DappCon 2025, hosted by Gnosis, just wrapped up, inviting all of the brightest minds and trailblazers disrupting Web3 to connect. The conference was an amazing platform for candid discussions about the exciting progress being made in decentralized technologies. Fellows and attendees explored the legal, technological, and philosophical foundations required to advance the next generation of blockchain applications.

DappCon 2025 was packed with more than 80 speakers, comprising protocol architects, privacy advocates, user experience researchers and more. It was their combined, multifaceted wisdom that honed in on the promising future of Web3. The event featured a high-energy VC Day, providing a platform for startups to pitch innovative ideas to prominent investors.

VC Day Highlights Promising Web3 Startups

VC Day at DappCon 2025 was an exclusive opportunity for developing Web3 startups to connect with seasoned VCs. Their final task was to present their visions to a hand-picked group of investors. The event drew a world-class, closely-collaborated group of 40 OG founders and early-stage investors. Each startup team had five minutes to make their case in Payments, DeFi, AI, and many other exciting categories.

The energy was incredible, portraying the builder’s pace and fervor that mark Web3’s coming wave. Former Gnosis Co-Founder Stefan George joined the event as an active investor. His presence added a great deal to the event’s significance in helping to find and foster the best new ventures. Together, VC Day reinforced the promise and dedication to innovation in order to continue spurring growth within the decentralized technology ecosystem.

The conference recognized three outstanding winners: Onit, XO Market, and Concero, highlighting the diverse range of talent and innovation present at the event.

Community Currencies and Technical Advancements Take Center Stage

In addition to impactful presentations with poignant commentary on current and future technological advancements, DappCon 2025 boasted of cutting-edge workshops. Paul Boes from Gnosis’ XE team came to lead a technical deep dive into Gnosis’ experimental community currency, Circles. He demonstrated some real-time simulations using the Metri app and lots of other compelling visual tools. Each of these demonstrations brought to life the dynamics of trust graphs, local issuance, and reciprocity at play.

Martin Köppelmann, co-founder of Gnosis and keynote speaker at our conference, focusing on Circles’ potential to revolutionize local economies. The launch of Circles 2.0 back in early May 2025 only increased the timeliness of these discussions. Toni Wahrstätter dug in on EIPs like Delayed Execution (EIP-7886) and Block-level Access Lists (EIP-7928). Combined, these proposals have the potential to radically increase transaction throughput on the Ethereum network.

Attendees left better informed as these technical sessions were packed with useful information. To start, they discussed the innovative research and development that is driving the success of blockchain technology.

Exploring Ethereum's Culture and the Future of Governance

Beyond the technical talks, DappCon 2025 explored the cultural and philosophical implications of decentralized technologies. Academic studies in Internet governance, “Tending the Infinite Garden,” were shared by Ann Brody & Paul Dylan-Ennis of @Digital_NY. Their research sought to understand Ethereum’s emergent organizational culture and the essential role of this social layer in maintaining decentralization.

Kelvin Santos and Robin Hanson recently revived discussions about applying prediction markets to governance itself — an idea often referred to as Futarchy. These sessions helped to illuminate the human factors that are pushing the adoption and evolution of this technology. Perhaps most importantly, they catalyzed some serious introspection about the challenges and opportunities ahead for the Web3 ecosystem.