Recap: ETHGlobal Paris 🇫🇷
The city of light has been the birthplace for many significant revolutions throughout history. This summer, ETHGlobal hosted their very own on-chain revolution in one of Europe’s most inspiring cities. Strap in for the recap!
A global community of developers, designers, creators, and thinkers committed to shaping the decentralized future came together for ETHGlobal Paris — a hackathon weekend that fostered creativity and collaboration within the Ethereum community.
Keep reading for a summary of an eventful four days with our community in the free-spirited city of Paris, France.
✂️ ETHGlobal Paris: The tl;dr
👋 1400 attendees
🛠 965 hackers
📥 321 projects
🗺 67 countries
🌱 22% new to web3
The ETHGlobal Pragma Paris and Hacker Café
Thursday marked the community coming together and warming up for the upcoming hackathon with our events ETHGlobal Pragma Paris and our Hacker Café.
The now fourth edition of Pragma came with a new look & feel after we recently announced a range of changes to the Pragma experience. We invited builders and leaders to a handpicked series of high-quality talks on the theme “The Future of Ethereum” that stimulated thinking and discussion among a curated community. Attendees enjoyed networking and exploring all the topics presented during the day downstairs in the Vault Room. A space full of character, especially transcended thanks to the two monumental safe — a backdrop that set the mood. Complimentary to the experience was the delicious food and drinks, that the attentive staff of the Place Vendôme crafted meticulously.
🗓 The Pragma Paris schedule
We were lucky to offer our attendees an incredible line up of speakers, including some of the most insightful founders, entrepreneurs and researchers in the space:
- 🎤 Ethereum at Hyperscale: Alex Gluchowski
- 🎤 RETH & Ethereum Resilience: Georgios Konstantopoulos
- 🎤 SNARKs n’ STARKs: Eli Ben-Sasson
- 🎤 Modular User Experience: Ahmed Al-Balaghi
- 🎤 Ethereum’s “Onchain” Future: Jesse Pollak
- 👥 Polygon & Ethereum: Sandeep Nailwal, Jordi Baylina &
Mihailo Bjelic - 💻 Succinct Demo: Uma Roy
- 🎤 The Future of MEV is SUAVE: Robert Miller
- 💻 Worldcoin Announcement: Remco Bloemen
- 💻 Quantstamp Announcement: Martin Derka
- 🎤 Celo’s Return to Ethereum: Rene Reinsberg
- 🎤 Privacy is Sooner Than You Think: Zac Williamson
Look forward as we will make these talks available on Youtube soon!
We can’t wait to reunite in New York for the next iteration of Pragma.
You can apply already: https://ethglobal.com/events/pragma-newyork
More information will be available soon on our website!
Meanwhile, at the Hacker Café, our hackers were able to enjoy networking, delicious French pastries and artisan coffee while getting into hackathon-mode. Our Hacker café aims to be a relaxed space for our community before the hackathon, to brainstorm, make new friends, find a team to build with, and be a comfortable co-working spot to cram in some last minute work. By noon the Café was full, plenty of ideas flooding the space and dozens of new connections made!
The ETHGlobal Paris Hackathon: Kickoff & First Day!
The neoclassical Palais Brongniart was built at the direction of Napoleon in the early 19th century to house the Bourse de Paris, the Paris stock exchange. We are overjoyed to have been able to host our hackathon in this venue; welcoming tech talent in masses within the historical walls, all working towards the next paradigm of Finance and Technological Advancement.
As the doors to the Palais Brongniart opened, hackers rushed inside to register and collect their swag bags, excited for an action-packed three days! After just a few hours, thousands of community members had checked in, and the bustling networking had begun.
Day 1: Friday, July 21st
On Friday afternoon, attendees could choose from 36 different workshops & talks. The valuable tutorials and hands-on workshop helped set up hackers for success for the rest of the weekend. From “How to build web3 native messaging apps with XMTP’, to “Explore the world of provable programming through Cairo 1.0” with Gnana Lakshmi or “Getting Started on Account Abstraction with the Biconomy SDK” hosted by Rahat Chowdhury: In the span of five hours and across four different workshop rooms hackers could learn in an intimate atmosphere from ecosystem champions.
The Team Formation & Idea Brainstorming Session that took place in the evening is designed to provide hackers a hands-on experience, promote interactive learning, and encourage them to think creatively about the potential applications of their work. This time, we were excited to be joined by Austin Griffith, one of the most popular educators in the space.
In between, the crowd was of course paying the plenty of partner booths a visit — collecting the most unique swag ranging from staples such as T-shirts and Caps, to Coffee Grinders, and Notebooks.
