They say, once you come to Georgia, you find yourself reluctant to leave. This stunning country – particularly attractive with sunny weather, scenic mountains, and of course, exceptional wine – has not only incredible nature and rich culture, but also all chances to become another cradle of fintech and blockchain.
In 2020, Georgia was ranked 7 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, which made over 50,000 tech specialists relocate here during the last couple of years. What’s far more exciting is that the Georgian government has a good attitude toward cryptocurrencies, and is already hard at work on a legal framework to support mass adoption.
Today, thousands of crypto freelancers are working internationally from Georgia, and it’s therefore not surprising that Tbilisi finally became one more meeting point for investors, C-level executives, developers, and creators involved in Web3. They all flocked to DeGameFi, the first-ever international Web3 conference in the Caucasian region, on October 22-23. Presented to the wide audience as a combination of GameFi and DeFi, the event boasted a total of 8-panel discussions on its business agenda, over 70 speakers and industry experts as well as 50+ sponsors and exhibitors showcasing their innovative products.
In this article, I’ll provide a deep look into what happened throughout these two days at the Sheraton Grand Metechi Palace hotel and highlight the most insightful events. Let’s buckle up!
Overview of DeGameFi
DeGameFi is the first Georgian community-based company with a goal of bridging the worlds of Web2 and Web3. DeGameFi’s team started with a monthly series of gatherings, such as meet-ups, hackathons, and workshops, aimed at popularizing blockchain technologies and helping traditional businesses transit to the new era of finance. And now, thanks to the growing interest in cryptocurrencies among Georgian companies and institutions, DeGameFi has grown to a large-scale conference attended by over 1,000 Web3 enthusiasts from different regions.
Source: Twitter
Combining the most engaging formats and activities for networking and knowledge sharing, the event offered to visit 6 main sections so that each participant could fully immerse into the Web3 environment:
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Conference hall;
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Exhibition floor for business;
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Tech room;
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NFT gallery;
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Start-up competition;
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VIP area.
Apart from that, there were various gatherings, workshops, contests, and tech talks available during the conference. No matter whether you are a VC, entrepreneur, developer or artist, here you would find many promising opportunities and projects for mutual cooperation. Fun fact: DeGameFi even invited community members to join the conference online at the Decentraland.
At DeGameFi, I caught up with a few fellows who I asked to share their impressions of the event. Among them were Konstantin Gorin, Head of Support at Cryptopay and NearPay, Elena Shiltseva, CPO at Roketo Business, as well as Mike Ermolaev and Gennadii Bazhukov from Kikimora Labs. They all agreed that the conference was organized at a very good level and laid the groundwork for a brand-new way of interaction between crypto supporters in Georgia and the CIS.
“The Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing international upheavals made us almost forget this wonderful atmosphere of face-to-face meetings where the most innovative ideas are born. DeGameFi reminded us how vital the offline events are in the crypto industry and the scale of the conference ideally suited to the establishment of fruitful connections,” notes Konstantin Gorin.
Source: Twitter
“It was really great to meet so many local guys at DeGameFi. Even the Bank of Georgia got on board and showcased its Web3 projects, which demonstrates that the technology is here to stay and regulators are keeping their hands on the pulse. The Georgian crypto community is developing at a rapid pace, and the conference has proven it true,” adds Elena Shiltseva.
Gennadii, in charge of Business Development of Kikimora Labs, was struck with the geography of participating companies and individuals:
“We ran into attendees not only from Georgia, but also from the USA, Great Britain, South Korea, and China. I’d like to separately note that the venue was selected perfectly, which contributed significantly to effective networking. I, personally, partnered with a few investors and found some interesting projects that are worth attention.”
Mike, who is Head of PR & Content at Kikimora Labs, was impressed by the various interactives related to GameFi.
