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Health, Wealth, and Happiness
February 13, 2023
“In the short run, the market is a voting machine. In the long run, it is a weighing machine.”
- Benjamin Graham
In today's issue: You can read crypto Twitter and watch YouTube all you want, but nothing takes the place of meeting other people face to face.

There's a kind of magic that happens when you're standing next to someone in real life and sharing ideas and excitement about the blockchain revolution.

Online meetups are great, but we'll dive deep into the must-attend meetups and crypto conferences for 2023.

If you're interested in hosting your own crypto investor meetup, don't miss our new downloadable guide on Best Practices for Community Meetups (it's a free download). Read on.
Must Read
Today's most important story for crypto investors.
ETH investors take note! This report from Messari looks at the overall Ethereum ecosystem as of the end of 2022.

The TLDR version is that while the price of ETH is down year over year in line with the rest of the crypto market, unique addresses are up.

We repeatedly stress that users are better indicators of a blockchain's health than the price. To see increases during such a rough year is encouraging for long-term Ethereum investors.
Courtesy Messari

Even more encouraging is that Ethereum's net issuance has gone negative, i.e., Ethereum is minting fewer tokens than it burns:
Investor takeaway: To us, the positive user growth trends combined with Ethereum becoming deflationary keep ETH a solid investment going into 2023. The next upgrade is also on the horizon!
How to Meet Up with Crypto Investors Near You
by Matthew Du
What is a crypto meetup? It's an event that allows you to learn about up-and-coming developments in the blockchain space, meet like-minded people, and speak with potential digital currency and blockchain experts.

In this article, we’ll explain how crypto meetups work, with links to all the top meetups in the top crypto cities across the world.

How Can I Meet Other Crypto Fanatics in My Area?

In every growing industry, there's a learning curve. Perhaps the greatest barrier to universal adoption of crypto is lack of knowledge. The best way to boost your digital currency education is by meeting other crypto investors face to face.

This can be done either virtually or in person. Over the past few years, virtual meetings have become more popular. Getting together through Zoom can help you connect with others from the safety of your desk, but to really connect, we advise meeting with people face to face. It's worth the trip.

Using Meetup to Find Events

Investors are turning to networking tools like Meetup.com to connect with other digital currency investors. Create an account on Meetup, then search for bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain, and cryptocurrency groups within 50 miles of your home (in smaller communities, you may have to expand to a wider search radius).

Look for a large, well-organized group by searching for "blockchain" or "crypto" on Meetup. Look at all the groups and see how many members they contain. Click on a group and see how many times the group has met. Some groups are formed and fizzle out quickly, while others thrive.

The top ten largest blockchain meetup groups in the world are:

Blockchain NYC (New York, NY)
CryptoMondays NYC (New York, NY)
In Crypto We Trust (Bangalore, India)
Ethereum London (London, UK)
Ethereum Singapore (Singapore, Singapore)
Bitcoin Argentina (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
SF Bitcoin and Blockchain Social (San Francisco, CA)
Bitcoin NYC (New York, NY)
Bitcoin Meetup Switzerland (Zurich, Switzerland)
Bitcoin Wednesday Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

For a list of our curated guides on top crypto meetups in major cities from Boston to Berlin, click here.
Attending Crypto Conferences

As the crypto industry grows, so do crypto conferences, many of which feature some of the most well-known entrepreneurs and personalities within the space.

Our favorite sites listing upcoming bitcoin and blockchain conferences include:


Attending some of these conferences, either in-person or virtually, can be a great way to learn about the industry and meet well-connected people. Let’s look at some of the "must attend" crypto conferences to emerge in recent years:

Consensus is the world's largest, longest-running, and most influential gathering that brings together all sides of the crypto, blockchain and Web3 community. Held by one of the crypto industry’s largest news sites, Consensus is a different event whose main purpose is to “serve as grounds for calibration, collaboration, and resolution” for the crypto industry. The conference boasts CEOs and founder speakers from OpenSea, NEAR Protocol, and Circle among others. The Consensus conference is typically held in April in Austin, Texas.

