During Blockchain Week’s Token2049 conference in Dubai, heavy rainstorms deluged the city’s streets. But it wasn’t just water that inundated Dubai; the crypto community flooded the scene with a torrent of announcements, collaborations, and pledges. In this week’s #hearsay column, we go backstage at Blockchain Week in Dubai, UAE.
Each week, crypto.news publishes a gossip column called “#hashtag Rumor Mill” filled with whispers and news influencing the crypto community. Feel free to share confidential tips by contacting Dorian Batycka at [email address].
Despite the disorderly scene caused by heavy rain in Dubai at the beginning of the week, which left many influencers, business developers, and even Hasbullah (promoting his new web3 and memecoin launchpad hasbiland.io) feeling out of sorts, your reliable correspondent was overwhelmed, left alone, and barely managing to keep afloat in the downpour.
Upon arriving in Dubai at the start of the week, I found solace in my go-to environment: art. During the Blockchain Life conference on April 15, I came across the 10101.art booth, a fresh platform selling NFT tokens or shares of renowned artists’ original works such as Andy Warhol, Dali, Picasso, and Banksy. At their launch party situated in Dubai’s financial center (DIFC), Monada Gallery, a select number of presale tokens were available. This business model, similar to masterworks.io but with an added layer of cryptocurrency NFTs, aims to make art more accessible by providing investors an opportunity to own shares in esteemed artworks without the need for a multimillion-dollar investment. Can’t afford a Picasso? Simply invest $100 instead!
During the second day of the Blockchain Life conference in Dubai, 2024, an unprecedented flood, akin to receiving an entire year’s worth of rainfall within just 12 hours, hit the Gulf petrostate. Dubai, known for its arid climate, was caught off guard and left dealing with the loss of vital utilities such as water and electricity. The situation forced my columnist, who was downtown at the time, to walk an astonishing 17 km (10.5 miles) back to their hotel, most of which they had to do barefoot due to soaked shoes that left their feet feeling raw.
The epic Biblical flood in Dubai 2024 didn’t just pass through Blockchain Life 2024 without a trace, as reported by @rossreports.
— Dorian Batycka (@temp_projects) April 20, 2024
The rains didn’t halt Token2049 but brought significant setbacks for those traveling from outside the city. Amid Dubai’s flooded streets, Pavel Durov, the elusive and enigmatic founder of Telegram, created a splash at Token2049 with several announcements to enhance and strengthen Telegram’s crypto capabilities. Durov introduced initiatives for regular Telegram users to engage in the TON ecosystem, allowing payments in TON for ads to Telegram channel administrators and enabling tipping in TON for content creators. He also proposed the trading of stickers as NFTs on the TON blockchain, with artists set to earn 95% of the profits. Durov didn’t stop there; he invited Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, on stage, revealing plans to integrate USDT into the TON blockchain. My take: with USDT grappling with auditing and transparency concerns, a native TON stablecoin could have caused more disruption in the industry.
In simpler terms, Singaporean companies QCP and Further Ventures have revealed plans to team up in Abu Dhabi. Their goal is to boost digital asset innovation within Abu Dhabi and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region through a new partnership. Although specifics are scarce, we do know that QCP intends to establish a local office, while Further Ventures will employ its broker-dealer license and custodial services to facilitate transactions.
Abra created a wave of excitement this week with the unveiling of SEC-endorsed products, Abra Prime and Abra Private. Designed specifically for institutional and private clients, these offerings will be backed by approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for Abra Capital Management LP to function as a registered investment advisor. Abra is now set on bridging the gap between on-chain and off-line worlds for elite clients and institutions. This venture aims to provide access to crypto’s lucrative earning opportunities and borrowing facilities, hoping to avoid the pitfalls of past overhyped high-yield schemes (looking at you, Voyager).
This week, Drift unveiled some exciting developments: they launched a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and announced an airdrop of a new governance token. In the aftermath of Dubai’s rainy weather, Drift users were in for a surprise as they received showers of these new tokens. This marks a significant shift for the platform, with 10% of the total tokens (equaling 100 million) distributed among its 180,000 most active users based on their engagement with Drift’s services.
The Data Ownership Protocol (DOP) generated excitement this week with its announced collaboration with Bitcoin.com. With this new alliance, DOP aims to tap into a potential surge in development by merging their 48 million wallets and one million monthly active users with Bitcoin.com’s four million monthly news readers. This partnership may attract a significant number of Bitcoin enthusiasts, who are libertarian-leaning and value privacy, sound financial systems, and censorship-resistant technologies. I, for one, am eager to witness and endorse this potential expansion among the dedicated Bitcoin community.
To my disappointment, the much-anticipated party I had heard so much about – Blockchain Life and Token 2049 – proved to be a letdown. Despite assurances from Will Heckman of TheStreet.com and Roundtable Media of yacht dinners and post-event parties, my email inbox remained devoid of any invitations. Instead, I was left with only the distant memory of potential encounters with industry leaders. It seems that either my RSVP got lost at sea or was swept away during a biblical flood. In the end, my dreams of networking with crypto giants were dashed. Perhaps next year will bring better luck.
Read More
Sorry. No data so far.
2024-04-20 18:04