For our own swag, we tried to pair local delicacies such as chocolate with motifs of the infamous Parisian sites, as well as swag helpful for our ever-traveling and tech-affine hackers. Here are some of the community’s favourites!
Opening Ceremony & Keynote with Juan Benet
As hacking officially began, hackers were busy brainstorming and getting ready for the 39 hours blast that’s awaiting them.
But before that, the entire community came together to celebrate this monumental event. Our very own Kartik Talwar carefully explained the logistics for the next 3 days, the Does and Don’ts, the most significant deadlines and the layout of the event venue.
As the evening began, we were joined by the Juan Benet, Founder of Protocol Labs. Having grown one of the most valuable companies in the Ethereum ecosystem became the fertile soil for a lively discussion around progress in the space since we last sat together in Tokyo.
Hackers hacked away late at night, as we turned the upper floor into the Chill Space for those who chose to charge up on sleep. A last midnight treat that hopefully gave hackers some energy were the freshly made crêpes (thin french pancakes filled with sweet delight).
Day 2: Saturday, July 22nd 2023
Saturday morning has arrived, ushering in the first and only full day of hacking. Day 2 is all about open collaboration, hackers gathered in the hacking spaces as soon as soon as the sun was rising, tackling their pile of work ahead of them! The halls rapidly filled with the sound of active discussions and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and breakfast croissants in the air.
Later in the day, our hackers had the option to participate in the Project Feedback Session, which provided them with an excellent chance to gain a fresh perspective on their ideas and receive vital input from seasoned mentors. Our mentors were there to help hackers improve their builds and get new ideas, whether they were having difficulties with their code or simply wanted a second perspective. Mentors were easy to spot, wearing bright yellow vests and also apart from the session roaming the arena looking for hackers who needed support at the tables.
Amongst the busyness of the day, some of the hackers took the opportunity to dig into one of our puzzles to debrief, taking a nap before powering through the night, or simply enjoyed being with their web3 friends in Paris on a beautiful summer day.
Day 3: Sunday, July 23rd 2023
The final day always comes sooner than you think. A critical and intense time for our hackers, but also one filled with the most joyous moments!
🧨 Countdown to Submission & Judging
Our team of hackers spent the night before the submission deadline perfecting their builds and adding finishing touches.
As the final seconds ticked away, the audience erupted in cheers and sighs of relief as our co-founder Kartik cheered them on:
Anticipation quickly returned as the hackers presented their work to the judges. They spent 39 hours hacking to join the hundreds of other ideas that had been developed at the ETHGlobal hackathon — and now it’s time to show them off. All projects who came out of ETHGlobal Paris are significant win for the ecosystem’s development, as they expand its horizons and welcome new opportunities and talent!
🏆 The ETHGlobal Paris Closing Ceremony
Our hackers were kept busy presenting their projects in the Partner Judging and those who have opted for it, the Main Judging sessions, for the majority of the morning and noon. Around 2:30pm the entire crowd was informed that the 13 Finalists of the ETHGlobal Paris hackathon were chosen. Hackers couldn’t wait to hear the announcement that they had been waiting for all weekend: All partner prize winners and the finalists demos were about to be announced in the Closing Ceremony.
Those who couldn’t be at the Palais in-person could choose to be with us via livestream on ethglobal.tv. The Closing Ceremony served as further confirmation that ETHGlobal Paris had been something truly special. We’re ecstatic to have received 321 projects that will enrich the Ethereum ecosystem.
Take a look at the projects of the 13 Finalists below, and don’t forget to explore our showcase page:
Finally, we wrapped up ETHGlobal Paris in style, with our After Drinks, at the iconic stairs of the Palais Brongniart! It’s time to celebrate all the wins from the weekend together and exchange final hugs and goodbyes — until the next ETHGlobal hackathon 👋
Thank yous 💙
As always, we have to say thank you to a lot of people who played a crucial role in making this event a success: Thank you to our incredible partners, for offering hackers the resources to learn, grow and get rewarded for their projects through the workshops they host, the conversations they make at their booths and of course the prizes they offer our community.
Next, our tech mentors must be given a big thank you for their tireless support throughout the weekend, unblocking hackers and pointing them in the right direction when needed.
A big round of applause to our dedicated and helpful volunteers, none of the hacking spaces and swag bags would have looked as great as they did without you. We are extremely thankful for their helping hands!
And last but certainly not least thank you to all of you, our community. Your enthusiasm and growth is the reason why we keep running these events!
New York, New York: September 22–24
New York is the melting pot of tech innovation, cultural trends and a financial hub for the world. We couldn’t be more excited to be back in the city that never sleeps this September. Reunite with hackers from around the world in the one and only big apple!
Apply now: https://ethglobal.com/events/newyork2023
See you soon,
The ETHGlobal Team 💙