ConsenSys is not to be confused with CoinDesk’s Consensus. As a blockchain services company, ConsenSys hosts many events and meetups that give you hands-on training in Ethereum-based projects. These events are also great for meeting crypto fans and experts on more personal levels. Some of the recent events hosted by Consensys include a stablecoin conference and the ConsenSys Product Roadshow.

The company also hosts an annual meeting which normally takes place in New York over the course of four days. However, it's now offered virtually.

ETHDenver is the world’s largest and longest-running Ethereum event. Held in Denver, Colorado in early March, the event brings together Ethereum evangelists and blockchain enthusiasts alike. It's unique in that there's no registration fee. ETHDenver is free to all. Like other major conferences, attendees can meet and hear from representatives from major blockchain platforms like Circle, Coinbase, MetaMask, 1inch, and others.

The ultimate goal of ETHDenver is empowering the Web3 community to shape this new world while cementing the Rocky Mountain region and the state of Colorado as a thriving ETH and blockchain innovation hub.

Organized by BTC Media, this is the largest annual celebration of bitcoin in the world. Held in Miami Beach, Florida in May, it features over 150 speakers and more than 15,000 attendees. All the major blockchain companies are in attendance, and there’s plenty of opportunity to learn and network with fellow bitcoin fans. If you're looking for the bitcoin conference with the best parties, this is a conference not to be missed!

Held in Europe and North America, Blockchain Expo features a solid lineup of speakers each year from enterprises like Visa, Mastercard, Uber, Kaiser Permanente, and NASA. The conference is aimed at executives and entrepreneurs looking to establish (or grow) their careers in blockchain. The discussions at the event typically involve blockchain use cases and how the technology can be utilized in more traditional industries. Events are held in Silicon Valley in May, Amsterdam in September, and London in December, though locations and dates can change from year to year.

Permissionless
This conference is typically held in September in Austin, Texas. The conference’s goal is to create a favorable environment for networking, brainstorming, and collaboration amongst industry engineers and decision makers. Past attendees have included executives from major technology and financial hubs including Aave and Apollo Global Management. Over 5,500 attended the inaugural event in 2022, and future "parties" will look to host dozens of the industry's top brands alongside community-focused events, galleries, and experiences.
Other Meetup Resources

If you need further options, there are other resources you can check out to see what’s happening in the world of crypto meetups and conferences:

This site offers chat forums that allow crypto and blockchain fans everywhere to discuss anything and everything bitcoin. Some of the most popular chat groups on Bitcointalk.org include a general bitcoin forum; a mining forum; a development and technical board; and a project development board.

As a popular event management and ticketing company, Eventbrite is a useful platform for finding paid (local) blockchain-related events.

The leading social media conversation platform offers discussions of every shape and size about all kinds of topics including bitcoin and blockchain. r/Cryptocurrency is a popular subreddit with a total subscriber count of over 6,050,000 Redditors. Reddit’s recently-launched NFT marketplace has also brought in over $11 million in revenue as of this writing. 

How to Get the Most Out of a Meetup

To get the most out of a meetup, conference, or in-person event, come prepared. Have business cards or your LinkedIn QR code on hand. Know what you want to learn and who you want to meet.

At the same time, keep your agenda flexible. The joy from in-person meetings comes from unexpected connections and hallway conversations. Let the magic happen. The rule of thumb: make it a goal to meet at least three new people.

At most meetups and events, there's a presenter with networking time before or after the event. Consider asking questions like:
  • How did you get involved in crypto?
  • What is working for you?
  • What do you need help with?

Even if an event is virtual, there are still benefits to attending these crypto meetups. For example, some may feature executives or speakers from blockchain-based companies. If you’re looking to begin a blockchain career yourself, knowing and meeting the right people can lead you to internships and other opportunities that can begin moving you up the blockchain jobs ladder.

Knowing what you want to accomplish will also help you pinpoint the right Meetup events so your time is used productively gathering the right data and speaking with the right community members.
Interested in hosting your own crypto investor meetup or building your own local blockchain community?

Don't miss our new downloadable guide on Best Practices for Community Meetups. It's free to download!
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