Our "henlo world" moment @ Brussels

ETHCC recap

For many, Brussels might have been just another ETHCC, but for MegaETH, it was a milestone – our “henlo world” moment.

As I pen these words on the plane ride home, the memories of Brussels are fading like the city’s cobblestone road, leaving me with a cocktail of joy, exhaustion, pride, and a dash of regret. Joy from pulling off multiple successful events on a shoestring budget; exhaustion from sprinting through a maze of construction sites to chase down the fifth side event of the day; pride from watching the MegaMafia showcase their dApps to an eager crowd; and a twinge of regret for missing out on reconnecting with old friends and not getting to salute the cheeky Manneken Pis.

Infra is Dead. Long Live Apps.

Despite being an infrastructure provider, MegaETH’s “hello world” moment wasn’t about our chain. Instead, our main event featured six talks graduated from the first cohort of MegaMafia 10x builders’ program. These dapps are all uniquely-possible-on-MegaETH:

• GTE: A real-time DEX with CEX-level performance and liquidity.

• Valhalla: The first fully on-chain perpdex, bringing CEX volumes and UX on-chain while remaining composable with the Ethereum ecosystem and liquidity.

• Rho: The first real-time lending market for a wide range of assets, protecting lenders with hyper-efficient liquidations and custom risk profiles.

• Doxa: A real-time information trading protocol enhancing prediction markets with yield and full DeFi composability.

• CAP: An AVS connecting sophisticated arbitrage actors with regular users.

• DIG: A decentralized alternative for DNS, web app hosting and content delivery, supporting both Web 3 and other applications.

• Pump Party: A live in-app skill-based gameshow with free2play and pay2play prize pools funded by txn fees of our native memecoin.

Throughout the event, MegaMafia dApps stole the spotlight, leaving MegaETH happily in the shadows—and that’s exactly how we like it. We’re betting big on the notion that the key to mass crypto adoption is through these fully on-chain, interactive, and sophisticated apps.

In addition to demoing their products, the mafia also shared some golden nuggets of wisdom they’ve picked up on the journey: How do tokens make or break crypto social and games? What are the common misunderstanding of EigenLayer’s AVS? What are the real secret sauce behind fully on-chain dexes?

I personally felt a lot smarter after listening to the talks. 

As we move forward, we’re committed to spotlighting applications and their ingenious builders in our demo-style events, wherever they take us. Why preach crypto infrastructure when you can let people experience dapps’ magic firsthand?

Fave Memory

Flipping through my diary (seriously, get yourself a five-year diary), one memory particularly made me smile. It wasn’t from the mafia event nor the wedding-infused mega rave. It was a casual Q&A session between a group of crypto-curious students from RWTH Aachen, Cambridge, and Oxford, and none other than Vitalik Buterin.

The backstory? 

At ETH Prague in May, I met a student from RWTH Aachen who mentioned their blockchain club struggled to attract sponsors from Ethereum L1 or L2, unlike alternative L1 chains like Solana. This resonated with me, having heard similar stories from American universities.

An idea sparked: why not invite these crypto-curious students to vibe with us at ETHCC? No strings attached. Just come to the conference and explore the tech, ethos, community, and parties.

With a bit of help from friends, we brought over close to 20 students to Brussels. To give them a first-hand experiences of the Ethereum community, I organised a Q&A with Vitalik, encouraging them to ask the spiciest questions. 

The session was adorably awkward, with students asking everything from basic blockchain scalability trilemma to more technical and even sensitive questions about the Ethereum Foundation.

The impact was profound: one student started a blog on crypto and philosophy, another dived into smart contracts, and several others teamed up to brainstorm new protocols. Some, unsurprisingly, planned to dabble in memecoins for fun.

I’m realistic – not all of these students will pursue full-time crypto careers. But I’m proud that MegaETH prioritised grassroots engagement over the usual suspects. For Ethereum to thrive, we must step out of our comfort zone and welcome those unfamiliar with our world.

Be Rationally Optimistic

Brussels was the first ETHCC that has received noticeable negative reflection . Industry veterans grumbled about the parade of empty side events, the endless infrastructure chatter with few practical applications, and a schedule so jam-packed it felt like a sprint to burnout.

It is easy to bite the pessimism and conclude that nothing has progressed in our industry. I want to offer a different perspective here. I want to encourage everyone to think about the future of crypto in 5 years, 10 years, and beyond with 100% crypto adoption. 

I envision a future where we achieve a censorship-resistant, high-performance blockchain infrastructure that seamlessly integrates into everyday life. This will be the turning point where crypto is no longer seen merely as a hedge against war or economic collapse. Instead, it will be recognized as an upside technology that boosts productivity, fosters societal fairness, and enhances human well-being, similar as how AI is being perceived.

Remember crypto uber? crypto airbnb? crypto-native phone? data marketplace powered by crypto? AI agents running on the blockchain?  These might sound naive but as QiaoWang tweeted, we should change our narrative from why crypto to  why not crypto?

Setting longer time horizon also  allows us to treat our industry with more rational optimism. As Emmaule wrote: "there’s really no other way to put it. It takes rational thinking to understand that the crypto industry is young and faces problems." 

The problems will always be there. We will always be struggling with building better infrastrucure, user experiences, and useful applications. But there’s tremendous upside when we get crypto right. It’s okay to criticize, but it’s equally important to set our eyes to the bigger prize. 

The views are always better when we fly high ( til we land )