One week after ethCC, we finally had the time to sit down and recap all the magical moments and encounters during the week. Chainbase attended four AI panels and a workshop at a Hackathon, and the experience was enriching! We had meaningful conversation with a mix of networks, VCs and AI projects. Here is a recap for your leisure read.

1. Hackathon Engagement:

Our $5,000 investment in the dAGI hackathon (X) sponsored by the cyber.fund and Epic Web3 , provided an excellent opportunity to engage developers and promote AI narratives. Big shout to Alex Pisarevski , Stacey Zyriánova, and Maria Yarotska for such an amazing production. Although we didn’t offer a specific Chainbase bounty, the event proved fruitful. However, future hackathons could benefit from having technical mentors from our team to provide on-chain data usage feedback. Going forward, we will be testing bounty sponsorships or grant programs to encourage developers to build diverse AI models or agents to strengthen the merge of crypto and AI.

Furthermore, we are in the process of interviewing all the hackathon winners and explore opportunities to integrate Chainbase into their projects, further driving our engagement and collaboration within the ecosystem.

Investor Insights

Investors are increasingly focusing on AI narratives, moving beyond mere hype-driven investments. Discussions frequently lead to the question of practical applications ("What are your use cases?").

Near's Near Horizon incubated several AI projects, showcasing six at a side event, complete with live demos. This hands-on approach was far more impactful than traditional keynotes, offering developers and VCs a real understanding of what’s being built.

July 8th was a big day. I joined the “Role of AI Agents in Crypto” panel hosted by TwentySixCloud and aleph.im and shared the idea of the crypto world model. It was an absolute honor being on the same panel with Mark from Aethir, Michael from 0G and Roshan from Marlin. Regardless of the distance between events (about 40 minutes with traffic), I had the pleasure in another panel with Max @GMNetwork_AI and Arthur @hedera at the AI-DePIN-Social Summit organized by Socialcan (thanks to our friend Chess) .

Competitors vs. Partners

In Web3, we view similar projects not as competitors but as potential partners. For example, when comparisons are drawn with The Graph, instead of highlighting differences, we emphasize how we collaborate to enhance data accessibility for The Graph’s users. We advocate for open data and aim to strengthen the AI x Web3 ecosystem as neutral players.

On July 9th, our friend Joseph extended an invitation for us to join a panel discussion during NFT Fest. It was great to chat with guests from ungate.ai, Story Protocol, Filecoin, and Ora Protocol about the topic of “AI & Web3.”

Topics about Airdrops:

The strategy around airdrops is evolving. It’s become clear that airdrops alone are not a sustainable way to retain Total Value Locked (TVL) or user engagement. We need targeted airdrops to reward genuine users and community members, as protocols that haven’t airdropped are often targeted by hackers anticipating future drops.

How about some AI Trends:

• The future points towards smaller, more composable AI models.

• Increasingly, protocols are developing strategies to support the composition of AI models.

• One acronym you need to remember: TIFF - Train, Infer, Fine-tune, and Forget.

• Scaling AI requires shared models and more natural interactions with machines, moving from deterministic to probabilistic interfaces where machines continually refine shared knowledge.

I dont know about you, but I loved my appearance at NFT Fest 😉

Lastly, the amazing Seb and Clemen from Interop organzied this keller Nebular Summit. Look at their post, then you can feel the vibe https://x.com/NebularBuilders/status/1812147267685523500! What a great way to complete ethCC with Greg from Akash Network, Michael (again ) from 0G and Marko from Oasis.

A little intake about tokenomics – High FDV vs. Low FDV:

• Launching tokens at a lower FDV allows retail users more upside potential and facilitates organic price discovery by airdropping a larger portion of tokens.

• High FDV can deter retail participation as value drops when VC-backed tokens are unlocked, unless these tokens are non-transferable until specific milestones are achieved.

Community Strength:

The real value of a token is evident only if there is a strong base market. A community of genuine users and believers is preferable to airdrop hunters and those merely completing quests for rewards.

ETHCC was a fantastic platform for spreading our narratives and understanding the evolving landscape of AI and blockchain. We look forward to building on these insights to further enhance our offerings and collaborations within the Web3 space.

