Keynote: Skylar WeaverDevcon & Devconnect Lead | 14th Oct 2023 | Sunway University | ETHKL 2023

all right so our next speaker is actually Skyler Weaver he's the Devcon and Dev connect lead um in the world so uh for those of you who may not be familiar I just give a quick background so Devcon is actually uh the largest ethereum based event that happens uh in the world right it's everybody comes from every all four corners of the world to come and go to defon because it's really like top tier event now uh Skyler is actually the death connect lead and he's going to be in charge of uh deciding I believe uh the venue for next year now he has hinted that next year is going to be in Southeast Asia all right but we're going to change that to Malaysia okay so uh now again he could not be here but he has blessed us with a little video so we're going to play a video and he's going to be addressing all of you in the video let's enjoy it together hello everyone my name is Skyler uh first and foremost I want to say sorry I couldn't be there with you all in person I would have loved to join you there in quore but uh I'm actually currently here in Istanbul preparing for Dev connect which I think some of you might be coming to uh in a few weeks uh harth asked me if I could make a quick intro or quick uh a quick greeting to all of you at eth KL and uh and I I said I would love to so maybe a little bit of background my name is Skyler I work with the ethereum foundation specifically on the Devcon and devc connect teams and um one of the reasons why I would be so excited to talk with you all today is because uh Devon um for those of you who don't know Devcon and what Devcon is Devcon is the global ethereum Community reunion um so I will actually share a screen with you I'll share my screen here and yeah Devcon is essentially uh the main event that the ethereum foundation organizes and it's our biggest event um so we do two events per year we do Dev connect we do Dev or two events in general we do Dev connect and Devcon and um and Devcon has been our oldest running event the first one was in 200 I think 14 uh and essentially it has rotated around the world since then so we can see even here at past events uh we can see that Devcon zero started in Berlin in 2014 actually before the launch of ethereum uh after afterwards it went to uh London in 2015 Devcon 1 Devcon 2 came to Shanghai in 2016 Devcon 3 came to Cancun in 2017 uh that was actually my first Devcon where I participated as a volunteer just a volunteer uh and that's what got me into the whole ecosystem of etherium uh Devcon 4 then took place afterwards at in in the Czech Republic in Prague and in 2018 Devon 5 took place in Japan Osaka in 2019 and Devon 6 just took place last year after a little bit of a break because of the pandemic in Bogota and so it essentially travels around the world each year uh and next year we're excited to announce that it's coming to Southeast Asia uh we don't yet know which city it's coming to in Southeast Asia but we are quite excited for for it to come to Southeast Asia uh and specifically it's planning to come to Southeast Asia at the end of 2024 so in uh yeah Q4 2024 that is public in Southeast Asia uh but we do not know yet where specifically um but but who is maybe who like who is who is Devcon for and so I would say Devcon is basically an event for the entire ethereum Community for the global ethereum Community to reunite to collaborate to learn um to to share ideas across domains and and to to advance the ecosystem uh and so it's for everyone from Top researchers to app developers to web developers who are working still in web 2 to economists to game theorists maybe cryptographers Community Builders but really anyone who wants to learn more about ethereum is encouraged and welcome to come to Devcon to to become immersed in in what is a 4 day or 4 Day event but like a week long of like unofficial events uh all around ethereum and and the many things that are happening within it um so it covers things from from the protocol itself to layer twos to developer infrastructure governance and coordination uh like Dows and such uh and much much more and yeah and so we're excited to be bringing Devcon to Southeast Asia next year uh and one of the questions we get asked a lot is why southeast Asia so why would we bring it to Southeast Asia specifically and really what we see in Southeast Asia is a lot of interest a lot of massive genuine adoption and a lot of opportunity a lot of opportunity for for impact and for um genuine use cases of ethereum Beyond just the simple trading and financial aspects of crypto that most people associate with crypto uh and why do we think that well one reason and one one one data point is chane analysis released this report this year just in September about a month ago uh that is the 2023 Global crypto adoption index uh and one of the things they noted was that Central and Southern Asia are leading the way in Grassroots crypto adoption uh and and it's true and it's very cool so if we see here specifically in in just southeast Asia just southeast Asia within the top 10 uh the top 10 countries four of them are from Southeast Asia so number three we have Vietnam uh we rank in here number three we have Vietnam uh number six we have the Philippines uh Philippines over here and number seven we have Indonesia see I scroll down uh and number 10 we have Thailand and so just in the top 10 have four of the countries in all the world that are from Southeast Asia and that's quite cool that's quite impressive and I think that's a big bonus for the region at large and while Malaysia doesn't necessarily make the list of top 10 I think Malaysia comes in at 37 technically uh and these scores are based on metrics around everything from like centralized exchange usage to decentralized exchange