Bankless - Devcon #5 - Aya Miyaguchi | The Heart of Ethereum

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

Welcome to Devcon 6. The first Devcon for Bankless, the conference was a ton of fun and an amazing cultural experience in Bogota, Colombia. Aya Miyaguchi is the executive director of the Ethereum Foundation. She is one of the leaders of Devcon, powering the cultural experience of this monumental conference. ------ 📣 Push | Try the Communication Protocol of Web3 https://bankless.cc/Push ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER:          https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/?utm_source=banklessshowsyt 🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST:                 http://podcast.banklesshq.com/   ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum ❎ ACROSS | BRIDGE TO LAYER 2 https://bankless.cc/Across 🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave 💠 NEXO | CRYPTO FINANCIAL HUB https://bankless.cc/Nexo 🔐 LEDGER | NANO HARDWARE WALLETS https://bankless.cc/Ledger ⚡️FUEL | THE MODULAR EXECUTION LAYER https://bankless.cc/Fuelpod ------ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:30 Aya at Devcon 4:40 Selecting Cities 6:30 Culture 8:16 Post-Merge Ethereum 10:08 Lifestyle & Expectations 13:30 Looking Forward ------ Resources: Aya https://twitter.com/AyaMiyagotchi  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures 

Welcome Bankless Nation back to the DevCon 6 experience. In this episode, I'm talking with Ayat Mayaguchi, the executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, one of the leaders of DevCon, and why DevCon is what I'm calling a cultural experience as much as a tech experience. I asked Ayah about the trajectory of Ethereum that she's seen thus far and how all the Devcons have changed and adapted and what really DevCon's role is in Ethereum as it is the place, the meeting place, the ground zero, the epicenter of so much of what goes on in the Ethereum ecosystem and what it's like been working at the EF for so long. So I hope you enjoy this fantastic conversation with IMA Gucci of the Ethereum Foundation right after we talk to some of these fantastic sponsors

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Aya, how's Zepcon been going for you? I've been having fun. Yes. It's being great. And we kind of promised to make this DeVCone the best Devcon ever. And I think team did it. Well, as far as I hear from people, I didn't get to see everything, but it is great energy, and I also hear from new people that they get it.

This is the Utham. So that's what the greatest thing to hear. And the thing that I've noticed about DevCon is that it's not a tech conference. I mean, we're talking about tech. We're talking about Ethereum. Ethereum is a bunch of software. But some tech conferences often happen in San Francisco or New York, but we're here in Bogota. And I think if you called DevCon just a tech conference, you're actually not seeing the full picture.

So what is DevCon to you if it's more than just a tech conference? So, I mean, I myself joined DevCon 2 for the first time. And just as an attendee before joining the Ethereum Foundation, DebCon was a place that I felt Ethereum was different. So that's what I wanted to, like, our team to create. But at the same time, we're bringing Devcon to Bogara this time, and then Bogora is, well, and also said it's not just Bogora. It is Latin America. And the combination of, like, we are supporting all Latin America communities, but also they can inspire people from outside to fuel energy, like how they can be creative.

I've been advocating this idea of next billion. they're the next billion users and builders of Ethereum, and then we have to include them. But also, they are pretty creative because they have to. And the Ethereum is the necessity for them, and then they're building solutions for their own life. So a lot of energy and the vibe and passion and creativity, I want them to inspire the rest of the world. So that's DevCon for me. And what goes into some of the thought process behind how we select a city for DevCon? Here we are in Bogota, Colombia.

Last DevCon was in Osaka, Japan. Before that, it was Prague. These are not the typical big conference cities that people go to. So what's some of the thought processes to how we decide where we're going to host these things? Yeah. So there are a lot of criteria we look at and then we were not successful all the time. We were not perfect. But now, like, we want to have this, like, you know, people to have different experiences.

Like, there are a ton of Ethereum events, right? And there are major events that happens every year, ECC, like East Berlin and all those. What can we provide to the Ethereum people, like something that they haven't experienced yet? So that's one thing. And then after we selected Latin America, you know, there are a couple of candidates. But for Bogara, the city was very welcoming, but also the venue is, I hope you felt that venue is amazing. So the venue is also very important. Yeah, and then we started to receive proposals from community members this year.

So we are receiving proposals for the next devcom from different communities. And so again, like if the communities are very passionate and then, you know, like they can help us to do, organize best step gone. That's, you know, extra bonus or extra point for us. So, yeah, those are criteria. And Ethereum, of course, it's software, but it's software that's supposed to help humans, help us do the things that we want to do. It's all about culture.

and how do you think about culture as it relates to DevCon? Because we all have all these talks and they're all very technical. But we're in Bogota. Again, like I said, we're not in San Francisco. And we're also engaging with the Yathletam community. What role does culture play in providing the experience here in DevCon? Yeah. So it's very, very important for us to be a supporter as EF.

