Inside day 1 at ETHDenver 2025

Markets are dumping but spirits remain high

article-image

ETHDenver modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


Yesterday was day one of ETHDenver. 

The price of ETH was ~$2,300. People here must be depressed, right? 

Eh, not really. I must’ve had 20 conversations yesterday and maybe one person mentioned market prices. 

With about 18,000 attendees coming into the city, ETHDenver is still the largest free-of-charge Ethereum-centric event next to Devcon. 

The event kicked off with the folkiest of folk songs brought to you by Jonathan “A Song A Day” Mann. Think “feminized wef soyboy mentality” vibes that Solana DeFi bronze age spartans would probably cringe at.

Loading Tweet..

Oh, and apparently people are complaining that ETHDenver is not so “Ethereum-aligned” anymore because there are non-Ethereum sponsors?

Source: ETHDenver

So salient is the criticism that ETHDenver founder John Paller felt the need to address it at the festival’s opening.

“95%+ of our sponsors and 90% of our content is ETH, EVM or ETH aligned 😘😘😘,” his slide deck read.

Step into the main conference hall and you’re greeted with large booths representing Uniswap, Arbitrum and Coinbase.

Picture taken on day one event closure

There’s a markedly more professional vibe to ETHDenver this year, founder of Yap Global and ETHDenver’s official PR partner Samantha Yap told me.

“ETHDenver in its earlier years was more scrappy. This year, booths are spending a lot more money and there’s a greater professionalization of the event. The industry is evolving,” Yap said.

Loading Tweet..

There also doesn’t seem to be just one dominant overarching narrative this year. 

Unlike last year, where EigenLayer and restaking dominated the agenda, there’s pretty much a sprinkle of anything you could think of: DePIN, AI agents, regulation, RWAs, privacy and — of course — interoperability. Ethereum loves interop.

Conferences are often chock-full of panels and fireside chats, speakers armed with their sometimes dreary PR-approved speeches. Standing out on the day one agenda was a spicy debate between Haseeb Qureshi from Dragonfly Capital and Matt O’Connor at Legion, on the topic of ICOs vs. venture capital funding. Legion is an ICO-like fundraising platform.

Loading Tweet..

Matt: “The idea that VCs are catalyzing growth and the product’s purpose to begin with…this gatekeeping and holier-than-thou attitude of VCs knowing which projects to fund leads to less experimentation and variety of what’s backed.”

Haseeb: “It’s rich since Legion raised money from VCs…and how many individual users using Legion own equity in Legion? I’m going to assume the number is zero.”

Anyway, here are some key launches from yesterday:

  • MetaMask is launching Bitcoin and Solana integrations, gas abstraction, a UX overhaul, smart transactions and a MetaMask card.
  • 14 teams, including NEAR AI, Coinbase Agent Kit and Eliza Labs announced the Open Agents Alliance (OAA), an initiative to provide permissionless and free AI access globally by combining infrastructure.
  • Uniswap announced fiat off-ramping on the Uniswap Wallet powered by Transak, Moonpay and Robinhood.
  • BitLayer announced the BitVM Bridge, enabling trust-minimized bridging between the Bitcoin network and other chains like Base, Starknet, Arbitrum, Sonic and Plume.
  • Babylon and digital asset insurance broker Native are developing institutional-grade insurance coverage for bitcoin stakers, enabling bitcoin slashing coverage denominated in BTC.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.
  • Forward Guidance: Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin.
  • 0xResearch: Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.
  • Lightspeed: All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.
  • The Drop: The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

The summit’s agenda has not been released, but the crypto stockpile and stablecoin legislation are likely to take center stage

article-image

The reveal was a sign of how quickly a pro-crypto regime can get the market to turn: eToro market analyst

article-image

Ethereum Foundation shakes up leadership as internal rifts settle

article-image

The upcoming SocialFi app offers crypto trading and tracks what others are buying and selling

article-image

A national strategic reserve of XRP, SOL, ADA, ETH and BTC only makes sense as political theater

article-image

Altcoin season may still be a ways off, and that could be the new norm as we adjust to potential “microcycles”