“The NFT gallery was a wrap! An amazing place for artists to catch some inspiration, and I think that even those who still feel skeptical about NFTs couldn’t remain indifferent. Besides, the presence of brands promoting gamification was huge. The participants were welcomed to try various activities like playing blockchain-based games with underlying NFT economics to assess the potential themselves,” he shares.
Source: Twitter
But what really wowed everyone is the high quality of expert content delivered on the main stage and a stir around panel discussions devoted to trending topics in Web3. So let’s get to it.
Speaker Lineup And Panels
The two-day agenda was tailored to ingesting insights from multiple directions of the DeFi development: from crypto payments and decentralized marketplaces to metaverses, Web3 investment strategies and marketing specifics.
Source: DeGameFi.io
DeGameFi brought on stage the best and the brightest minds from both Georgia and global markets, including:
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Mikheil Didebulidze, partner at VNTR Capital, founder of DeGameFi;
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Tone Vays, analyst, derivatives trader, influencer and event producer;
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Levan Kobakhidze, CDO at Bank of Georgia;
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Max Krupyshev, CEO CoinsPaid & Cryptoprocessing.com;
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Iouri Galitchenko, strategic partnership Binance Pay&Card;
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Colin Donohue, director of Startup Connect & Startup Grind;
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Eralp Hatipoglu, co-founder & CEO at CityPay, and more.
“The quality of dialogue between the keynote experts and attendees was excellent. I was pleasantly surprised by a high level of speakers who shared their comprehensive views on the current Web3 trends and challenges. This once again demonstrated that Georgia as a crypto hub is full of forward-thinking individuals and entities,” says Gennadii Bazhukov.
A peculiar feature of DeGameFi was a number of panel discussions featuring the most pressing issues that the DeFi and Web3 industry is facing today. I’d like to point out those panels that, from my point of view, were the hottest and the most buzzing.
Web 3.0 payments from past to present: how are traditional banks keeping up? - Panel
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Panel: Web 3.0 payments from past to present: how are traditional banks keeping up? Experts: George Gvazava (CryptX), Levan Kobakhidze (Bank of Georgia), Iouri Galitchenko (Binance Pay & Card), Eralp Hatipoglu (CityPay), Max Krupyshev (CoinsPaid) Moderator: Max Novak from MyNearWallet Topics: The impact of regulations on the DeFi ecosystem; the prospects of CBDCs and stablecoins; the latest efforts to bridge banks and crypto made by payment giants like Mastercard; tokenization and interoperability; obstacles to mainstream adoption of DeFi; Web3 for businesses; metaverses and what banks can offer in this visual world.
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Panel: Sports 3.0 - new era for sports entities Experts: David Chikhladze (OWNIC), Zeshan Ahmad (P360), Michael Holden (Maxihaxi) Moderator: Konstantin Gorin from NearPay and Cryptopay
Topics: The driving force behind Web3 initiatives in sport; crowd communication models; integrating blockchain and web3 technologies to sports – collaboration or rivalry; engaging huge fan bases and adoption issues.
Sports 3.0 - new era for sports entities - Panel
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Panel: The evolution and the future of DeFi Experts: Manuel Rensink (Fathom Protocol), Ioseb Bolqvadze (Cryptal.com, Cryptomat.com & OneSoft), Lasha Antadze (Rarify) Moderator: Maria Reshetnik from FutureComes Topics: Current and potential barriers to DeFi prosperity; emerging trends; risks posed by tightening regulations; the convergence between DeFi and TradFi; the most pressing real-life use cases that DeFi can bring.
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Panel: A VC's guide: institutional decentralization and investments Experts: Amirsan Roberto (Sinofy Group), Kirill Mishanin (Infodriver Capital), Vojta Rocek (Presto Ventures), Sergi Gvarjaladze (Kettari Foundation), Gvantsa Baidoshvili (Revenue Capital) Moderator: Maria Reshetnik from FutureComes Topics: Investment trends and strategies in the crypto/blockchain segment; red flags during the investment process; investing in DAOs – pros and cons.