At the opening ceremony, I spoke about subtraction, are one of our principles, and then I definitely want people to say it because it's an important message, and we choose some places, but then, like, we're not going to, we're not doing everything, right? We're just being a supporter, and then community starts building a lot of different things, and then you feel the vibe from that too, but also speaking in the culture, Eastern culture, like we focus on building, and no one is talking about the place of ether, or, you know, like, just that this vibe of building together, building solutions together, and especially in Antarctica,

that's not, this is not just cool new tech. This is, you know, like necessity for their life. So, like, I love for everyone to feel that through this experience. And then also, wherever you go, like, Lithuanian events always have that feeling. But with DevCon, we definitely want to make sure people feel that. And this DevCon is happening at an interesting spot in Ethereum's story. We are a few weeks, six weeks-ish post-merch. And much of Ethereum's early history has been about getting to proof of stake.

And now we are having this DevCon where everyone, all the developers, all the community members, are all coming together right after we go through this big transitory period in Ethereum, what do you think the role of DevCon is in like kind of defining eras of Ethereum? How does it help write the Ethereum story? Yeah, so obviously we didn't plan it. Luckily, that's going to happen right after the merge and then it was perfect timing. But also this, I also said this in my talk. It's like merge was important, not just because all the technical,

because of all the technical advancements to the political. So this giant project was done by the decentralized community. That's like no one has done that before. And so I think that DevCon is the perfect place to celebrate that part. That's just about the technical part. And then you can really feel, you know, there's so many people outside of EF who are involved in Vermers and then they can actually be together in person and officially celebrate. So it turned out to be the perfect time.

But again, you know, we didn't really predict it. But maybe we got lucky because we were decentralized and then, like, you know, someone gave us luck. And so, yeah, there is a lot of celebrating going on. It's always, I mean, until I see the people on crypto Twitter or the people that I interview on bank lists that are all around the world all in the same spot, that is something to celebrate. and everyone chooses how to celebrate in their own unique flavor. Some people got to dinners. There's a bunch of parties. How are you and other people at the EF celebrating here at DevCon?

Hmm. So, I don't know. We just, like, being able to be together is one celebration. And then we just, you know, I received this Pundercoyne from the researchers. Yeah. But we just are happy being able to together, be together. you know like I just was with Vitalik and Danny yesterday and then we kind of like we did it like this again like we didn't really do it like all the older community members did it together but you know like we're able to be part of it that's very exciting and yeah we are also EF getting together at the same location doesn't really happen often so this is like we haven't really be done so this is like we haven't really be done because DevCon people have been busy with DevCon and the team has been

really busy so hopefully maybe tomorrow or on Sunday we have like actual time to celebrate celebrate right as the organizers of DevCon you have to you can't celebrate too soon you have to wait wait for it to be over did you have any goals coming into DevCon any like things that you wanted to see any experiences you wanted to have or what did you want to get done and now that we're at the end of the conference we have a few more hours before we actually wrap this thing up did you achieve those goals? Yeah, so my goal was to feel that Latin America communities have developed, you know, so much and then to feel that they don't need us anymore, right?

And then I think I do feel it that way. I was with all the Latin American community leaders this morning. We just got together with all different countries. They are super cool, but also very organized. they're running events and hackathon on their own. And then we are just supporter. And then I feel like our job is done and they don't need DevCon anymore. So that's, that was my goal.

And then I do feel it. And then I feel like our mission is accomplished. You said it was DevCon too where you first identified that there's something different in Ethereum. And I think that was a little bit emblematic of your talk that you gave about subtraction. How is that subtraction mindset different than what most people would expect? and how is it the right mindset to think about Ethereum and what the role is at the EF? Yeah, so subtraction is really not about just doing less. It is like subtracting your power so that others can join.

And then I think I just tried to explain it in one word, but then Ethereum actually has it already, right? It was there. That's how Ethereum has attracted so many people. and then EF doesn't have to be perfect because others come in and then fill in the role and then you are doing this podcast to do education and so that's the power of the humanitarian community

and then so subtraction is all about like you make space pool others but then like you add we subtract so that others can add but then those who are adding at some point maybe they can start subtracting so like I'm hoping to

see that more not just from but from others because I think subtraction is really critical for the Ethereum's decentralization. Is it too early to think ahead to DevCon 7? A little bit too, Ari. We're discussing. There's strong

request from different communities. Some communities are very strong. So, yeah, I don't know yet. So it's not like I'm hiding it. I don't know yet. Well, we have some closing ceremonies we have to get to. So thank you for spending some time with me and just thank you for everything you do at the EF. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Cheers.