My view on Singapore Token2049

With the end of today, the work journey of Singapore web3 has also ended. In fact, as a practitioner, it ended yesterday. In other words, the main process of Token2049 can be completed in about 6 hours, so I wrote three words last night. It is over today, and I may interpret Token2049 from a different perspective.

First word: payment

The exhibition hall was not very big. There were not many booths on site, but about one-third of the projects involved payment. Not only local companies in Singapore, but also companies with main bodies in the European Union or registered in offshore islands, all surprisingly conquered the payment channels.

If we add asset custody and financial auditing companies, this part of the projects exceeds half. There is an area where all the booths are fund-related projects. And most of the projects are essentially compliant and non-fully compliant OTC. Of course, they are mainly for US dollars and euros. Almost all projects involving RMB are not fully compliant, but they are related to foreign trade.

What’s more interesting is that I have talked to almost every payment company, no matter what type, they all focus on cash withdrawal, which means that the current cash withdrawal environment is more prosperous, and more cryptocurrency investors, including those around the world, are looking for compliant and medium-to-large-amount cash withdrawal solutions. I remember that in 2021, even when BTC broke through $64,000, there were not so many payment-related applications at various overseas exhibitions, and payment-related applications were undoubtedly centralized.

Second word: English

When I was in Hong Kong, I wrote that almost everyone spoke ABC. Even if they knew the other person might speak Chinese better, they would choose to speak English. Of course, Cantonese was also very popular. This time, it was quite interesting. Although most of the stations were from Singapore, the Chinese communication was very smooth. Almost all the stations with Asians could speak fluent Chinese. Of course, their English was better.

The few booths from India, the Middle East (suspected), Europe and the United States were definitely mainly in English, but if they found that you didn’t understand, they would try their best to explain it to you, which made me feel that they had done their homework. However, there were indeed too few "white people" attending the conference from Hong Kong to Singapore, and most of the project parties spoke Mandarin better than me.

The third word: It’s nice to have money

This is not nonsense. The cost of downtown Singapore is not cheaper than Hong Kong, but my daily expenses are completely free of food expenses except for accommodation and transportation. It can be said that in Singapore, you can go to eat as long as you get an address. Most activities will hardly verify whether you are going there for free, but to be honest, most of the food provided in this event in Singapore is Indian-style.

The days of Token2049 happened to be the prelude to the Singapore F1 race, which made air tickets and hotels ridiculously expensive. Those who could afford it were all 2,000 RMB per night. Those who could stay at the Sands were all big shots. Oh, I almost forgot, this time the ticket for Token2049 was 500 USD per ticket, with meals included. Friends who have experience in Hong Kong basically got tickets for free. The control on the first morning was not strict, and basically you could get in with a free ticket. There are actually two tickets, a wristband and a tag. At that time, I only looked at the tag, and I also got in by free. In the afternoon, I found that there were too many people free, so I started to look at the wristbands, and there were many people blocked. The control on the second day was even stricter, and there was even a case of deducting the tag.

It can be said that there are two types of people who live the best in Singapore. One type is those who are very rich, including the project parties, and enjoy the attention of the public. The second type is those who have enough budget (reimbursement), who can also watch the ups and downs with a smile, and most of these friends are good people, and basically they are the ones to borrow tickets from. The others are people like me who are freeloaders. As long as you are thick-skinned enough, you should be able to make money even if you eat and take things.

This is just the obvious ones. The slightly smaller groups have directly increased the income of Singapore's entertainment industry. From 3pm onwards near the Sands, Google Maps shows that all the places are closed. There are also some private parties and yacht parties, which I won't mention. Anyway, I didn't go.

Finally, let’s review the Token2049. In the past, there were institutions everywhere and VCs were as numerous as dogs. There are almost no exchanges that created a big cycle of prosperity. There are a few famous big exchanges, and the rest are Dex, especially there are still many Dex on L2, among which San Ge is the main team. In the past, you could get a lot of money by attending the conference, but now there are only promotional pages and power banks. There are fewer and fewer people discussing Bulid. In the past two days, except for a small temporary meeting to discuss RWA, everyone around me is concerned about whether there is a bull market and whether BTC will rise. Even those who are engaged in public chains are like this. The only industry that is conscientious is the various exchanges, which are really capable.

Easter Eggs:

A young lady I have known since 2018 complained to me that the most popular project I heard about in Singapore this time was RWA. Overnight, everyone was planning RWA and everyone was an RWA expert. Unfortunately, most people didn’t even know that RWA needed to be compliant. Even STO needed a license, so RWA could go wild? But what is certain is that RWA is the next form of DeFi, and it is very likely that RWA will be the driver of the next cycle.

Summarize:

Those who are drought-stricken die of drought, and those who are flood-stricken die of flood. The rich want people, and the rich lack money. Crows call every day, and radishes are everywhere.