The EthCC conference in Brussels draws to a close this week and it’s safe to say that, thanks to weddings, robberies, and an exaggerated ‘attempt on Vitalik’s life,’ away from the stages at least, it’s been one of the more memorable crypto events in recent times.
The five-day event started last Sunday and featured talks and panels from the Ethereum cryptocurrency community, including big names like Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.
However, by Monday, troubling reports were coming in of visitors being robbed and attacked. One user claimed on X (formerly Twitter), that someone stole his passport and joked that they are now an ‘official Brussels community member.’
Another individual claimed they were robbed and injured while another said they had to punch a robber to scare them off. Three Arrows Capital co-founder Su Zhu wrote an almost 600-word response to the robberies, telling conferencegoers to avoid bringing money and commentating on the state of crime.
On-chain wedding
The conference also hosted a rooftop wedding that saw two crypto enthusiasts, one of whom was dressed as a bear, tie the knot.
Indeed, a wedding cake at the event was covered in icing that read, “Dump on retails, but never dump each other.” David Hoffman from Bankless said, “You need to spend at least four hours a day on Twitter to understand what’s happening here.”
Empty conferences
Another conference, hosted by Aptos Labs, which ran parallel to EthCC, failed to pull in the crowds.
Someone claiming to be in this apparent 10-person audience was congratulated on X for respecting social distancing. Another attendee responded, “How you think I avoided getting mugged?” adding, “Even the CEO didn’t show up. Bullish.”
One soggy Vitalik Buterin
Buterin himself had a turbulent time at EthCC, arriving to give a talk soaking wet after having to run through the rain to make the appearance. Fortunately, this crypto conference wasn’t flooded.
Elsewhere, part of a stage collapsed onto his shoulder leading one user to joke, “Belgian Police are investigating an attempt on Vitalik’s life yesterday that took place at an EthCC side event.”
Overall it’s been a hectic week outside and inside of EthCC. More formal conversations that took place involved a16z’s commentary on web3 social media, Coinbase’s plans to decentralize its layer-2 blockchain, and Reddit’s ideas for digital collectibles.
2024 marks the seventh EthCC conference since the event started in 2018. For any thrillseekers out there, next year’s event will take place in the French city of Cannes.