At 5.00pm on a Saturday night, with Bitcoin nearing all-time highs, the crowd held out to hear what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had to say. Although pro-freedom, he’s still a politician – and our space has become disillusioned with D.C. Minutes in, as Kennedy was warming up a rowdy crowd with his epiphany about the power of digital assets, a young man wearing a “just stop oil” shirt, clearly inebriated and punching the air, screamed “shut down Bitcoin!” He was quickly booed off and scurried away. 

Crypto, and all its craziness, is so back. 

Floating jumbo jellyfish, fairy floss and snow cone stations, the Mad Hatter and mushrooms, the swag and sunshine – this year’s ETHDenver was whimsical, experimental, and just the right mix of serious and absurd. ETHDenver’s organizer, John Paller, had said this year would reflect the transitional phase crypto is in and the big question marks that’re preventing progress. But the good weather, good vibes and the beginning of the bull market kept the energy light, even amid heavier conversation tracks. 

U.S. states as “laboratories of innovation” 

Coinbase Head of Policy, Kara Calvert, said right now we have a regulatory system that’s not working for crypto. “We’ll continue to see rules around the edges, but we don’t expect to see it in the nuts and bolts of digital assets. We don’t have high hopes that the SEC is going to help resolve these issues under this chairman,” Calvert said. 

However, in the absence of clarity at the federal level, U.S. states have a real opportunity to be laboratories of innovation, she said. Colorado State Senator Chris Hansen pointed out that some important federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act started as state laws. “As soon as we got to five, six, a dozen states to move forward, then Washington D.C. finally got it in gear,” he said. 

Colorado has become a leading blockchain state, offering residents the option to use digital assets to pay taxes and to use at the DMV. Now, they’re working on using blockchain technology to tackle state debt, so they’re not just “stuck with the vanilla Wall Street version of state debt.” 

“Why are we wasting taxpayer money paying a bunch of analysts on Wall Street when we can do this directly and democratize our debt instruments as a state,” Hansen said. 

The panelists agreed on the importance of harmonizing and working across state lines, in lieu of a federal approach, as well as their concerns about crypto becoming too political and being seen as red or blue.  “We don’t want this to be a wedge issue,” Coinbase’s Calvert said. 

After hearing from Coinbase and the SEC, it was time to have some fun. Give the subconscious space to solve some of our sector’s biggest problems.  

Transported to Burning Man 

The Center for Visual Art transformed into Edge City, Gary Sheng’s pop-up village. DJs, disco balls, ice baths, a sauna, talks and art walks – if you told me I was at Burning Man, I would’ve believed you. It’s the kind of festival you could bring any friend and they wouldn’t know it's a crypto event, aside from the conversations and free USDC. Given the usability and language problems that still exist, the crypto culture might just be the ticket into the mainstream. 

Sure, why not?

After dancing around small talk for hours, desiring deeper, more intimate conversations, I decided to go home and meet a new friend for brunch the next morning. It was a table full of contrasting lifepaths and careers, all brought together by crypto and our belief in blockchain technology. I had a small team of developers to my left, and an unemployed, dogecoin-millionaire from Portland to my right. With his long beard, painted nails and proud polyamory, of course he’s an altcoin guy.

“I used to buy one Bitcoin per month with my barista tips back in 2015. It’s going to go to $250,000 this year,” he proclaimed. He spoke about the malaise of our time and how America isn’t really the land of the free. “I wanted to go live in El Salvador, but my main girlfriend didn’t want to. Also, I’d miss my cats,” he said. 

Kicking off Women’s History Month, it was only fitting to catch sessions back at the venue by SheFi and Boys Club. SheFi Founder Maggie Love and her friends on stage spoke about the power of community and how curiosity gets you far in this space. Although we’re all chronically online, events are critical to experience the synchronicity that creates human connection and trust. 

New business models for creatives 

The vibey Boys Club crew touched on some critical trends and how crypto can help. Co-Founders Natasha Hoskins and Deanna Burke spoke about the need to flatten the algorithm and how the enemy of the endless creator loop is decentralization. The girls revealed how on-chain credentials and smart contracts with revenue sharing built in will give individuals higher agency in the future of work. Fake news, big tech skepticism and the media hellscape were also urgent conversation points from D.C. to Hollywood, all opportunities to bring in blockchain. Verification, data ownership and interoperability, where audiences can opt into the type of ads they want, curated through channels they trust, portend a brighter media future is ahead. 

Later in the day, a16z Founder Chris Dixon addressed the possibilities of the new open Internet and his concerns about AI increasing centralization. 

Dixon called this the golden area for creatives, to explore and usher in new incentives on the Internet, which is a great use of crypto. He used the example of collaborative storytelling, rewarded with tokens. 

Read more: ETHDenver’s ‘Buttoning Up’ as it Matures Into the Mainstream 

“If you look at the way things are headed right now, we’ve got five companies that control the Internet. AI is going to increase the centralization because it rewards companies with large stockpiles of data. 

All of the sites used for training data are now going to become irrelevant, because you can just go to one of the big Internet services. We want a world where there’s a diverse ecosystem of creators and people building audiences, and that comes down to creating new incentives,” he said. 

We need to make sure that we keep the Internet open and aligned with its original ideals, Dixon said. “I probably wouldn’t be in technology if it weren’t for the 90’s Internet and this dream of a decentralized network that anyone could build [that] was an inspiring vision,” he said. “I’d love to see that return. If we don’t have blockchain-based systems, we’re at risk of having five companies you plug your brain into and not the Internet I want to see.” Regulatory clarity is key to this all. 

“Every entrepreneur we work with is dying for this because they just want to do the right thing. Right now, it’s a strategy by the policymakers to deliberately make the line gray, so people don’t know. We’re one firm in the market. We can’t impose rules on the market. It needs to come from the referee,” Dixon said. 

Clear rules of the road needed, now that the bull is back 

There’s hope that this market will be the most promising yet, as more people are discovering the intrinsic value of digital currencies as a hedge against inflation, reflected in current prices. For the first time ever, crypto is part of the presidential race discussion and ETHDenver proved it’s entering the mainstream consciousness. While price appreciation helps, it’s about more than gains. Crypto is about freedom and this was what we were all reminded of at ETHDenver.