My Token2049 Week in Singapore - Travel Story

The premier event for the Web3 Crypto Blockchain participation trip from Bengaluru started very well, with a meeting with friends from Foundership - Web3 & AI Accelerator VC Santosh Panda Foundership Bimlesh Gundurao Foundership CertiK Lakshya Kanyakubja

Conversations on the state of the web3 startup ecosystem over drinks and dinner turned into ideation and brainstorming sessions to develop solutions for founders, builder's, and investors. This is unavoidable when passionate people with common interests come together.

Early in the Morning, Singapore welcomed us with chill weather. We enjoyed the buzzing MRT commute to the hotel in Little India.

I took time to familiarize myself with the nearby places, routes, food options, and cash payments for GoGrab Taxi rides. Therefore, I started my first work day in the afternoon with a meeting with the Kilde business management team at Tokio Marine Centre.

I attended the evening party organized by the leading end-to-end blockchain technology solutions provider ChainUp at CE LA VI. I met interesting people leveraging Blockchain AI technologies to accelerate their business ventures. My first workday was long due to jet lag, so I did some work before getting some sleep.

On the second day, I took the bus to Jln Jamal for a meeting with the River Venture Studio founder Dr. Viveka Kalidasan, PhD . We had a good discussion on the Singapore startup ecosystem over Starbucks matcha and coffee. The bus ride allowed me to enjoy the East Coast road, sightseeing the old & new beautiful residential places, markets, and harmonious life of people of Singapore from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

My next meeting was at the OGBC Innovation Hub Innovation Hub. I met the intellectual minds behind Hero.io Masa AI and Apta AI platforms and products, which enhanced my perspective and understanding of contextual artificial intelligence adoption by the financial and healthcare industry. I took a long walk on Colliers Quay and Raffles Quay, which host several landmarks: Clifford Pier, Change Alley, Hitachi Tower, Ocean Towers, and Ocean Financial Centre. My second workday ended with a dinner meeting with the blocsys technologies founder.

On the third day, I reached the Sands Expo and Exhibition Centre earlier, around 8:30 AM. The event was organized very well. There was a place for everyone, including networkers and exhibitors. There was a festive mood and vibe at the event. People poured in from various countries, and the halls filled up before the event's scheduled start time. I listened to the excellent Keynote speeches of eminent speakers like Balaj Srinivasan, Arthur Hayes, Bryan Johnson, Vitalik, and Jeremy Allaire. All the talks and panel discussions were thought-provoking. The venture capitalist did their part in building future narratives, new categories, and sub-sectors as emerging technologies converged.

I met with startup founders and early-stage investors on the event's sidelines to debate and discuss their problem statements. Account Abstraction, Chain Abstraction, Maturity of the Infrastructure space for mainstream adoption by the subsequent billion internet users without learning about protocols, consensus algorithms, cryptography....etc

On the third day evening, I took a long nature walk through the Gardens by the bay to reach the 麦当劳 restaurant inside the garden to record a podcast with Jahangeer Ansari of FU Capital and Milind Bansia of Polytrade on tokenization of RWA real-world assets. Over $5B of financial assets have already been tokenized and traded on-chain. As per the research report by Northern Trust and 汇丰 the global asset market is estimated to reach $145 Tn, and 5-10% of it will get tokenized/digitized by 2030. Another critical data point is the USDC stablecoin transaction volume, touching $16.2 Tn, proof of mainstream adoption for an asset-backed digital currency and assets that can power global trade & commerce borderless in the trustless digital environment.

I returned to the hotel room and crashed into bed as it was an eventful day.

I went to the event's second day (the trip's fourth day) to meet exhibitors who had come there anticipating prospective clients and customers. 80% of the time, I conversed with other participants across booths, networking halls, and dining areas. The conversations were again on DePin, DecentralizedAI, DeFi, Web3Games Web3Social. The energy of the people was amazing. I met people from Latvia, South Korea, Ukraine, Cypress, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Australia, Switzerland, the Philippines, the United States, UAE, and many more.

In the evening, I visited the meet-up and attended the dinner. The dinner event was organized by Electric Capital at 70 Anson Road on the quiet, relaxing rooftop bar. After conversations with enthusiastic RWA TradFi and CeFi people, I took a taxi to the hotel. I stayed awake thinking about the next steps in building up Kreatorverse Venture Studio capacity in collaboration with global Web3 entrepreneurs and investors. In the trail of thoughts, I fell asleep.

The next day, I woke up a little late and did my yoga practice, went out for breakfast, and, on the way back, met and chatted with, Premier Financial Services Limited Shiv Narisimlu . Though I was tempted to attend side events, I decided to catch up with colleagues back in Bengaluru. One of my friends, a citizen of Singapore, met for a delicious South Indian meal and discussed the progressive steps taken by the Singapore government's policy framework and guidelines for a thriving digital business ecosystem.

I took a GoGrab Taxi to reach the airport well in advance, restarted work at the lounge, and arrived in Bengaluru late evening with memories, notes, and action items for the next business week.

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