usage uh to number of peer-to-peer exchanges to defy an actual onchain uh onchain protocol usage so it it tries to combine a bunch of different you know centralized aspects but also onchain aspects who's actually um using non-custodial Solutions and using defy to to to do certain things um so here you can see again Vietnam um yeah Thailand Philippines Indonesia as as high ranking um Southern Southeast Asian countries uh and while Malaysia doesn't fall into that list specifically Malaysia what you have is some advantages in the sense of you have one uh some really important uh entities that exist in Malaysia some really important companies uh so one of those is obviously ether scan ether scan is probably one of the most important and most used tools in the ethereum ecosystem and it's super cool and impressive that they're based in Malaysia uh and and I applaud all of the work they do to help uh to to to Really support the ecosystem I think they give it back in a lot of ways uh and and yeah they're based in they're based in Malaysia another really great crypto focused team based out of Malaysia is coin gecko uh and more than just these companies though I think one thing that Malaysia really has going for it is an awesome Community uh namely eth KL uh and more recently I think eth Pang is starting to start up uh and quite honestly they set the bar they set the example for many communities around not just the region but I would say the world for what equality Community looks like what quality education looks like what selfless Community organization looks like so I would say you all in Malaysia have the advantage of uh of having a great Community there uh and being in a region that has a lot of adoption and a lot of interest in general uh around crypto um and crypto usage and so so yeah ultimately uh we think that there's a lot of genuine potential and Opportunity by bringing Devcon to Southeast Asia uh we also haven't brought we it's never been to Southeast Asia before so it's one of it's the first time that it will come there and uh and we are we are super excited for it so um yeah I would encourage everyone to to stay tuned to Devcon Twitter and things like that for for what's to come next year and um and I'll end with saying I guess that like we all have high hopes for ethereum I think you probably heard some talks already or if not you will hear some talks at ekl around around what it means what we hope to achieve with ethereum um and and there's a lot I think I think to different people there are different objectives that people try to achieve uh with ethereum and it's everything from I mean I think personally that ethereum is the next version of the internet I think we're working on the next version of the internet I think ethereum will become core rails for the next Generations of applications the next generation of identity systems of financial systems of organizations probably uh AKA Dows uh the next generation of property rights systems and and much much more and ultimately I also think that we are extremely early we're in the the I would say the 199 90s of the creation of the internet and and back then there was a lot of uncertainty in the world about what was the internet there was it was generally quite inefficient to use the internet it was slow it was it was costly they had dial up and there wasn't a lot to do right and so I think that's kind of the stage in which we are right now with ethereum and ethereum development and uh and I think very soon over the next five to 10 years the world will realize as we as we improve the protocols as we improve the applications that live on these protocols H the world will realize what what really the potential of ethereum is and it will become obvious that this is really the next version of the internet and it will have a lasting positive impact in in the world uh and so so yeah I guess I'll end with saying that I hope to see you all at uh Devcon next year uh or on the road to Devcon uh so I'll I'll leave these QR codes here on the left is the Devcon Twitter if you're interested in staying tuned to De to Devcon and the updates there uh you can scan that and on the right we have something called the Devcon uh road to Devcon grants program uh so here I will show you quickly the road to Devcon grants program it's a program to provide small sponsorships and monetary grants to meetups and educational initiatives happening in Southeast Asia so if you are a community organizer and you're interested to learn more or to organize ethereum meetups uh in your hometown in Southeast Asia uh or home City uh then I would suggest you check out the road to Devcon grants program uh the technical deadline is actually end of October but uh some Alpha for you all is that we will likely be extending it and so yeah check out uh this this program we want to hear from meetups from University clubs uh workshops hackathons grassroot communities uh and we love to help grow the education around ethereum around southeast Asia uh so the grants are up to $1,000 for per uh per Meetup and per event uh and you can submit it here at this form which is uh um which you can actually access at this QR code it should be Road it should be devon. org grants um or scan the QR code here and yeah I hope to see uh I guys first of all have have fun in E KL uh learn a lot I think you're lucky to all be there in Malaysia with an awesome community and awesome awesome group of organizers uh and props to them for putting on this awesome event I wish I could be there and I hope to see you all in southeast Asia at some point next year on the road to Devcon or during Devcon wherever it may be so uh have a good one cheers see you later all right wasn't that amazing thank you Skyla he couldn't be here with us but still a really really great video let me skip all right so