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Panel: Web3 start-up ecosystem: current state Experts: Mikheil Didebulidze (VNTR Capital), Eralp Hatipoglu (CityPay), Colin Donohue (Startup Connect & Startup Grind), Levan Khomeriki (Two Point Zero) Moderator: Mike Ermolaev from Kikimora Labs Topics: The reasons for decline of Web3 startup funding; the most popular areas of investment; the pitfalls of investing in the play-to-earn projects and metaverses; leading countries in Web3; investment DAOs; the role of crypto marketing in 2022-2023; the legitimacy of Web3.
Mike Ermolaev and Colin Donohue
“The DeGameFi panels were always full houses. I moderated the discussion that was devoted to the Web3 start-up ecosystem and it definitely collected more than a hundred of viewers. The hall was packed; every seat was occupied and people had to stand behind. Unbelievable!” comments Mike Ermolaev.
Tech Room, Afterparty And Side Events
The agenda of the tech room, also positioned as an additional educational space, was focused more on technology-oriented speeches and presentations of infrastructure solutions. Elena Shiltseva who commanded the scene there shares her feedback on the host experience:
“Except for participating at DeGameFi as a speaker of the main stage where I talked about the role of a CFO in the process of transiting from Web2 to Web3, I had a great pleasure to host the tech room section. The key benefit of this role was greeting many talented people in the blockchain industry on stage and gaining maximum knowledge about innovations that are emerging in this field. I’m still thrilled by the atmosphere, and of course, I’d like to say massive thanks to the organizers who made my job of hosting super easy!”
Elena Shiltseva hosting the tech room section
Elena also shared with me her own shortlist of the top 4 speakers who rocked the tech room with their valuable and fundamental reports. First, she mentioned Max Sultakov, CEO of Mover, who talked about technical and economic aspects of going cross-chain on high-performance L1s. Then Elena proceeded to Vladimir Prosvirkin, founder of Aspis, who explained why DAOs will replace legal entities and how to create a successful decentralized autonomous organization. Her other favorite was Avtandil Kutchava with a practical report on crypto regulations in Europe and Georgia. And finally, she got inspired by the speech of charismatic Alexander Wendt from Trend Vision who showed with real examples, why high-quality PR efforts are essential for start-ups and how not to fail when putting them into practice.
“These were amazing applied reports, the perfect examples of how tech-related speeches should be prepared and presented,” Elena concludes.
Today’s events cannot do without entertainment, thus maintaining the perfect balance between work and pleasure. DeGameFi partnered with the world’s biggest Web3 conference WOW Summit to give 100+ VIP ticket holders unforgettable emotions and exclusive networking opportunities at the end of the event. The afterparty took place at Axis Tower's Sky Bar where representatives of the international and local funds, CEOs of the most promising projects, and local state institutions enjoyed music, fine drinks, snacks, and enchanting panoramic views over the night Tbilisi.
DeGameFi x WOW Summit Afterparty
The list of side events also included VIP dinner and investor’s breakfast, sponsored by Kikimora Labs. The latter gathered together a few dozen people who are involved in the most promising niches, such as SpaceTech, or look for tech innovations to co-invest in, particularly on the Georgian market.
“We connected with the global Web3 community, made a lot of networking pics and really had fun attending both the investor’s breakfast and the afterparty. The beauty of these events lies in their exclusive status that ensures the presence of your target audience, reliable partnerships and fantastic experience sharing. And let’s face it, talking business is much more enjoyable when getting together either over coffee or drinks,” says Mike Ermolaev laughing.
Final Thoughts
Driven by the mission to support the growth of the crypto community in Georgia, DeGameFi took the first step towards bridging traditional business and Web 3 in a solid and transparent way. Given that the country is currently in the process of making itself a fintech and crypto hub, the events under the DeGameFi brand will most likely become annual and will honor the progress achieved with attempts to foster blockchain adoption en masse.