safary hosting more events like this. The space needs them!
Dan and Broken Reality: Great chatting with one of the BUIDLthon hackers and learning about what he’s building. He even published his own ETH Denver recap from a hacker’s perspective.
Index Network: A protocol using natural language for knowledge graphs and discovery. Thanks to Shawn from Consensys for the deep dive!
HMX: A decentralized perpetual exchange on Arbitrum. The product is cool, but even more fascinating was talking with Pep, the Thailand-based founder. I learned about Thailand’s crypto landscape, community behaviors, and preferences. Hoping to eventually attend events in Asia to better understand the region’s crypto/web3 scene.
Blocklive: On-chain ticketing, loyalty, and event platform
Colony: Physical collectibles on-chain. Similar to Courtyard—I need to dig deeper into the differences at some point.
Click here to browse top BUIDLthon projects: I didn’t get to see the demos, but the winners are worth checking out—go take a look!
Final Thoughts
As seen above, I didn’t have much time to attend many sessions. Still, I managed to catch a few and took notes for everyone! Check them out via the links below.
Quests & Points: Fad or Trend? (Safary Growth Summit)
Why Sufficient Decentralization Is No Longer Sufficient
If you’d like more ETH Denver content, you can watch talks on YouTube.
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