One week after ethCC, we finally had the time to sit down and recap all the magical moments and encounters during the week. Chainbase attended four AI panels and a workshop at a Hackathon, and the experience was enriching! We had meaningful conversation with a mix of networks, VCs and AI projects. Here is a recap for your leisure read.

1. Hackathon Engagement:

Our $5,000 investment in the dAGI hackathon (X) sponsored by the cyber.fund and Epic Web3 , provided an excellent opportunity to engage developers and promote AI narratives. Big shout to Alex Pisarevski , Stacey Zyriánova, and Maria Yarotska for such an amazing production. Although we didn’t offer a specific Chainbase bounty, the event proved fruitful. However, future hackathons could benefit from having technical mentors from our team to provide on-chain data usage feedback. Going forward, we will be testing bounty sponsorships or grant programs to encourage developers to build diverse AI models or agents to strengthen the merge of crypto and AI.

Furthermore, we are in the process of interviewing all the hackathon winners and explore opportunities to integrate Chainbase into their projects, further driving our engagement and collaboration within the ecosystem.

Investor Insights

Investors are increasingly focusing on AI narratives, moving beyond mere hype-driven investments. Discussions frequently lead to the question of practical applications ("What are your use cases?").

Near's Near Horizon incubated several AI projects, showcasing six at a side event, complete with live demos. This hands-on approach was far more impactful than traditional keynotes, offering developers and VCs a real understanding of what’s being built.

July 8th was a big day. I joined the “Role of AI Agents in Crypto” panel hosted by TwentySixCloud and aleph.im and shared the idea of the crypto world model. It was an absolute honor being on the same panel with Mark from Aethir, Michael from 0G and Roshan from Marlin. Regardless of the distance between events (about 40 minutes with traffic), I had the pleasure in another panel with Max @GMNetwork_AI and Arthur @hedera at the AI-DePIN-Social Summit organized by Socialcan (thanks to our friend Chess) .

Competitors vs. Partners

In Web3, we view similar projects not as competitors but as potential partners. For example, when comparisons are drawn with The Graph, instead of highlighting differences, we emphasize how we collaborate to enhance data accessibility for The Graph’s users. We advocate for open data and aim to strengthen the AI x Web3 ecosystem as neutral players.

On July 9th, our friend Joseph extended an invitation for us to join a panel discussion during NFT Fest. It was great to chat with guests from ungate.ai, Story Protocol, Filecoin, and Ora Protocol about the topic of “AI & Web3.”

Topics about Airdrops:

The strategy around airdrops is evolving. It’s become clear that airdrops alone are not a sustainable way to retain Total Value Locked (TVL) or user engagement. We need targeted airdrops to reward genuine users and community members, as protocols that haven’t airdropped are often targeted by hackers anticipating future drops.

How about some AI Trends:

• The future points towards smaller, more composable AI models.

• Increasingly, protocols are developing strategies to support the composition of AI models.

• One acronym you need to remember: TIFF - Train, Infer, Fine-tune, and Forget.

• Scaling AI requires shared models and more natural interactions with machines, moving from deterministic to probabilistic interfaces where machines continually refine shared knowledge.

I dont know about you, but I loved my appearance at NFT Fest 😉

Lastly, the amazing Seb and Clemen from Interop organzied this keller Nebular Summit. Look at their post, then you can feel the vibe https://x.com/NebularBuilders/status/1812147267685523500! What a great way to complete ethCC with Greg from Akash Network, Michael (again ) from 0G and Marko from Oasis.

A little intake about tokenomics – High FDV vs. Low FDV:

• Launching tokens at a lower FDV allows retail users more upside potential and facilitates organic price discovery by airdropping a larger portion of tokens.

• High FDV can deter retail participation as value drops when VC-backed tokens are unlocked, unless these tokens are non-transferable until specific milestones are achieved.

Community Strength:

The real value of a token is evident only if there is a strong base market. A community of genuine users and believers is preferable to airdrop hunters and those merely completing quests for rewards.

ETHCC was a fantastic platform for spreading our narratives and understanding the evolving landscape of AI and blockchain. We look forward to building on these insights to further enhance our offerings and collaborations within the Web3 space.