For this year’s EthCC [7] in Brussels, the Atom Accelerator DAO (AADAO) didn’t hold back! Providing a special grant to Miwa Events to help organize the Cosmos Hub’s first-ever in-person event.
The all-day event successfully attracted over 1,100 registrants (against a venue capacity of just 100), featuring four dynamic workshops and an Atom Economic Zone (AEZ) pitch night (with over 100 applications for just 3 open pitch spots), followed by a lively cocktail social.
Workshop partners included Binary Builders, CryptoCrew, Confio, and AEZ pitch night was led by AADAO’s Venture Program, LongHash Ventures, LBank Labs, and others. Hosted in collaboration with Informal Systems, partners like Staking Rewards and Node101 also aided in making the event successful.
This event not only highlighted the importance of face-to-face interactions in fostering collaboration and innovation, but also demonstrated AADAO’s commitment to nurturing a vibrant ecosystem around the Hub.
A Collaborative, Granted Effort
AADAO awarded a grant of $29,540 to Miwa Events*, an international events agency dedicated to creating bespoke experiences for decentralized communities, to efficiently manage the logistics of the event. This grant covered the venue costs, food and drinks, photographer, merch printing, and the service fee for Miwa’s efforts.
Alongside Miwa’s support, AADAO and Informal Systems were happy to take on the event programming and promotion into their own hands, ensuring not only direct communication with the Hub’s community, but also reaching out into new ecosystems to create the ultimate introductory experience.
“The event was super well run! Best check in experience / conversation I’ve had. Plus great content! Clearly a great crew.” – Cosmos Hub Event attendee.
“First exposure to the ecosystem. Loved it ” – Cosmos Hub Event attendee.
(note: $22,152.31 of the $29,540 was actually spent, with the savings rolled on to our next event)
The Hub IRL
AADAO, Informal Systems, other event partners, and over 250 attendees all came together on July 7th, 2024 to share knowledge and support each other in advancing the Cosmos Hub.
The day began with opening talks from key figures like Ethan Buchman from Informal Systems and Youssef Amrani from AADAO, setting a visionary tone.
Hands-on Workshops
The event then featured four workshops led by Binary Builders, CryptoCrew, and Confio aimed at supporting new developers and node operators in the Hub:
- Workshop 1: A crash course on bootstrapping an appchain in less than 90 minutes.
- Workshop 2: An alpha trial of the ICS chain launch tool to test out launching your appchain.
- Workshop 3: A CosmWasm crash course on building your first smart contract.
- Workshop 4: How to launch nodes and relay IBC.
With a lot of the participants being new to Cosmos, these workshops received a lot of praise for being supportive in onboarding new users.
AEZ Pitch Night
The AEZ Pitch Night was a major highlight, featuring three strong teams presenting to a full house, including five prominent VCs such as LongHash Ventures, LBank Labs, and AADAO. This session not only provided a platform for innovative ideas but also demonstrated the ecosystem’s latest potential.
Networking and Socializing
The event ended with a cocktail social, allowing participants to further forge connections, discuss upcoming collaborative opportunities, and overall strengthen community bonds.
Key takeaways
We’re pleased to see that the event scored an average 4.5/5 stars by attendees! With the main feedback being appreciation for the technical workshops and prioritizing time for networking. It was the perfect opportunity for newcomers in the space to get hands on with the Hub and more involved in the community.
It’s easy to say that we will be hosting more of these “Cosmos Hub first-party” events in the near future!
AADAO and Informal Systems thanks Binary Builders, Crypto Crew, Confio, LongHash Ventures, LBank Labs, Staking Rewards, and Node 101 for taking part in the Hub’s first ever event and making it so impactful for the ecosystem!
Are you driving value to the Cosmos Hub?
Funded by the AADAO, this day at EthCC Brussels proved the impact in-person events have on bringing the ecosystem to new, valuable users and developers.
Are you building a project that could help drive value for the Hub? If so, be sure to check out our Funding Themes and apply for a grant today.
About the Atom Accelerator DAO
Atom Accelerator DAO (AADAO) is a governance-mandated DAO of the Cosmos Hub. We have been formed and mandated to drive value for the Cosmos Hub & ATOM, supporting initiatives that either directly create economic impact or produce value that can drive its growth. From this, our current primary mandates are public grants and venture grants.
Atom Accelerator’s venture arm, strategically invests in promising early stage web3 founders and startups both within and outside of the Cosmos Hub’s ecosystem. Offering expertise, guidance, and support as experts within the Cosmos ecosystem while driving value towards Atom.
In 2023, we deployed $3.8 million in grants to 39 recipients – resulting in, among other things – a $22m USD airdrop to the Community Pool, an AEZ Accelerator program to expand the AEZ, a successful hackathon with 42 project submissions bringing innovations to the AEZ – and many other key initiatives. Read about them in our 2023 Impact Report.
