DAOing it in ETHDenver 2022
What a vibe!
ETHDenver 2022 was every definition of a vibe. Denver was full of incredible energy, youth, and optimism - it was humming. Previously, this level of intensity and excitement experienced in Denver was only able to be seen in enormous cities like New York. But this was ETHDenver - an outburst of crypto enthusiasm from all over the globe condensed into one city nestled alongside the Rocky Mountains. Previous ETHDenver events have seen the high side of a few thousand attendees. 2022 ETHDenver exploded past those prior numbers with over 13,000 attendees. A large percentage of the attendees, presenters, and speakers were women, which was wildly refreshing and encouraging for women in crypto.
DAOs are here to stay
The development of DAOs is an intuitive approach to the growth and effectiveness of smart-contract ecosystems. The transformation towards DAO infrastructure from previous centralized organizational solutions is completely redefining the landscape of Web3. This is exactly why Willy Ogorzaly (Head of Decentralization at ShapeShift DAO) believes “DAOs are here to stay.” He stated that “There are lots of new DAOs and DAO specific tooling. Corporations are seeking to transform to a DAO model of operation as they see the efficacy of this way of conducting work and business.” This trending towards this DAO model further shows the incredible velocity that this space has achieved just in this past year.
With decentralized governance models becoming more of the norm, “The spirit of collaboration is as strong as ever, and the token price remains irrelevant.”He elaborated saying, “No matter what happens in the markets over the next 12-24 months, BUIDLers will keep BUIDLing.” This was a direct comment on the resilience and stable-minded foundation of DAOs driving the growth of ecosystems across blockchains. Because of DAOs, developers and contributors around the globe can come together under a common purpose and BUIDL together as a community for the common good.
Colorado's Governor Jared Polis's presentation was warmly welcomed, especially when he announced that the State of Colorado would accept future tax payments in cryptocurrencies. Additionally, Andrew Yang made an appearance and talked to many people about Ethereum and the various innovative projects in development. No one can deny that Vitalik Buterin as a Bufficorn was well worth the wait!
ShapeShift DAO at ETHDenver
ShapeShift DAO foxes were at ETHDenver in force! Kicking off with an extravagant ShapeShift pre-party in the snow is sure to become a legendary story for many years to come. Our ShapeShift keynote speakers represented the DAO incredibly well and offered incredible insight into the inner machinations of DAO culture and growth. One of these speakers, Josh Forman - who presented on DAO Collaboration: A Case Study - was a must-see talk - see the full presentation here. WillyFox (Head of Decentralization) gave a presentation on Building a Future Without Fees: Positive Sum Economies -, check out his fantastic presentation here. Additionally, Willy sat on a panel with three women moderated by our very own Kent (Tokenomics leader) which focused on the quickly growing Colorado Web3 crypto and DeFi culture - check it out here. Danielle’s (Treasury Management Committee Member) presentation about becoming a DAO and the organizational legos you need to build was exceptionally well presented and received by a packed audience - view the talk here. Erik Voorhees debated individualism vs. collectivism with Kevin Owocki - see here.
ShapeShift DAO sponsored a booth - which over 10 of our foxes staffed - even Erik Voorhees was seen behind the booth! The DAO sponsored multiple bounties totalling $15,000 for the hackathon - you can view all winners here.
Unignorable
Predominantly, this kind of youthful and innovative energy being so alive and prevalent in Denver during the relatively “stagnant” markets is a positive sign of forward momentum for crypto and the entire DeFi space. One of the many women we saw speaking and on panels during this festival of ideas is Shannon Ewing (SporkDAO). She said that the energy witnessed and experienced at ETHDenver is "unignorable" and we would agree with that.
While discussing this term "unignorable" and the power behind it, Erik Voorhees responded:
"The market is not creating the crazy mania that we saw in 2017 or even briefly last year, and we still had this enthusiasm and people with serious creative energy just being excited about what they are building; that is a great sign. Whenever the next bull run comes, it happens on the backs of the work, the enthusiasm and the energy that occurred in the months and years before it. People that understand the crypto industry the best see that this is an entirely transformative set of technologies, and it doesn't stop, and it won't stop."
Many talks and quotes were had at EthDenver 2022; one of the favorites is that the DAO and web3 movement are absolutely - unignorable.
Learn More
https://shapeshift.com/
https://app.shapeshift.co
https://medium.com/@ShapeShift.com
https://www.reddit.com/r/shapeshiftio/
https://forum.shapeshift.com/
https://discord.gg/shapeshift