Reflections on Token2049 Singapore: Op-Ed by Vasily Rudomanov, CEO of GetBlock

What happens in Singapore never stays in Singapore. Crypto Twitter has spent the past week dissecting every announcement and development from Token2049. 

As the dust settles, I find myself reflecting on what this event revealed about where our industry stands and where it's headed.

If DeFi and TradFi can merge anywhere, Singapore is the place

Singapore possesses a certain genius loci. Even our crypto community - accustomed to Dubai's and Hong Kong’s megalomaniacal architecture, Istanbul's creative chaos, and the whispering luxury of Paris and Amsterdam - encounters something genuinely novel here.

It's difficult to categorize whether this city is designed for living, like old European capitals, or for work, like New York. Immaculate urban planning coexists seamlessly with thriving business districts, shopping centers, contemporary art museums, and cycling infrastructure.

One thing is certain: Singapore understands wealth creation. In our era of sanctions and trade wars, every major financial institution you can name maintains offices here. As crypto evolves into money (more on this shortly), I cannot imagine a better environment for this convergence to flourish.

In Web3, I'm rarely given to hyperbole, but our sector represents the intersection of innovation and liquidity. 

Singapore offers both in abundance.

From Digital Gold to Digital Money

There's little point rehashing the event's sheer scale as your timeline was saturated with Token2049 content. But the experience was genuinely comprehensive.

Beyond five stages and over 500 booths spanning five floors, organizers offered ziplines, meditation zones, numbered networking desks for instant meeting arrangements, and cuisine representing every corner of the globe.

It feels almost reductive to call the speaker lineup "five-star." From Fundstrat's (or should we now say Bitmine's?) Tom Lee to BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, from Circle and Tether to Hyperliquid and Ethena - the entire ecosystem was represented.

The genuine excitement when Donald Trump Jr. and Zach Witkoff took the stage was palpable. We can debate the merits and risks of this political alignment, but the pro-crypto stance emerging in the U.S. represents an opportunity we cannot afford to squander.

Tom Lee's presentation particularly resonated with me. He articulated what transformed Bitcoin into Digital Gold - and what is currently positioning Ethereum as Digital Money. We're not merely creating a new asset class; we're fundamentally reimagining how value is stored and transferred, enhancing existing financial concepts while introducing entirely novel ones.

Arthur Hayes delivered a brilliant critique of the European Union's rigidly anti-crypto position. His message underscored a simple truth: you cannot resist crypto. You either embrace it or resign yourself to second-tier status.

Narratives. Or something more?

After every major event, I assess which themes dominated the discourse, the panels, speeches, and hallway conversations.

At Token2049 Singapore, five topics prevailed: stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, perpetual DEXes, prediction markets, and artificial intelligence, in that order.

The stablecoin conversation has evolved. Rather than simply launching new tokens, builders are constructing entirely new infrastructure. We're witnessing the emergence of corporate stablecoins and stablecoin-centric Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains. 

Intriguingly, these same rails are being developed for other real-world assets like equities, commodities, and beyond. Stablecoins and RWAs have already achieved infrastructural and economic synergy.

Perpetual DEXes like Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter dominated conversations. They've attracted sophisticated traders who survived 2017's ICO mania and 2020's DeFi Summer, offering transparency, speed, cost efficiency, and - yes! - the return of no-KYC functionality.

Prediction markets revealed themselves as a novel form of collective intelligence, emerging as trust in traditional media and social networks erodes. People won't wager on outcomes they don't believe in. No government or bot farm can compel them. This isn't betting 2.0 - it's something fundamentally different.

AI applications appeared throughout the conference. Analytical systems and software development copilots emerged as the two dominant categories. Many innovators have recognized that Web3's transparency and cost efficiency create ideal conditions for agentic economies and research.

The question mark in this section's heading is deliberate. What impressed me most: narratives are transcending mere narrative. In previous hype cycles including DePIN, DeSci, and others, most projects simply adopted trendy labels to attract retail capital. 

Today, genuine builders predominate. At least, they're making the attempt.

GetBlock: Infrastructure for What's Next

I'm particularly pleased to see how GetBlock aligns with these trends. As we evolve from an RPC node provider into a comprehensive Web3 infrastructure layer, we're positioned to support every development I've outlined.

For stablecoins and RWAs, we've integrated blockchains heavily focused on these use cases, including Celo and Plasma.

For perpetual DEXes, we're ready to support builders on HyperEVM.

Regarding AI, we're already deploying it across every department. We open-sourced GetBlock’s MCP primitive in Q2, and that's merely the beginning.

Web3 is maturing. Token2049 Singapore provided the clearest evidence yet.

So is GetBlock. Big things are coming - yes, that's a marketing cliché, but it happens to be true.

LFG,

Vasily Rudomanov
CEO, GetBlock

P.S. Next Token2049, the GetBlock team will arrive in greater force. I managed only 14 side events and 143 conversations—we can do better, and we will.