It was wonderful to connect with so many of you IRL a few weeks ago. Here’s a recap of what we were up to.
Our founder Joe Lubin gave a talk on the state of the ecosystem (we’ll update this article with the recording when available). Ali Smith, Mesh Portfolio Analyst, wrote up some key takeaways:
1. zkSync is a key scaling solution for Ethereum that will make it intrinsically easier to onboard new users into the space. zkSync competition is something we should encourage, because it leads to more innovation and better collective outcomes for the ecosystem as a whole.
2. A slower market is a good thing. It serves as a reminder that we should be prioritizing shipping products out so we can identify usability weaknesses and generate better solutions through decentralized efforts.
3. The demise of FTX is a net positive for the ecosystem. It has cleared out bad actors and reset over-inflated valuations. It would be far more dangerous for the ecosystem for CeFi to install more regulators that make proper decentralization impossible in certain nation states.
4. Broadly speaking, Web3 projects can be bucketed into one of two categories: 1.) “Tech Crypto” which recognizes decentralization as a design principle, and 2.) “Money Crypto” which views decentralization primarily as a marketing strategy. For more on this distinction, see this article by Bill Hughes from ConsenSys.
5. Smart contracts are a mechanism. Regulation should focus on usage (i.e., preventing bad actors from using mechanisms in harmful ways) rather than the mechanisms themselves.
A number of Meshians gave talks. Click through the links below to watch them all:
- Thomas Rush on The Biology of Token Networks
- Robert Drost on Incentivized APIs as the Foundation for Public Goods
- Nick Reynolds on What Medium is our Message
- Keith Salzman on Apian, a Peer to Peer Framework for Blockchain Games
- Robert Drost spoke at the Shared Security Summit
- Shawn Cheng spoke on a panel about the Web3 VC perspective in 2023
Tachyon Community Brunch:
We invited mentors, alumni, and future applicants from across the Tachyon community to gather together for our annual ETH Denver brunch over breakfast burritos and great vibes. Gathering IRL is always a special experience for the 90+ alums and 100+ mentors scattered across the globe.
A few photos from the day:
To learn more and receive updates for our next cohort, see here.
The MESH Applied R&D Brunch:
The Applied R&D team hosted their first ever event! We invited researchers, developers, and enthusiasts across the broader Ethereum and Web3 community to discuss what the R&D teams are researching - gaming, identity, state channels, and zero knowledge.
Learn more about the R&D team here and reach out to research@mesh.xyz to collaborate.
