Like 29,999 (supposedly) other crypto mfers, I went to Denver last week.

Things were feeling a bit stale for me online this first half of Q1. Crypto in Jan 2023 was a very different place than crypto in Jan 2022. It’s winter in all interpretations of the word. And even within exploring the chillier side of crypto with fellow operators, covering such boilerplate bear market themes like downsizing, burn rate, runway, focus — vibes were undeniably electric at ETH Denver.

Crypto events are worthy of David Attenborough-style narration, an omnipotent voice to sensemake the niche flash mob completely confounding locals — apologies to all Denver dating app users — and quite frankly each other. Even within this insular space exist multiple divergent worlds eyeing each other from across the complex. DeFi vs. DAO, devs vs. non-technicals, infra vs. social. I walked through the Metaverse and gaming hall of ETH Denver feeling totally awkward but nonetheless captured by the impassioned speeches of builders standing guard in their booths.

I met many internet friends for the first time in Denver. I re-connected with friends that I hadn’t seen since my last IRL set in January, Mexico City. We serendipitously bumped into each other wandering the cavernous conference complex. We embraced each other at Refraction, Boys Club, and EcoDAO. We argued over dinners about use-cases and revenue opps.

We’re in our “cozy web” era, to remix a quote from Austin Robey. We’re so early as a battle cry for fumbling through the UX/UI of navigating our novel digital relationships represented through tx hashes and asynchronous chat histories. Cultivating intimacy on the internet is the only way we’ll build an actually generative digital — and physical — experience. Afterall, “can’t be evil” is intellectually dishonest.

Post Denver, we’re back to shitposting and subtweeting on crypto Twitter. We’re back to arguing with each other about good takes/bad takes. Our hardware remains a critical portal to this world but our screens intermediate our connection. The only true disintermediation is IRL experiences.

Multiplayer mode is the bull case for crypto. We’d be foolish to deny the fact that when you coalesce smart, creative, passionate, and (frankly) weird people that value will inevitably proliferate.