GM,
Capital is concentrating into smaller, higher-value rooms.
In this issue:
Exclusive events
Crypto pop up cities
Other news
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📆 Where GTM budgets are going
“Everyone in crypto already knows everyone” Still holds true, which pushes GTM beyond the usual crypto crowd.
ETH builder events are down ~40% YoY, comparing the same YTD window in 2025 and 2026, based on our own database.
The money moved upstream: Six-figure conference sponsorships are harder to justify in a bear market. Budgets are shifting toward smaller, curated events for policymakers, family offices, institutional allocators, and executives.
Three layers of exclusivity:
Where it's held (luxury destinations)
What it costs (tickets in the low thousands of USD; sponsorships from $25K vs. ~$5K for a typical side event)
Who and how many people get in (application, title and capped attendance)
Example: The Tie’s event in Long Island, with its next destination in the Dominican Republic. Selini Summit in Cannes.
Upcoming:
Wyoming Blockchain Symposium — Aug 17, Jackson Hole. Hosted by SALT and Kraken with policymakers in the room. SALT ran the same play in Bermuda in May.
Real-World Asset Summit — Sept 1-2, Brooklyn. Capped and invite only.
All-In Summit — Sept 13-15, LA. Crypto dominated last year's sponsors with a large presence from Solana, Circle, Polymarket, etc. Costs $500 to submit an application, $7,500 for a ticket.
All events on our site
TLDR; Crypto’s event scene is taking a page from private equity’s playbook: more exclusive, serious and premium.
When Malaysia said no, Balaji had a new country in 24 hours
Network School signed an MoU with Kazakhstan
On July 22, Malaysia revoked Network School's Forest City license. Within 24 hours, former Coinbase CTO Balaji, one of the leading advocates of network states, announced a new partnership with Kazakhstan.
While the vision is audacious, the experiment is still small.
It started in 2023 with Zuzalu, the two-month pop-up city Vitalik ran on the Montenegrin coast for 200 residents. Three years on, the format is unchanged with small cohorts, borrowed towns, and grants.
From our coliving page:
ZuCity Japan — Komoro, Sept 4-Oct 5.
ZuKaş The Crucible — Kaş, Turkey, Sept 4-19.
Edge City India — Goa, Oct 11-Nov 1, alongside Devcon 8.
Funding hasn't changed that either.
Praxis raised $525M in 2024 to build a crypto city, backed by Alameda Research or Three Arrows Capital. At one point it tried to buy Greenland, then a California Space Force base, but a permanent location has yet to be announced.
Multicoin-backed CabinDAO, one of the earliest attempts at this model, shut down in 2025.
TL;DR: Three years later, crypto pop-up cities remain niche.
🏦 In other news
Paradigm Fellowship - Paradigm closed its fourth fund at $1.2B expanding to AI and robotics for the first time. They are hosting a 4-day retreat for young builders on Aug 12.
Europe built a blockchain alternative to SWIFT. And called it Regulated Layer One (RL1). The joint blockchain is already settling €700M in production.
The CLARITY Act has been put off. This means any crypto company waiting on that clarity before entering the US market will be waiting until at least September.
Job Updates
Bitrefill is hiring a Web3 Product Manager
We’re hiring an Event Booth Assistant during AIBC Conference, 2-5 Nov and an AI Transformation Lead
About Us
Mira is the discovery platform for digital finance and frontier tech - events, companies, jobs, and the people building it
We also run a private community for founders and builders
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