About ten days ago, I returned from Istanbul, Turkey, from an impressive trip. I am Matías Codón Varela, although everyone knows me as Matute, I am a product designer and a fanatic of new technologies (more information at https://matute.design/)More than three years ago immersed in the web3 ecosystem. I started working on an American startup specialized in payments with cryptocurrencies, being the only team designer. Over time, I have actively joined the community of web3 enthusiasts in Buenos Aires, playing in various roles: community leader and member, volunteer and even participating in the foundation of Block House, a space dedicated to technological events in the City of Bueno Aires.I think my trajectory brings a unique perspective to what I'm about to share. As a young Latin American, passionate about design and new technologies, and active in the web3 communities, I hope to offer a critical insight into the design of user experiences on the web3 and the events of the industry.The adventure began weeks before the trip, when with other industry youth we noted in Talent Protocol for TakeOff's opportunity. It is a Talent Protocol initiative that, with a scholarship, offers the opportunity to go to international events to enhance professional profiles. This time, instead of the typical selection process, a voting system was applied for the first time so that all users of their platform could support, and therefore decide, who were the individuals who were going to travel, a moved to the decentralization of the protocol.After two intense weeks of voting, I had the huge joy of knowing that it had been selected between the top 15 that would go to Istanbul, Turkey. The final group consisted of:
- Matutes
- Jazz - - Digital Designer
- Erik - - Full Stack Dev
- Intercontinental light🇷 - Full Stack Dev
- Anastasia - - Full Stack Dev
- Gheorghe - Full Stack Dev
- Ari - - Researcher
- Alejo intercontinental - - Lawyer & Business Developer
- Roberto - - Researcher
- Santiago intercontinental - - Full Stack Dev
- SJ . - Smart Contract Dev.
- Camellia - - Researcher
- Simon intercontinental - - Business Developer
- Dario [28] - Digital Designer
- Melissa - - Full Stack Dev
On the second day, we visit iconic places like the Galata Tower and the Blue and Hagia Sophia mosques. Later, we attended a ProtocolLabs event, which not only provided great information about the technologies they are developing, but was also one of the companies that supported economically so that the Fellows could go to Istanbul, so we were doubly grateful to attend this event. The day concluded with an after where we enjoy Turkish cuisine and networking with talents from all over the world.
On the third day I started working in the workspace for all the guests to DevConnect, then joined Alejo to watch Not DevCon, where we heard key figures like Vitalik Buterin and Skylar talk about the ethereum ecosystem and their vision for the future. Both are fundamental pieces in the current development of ethereum and its community so it seemed important to hear their views. Subsequently, we attended an event on Account Abstraction. This is an innovative concept that seeks to make simpler interactions with accounts in blockchain by joining user and contract accounts. This technology offers several benefits:- Security Improvement: By allowing custom rules for transactions, it reduces the risk of theft or loss of funds due to compromised private keys.
- More flexibility: Users can program their accounts to automate certain actions or meet specific security or governance requirements.
- Simplification of User Interface: Facilitates a more intuitive and less technical user experience, which is crucial for massive adoption of blockchain technologies.
- Potential for Innovations: Opens new possibilities for developing decentralized applications (dApps) and more complex financial services in blockchain.
The fourth day began with breakfast at the seminar and then, L2DAYs, on the Layer 2 of the Ethereum. These Layer 2 are solutions that improve Ethereum scalability and efficiency by handling transactions outside the main chain, but maintaining its security and decentralization. In doing so, Layer 2 allows a greater number of transactions, reduce costs and accelerate processing speed, thus addressing congestion challenges and high rates on the Ethereum network.After this event we went to ZK Accelerate, about Zero Knowledge technology. This is a fascinating cryptographic technique that allows one part (the tester) to demonstrate the other part (the verifier) that has a specific knowledge or that a statement is certain, without revealing any information about this knowledge or statement itself. It's like having a closed box and proving you know what's inside without opening it. ZK helps to perform confidential transactions, verify identities without revealing personal data and improve network efficiency and scalability, reducing the amount of information that needs to be shared and verified.At the end of the ZK Accelerate event, we spent a time by Decentralized RPC Summit, but unfortunately, the moment we arrived was already finishing and there were no exponents giving lectures. For this reason, we went back to the work space where we talked to our team for hackathon and managed to align ourselves before the event.In the evening, we went to raave, a techno party that Aave usually organizes around international crowd events, is really a great experience to cut with so much technical information and simply enjoy a dancing night with new friends.The fifth day was the UX Unconference day, and I had the opportunity to attend the only UX-focused event on the web3. In this +15 exponent event, including the metamask co-founder, gave their insights into the needs and potential improvements of the user experience with blockchain.In addition to the lectures of the exponents, there was a panel of which I had the opportunity to participate and comment on the adoption of blockchain in LATAM, this was a very enriching and unexpected experience, as I would not have thought I would end up climbing the stage to share my experience and point of view. Finally, some workshops were organized between designers to brainstorm solutions to the problems we see on the web3 from our professional perspective.
The sixth day began with the Brunch of Talent Protocol, here we fill in energy before the hackathon and again we join our hackathon team and upload our idea.In the afternoon we went to the opening of ETHGlobal Istanbul, hackathon which I would like to leave some data:building +1300 hackers from 90 different countriesbuilding +50 PartnersSustainability $600,000 in prizes327 projectsTraining ETHGlobal’s face-to-face hackathon longer
The seventh and eighth day went to full with the hackathon, a lot of coffee and little sleep.He did not sleep and we continued to build our project. Much work, coffee and effort, few hours sleep
What did we build during hackathon?We create Kandinsky, a non-code tool based on a conversational interface that allows you to use abstraction account features without knowing how to program a smart contractThanks to the Proof of Concept we delivered we took 2 prizes!s Best @nounsdao Public Good#2nd best # Protocol application
Thus concludes this incredible journey, an experience full of learning, enriching moments and the opportunity to transform contacts into true friendships within the ecosystem.It is essential to highlight that the writing here represents only a personal perspective of the adventure lived in Istanbul. There are numerous experiences and views that further enrich this account. My wish is that my experience encourages you to take similar initiatives, be it:Postular helmet for a bag,Participate in a hackathon,Training Take a trip,Empowering Depth on topics such as ZK or Account Abstraction,Training Or simply reach a personal goal that bears in mind.I sincerely appreciate that you have devoted time to reading my article.We read on twitter (@matut_eth).Greetings, Matute.
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