GCR

Going to Deconomy in Seoul and don’t know where to go and meet?

8 quick tips to getting yourself prepared?

1)Read about the Korea’s crypto ecosystem:

-Recent news about Korea’s blockchain and cryptocurrency on Cointelegraph

-An indepth report on Korea’s blockchain ecosystem by OneAlpha

-A Quick Guide to Cryptocurrency-related Regulators and Companies in Korea by Global Coin Research

-Subscribe to a newsletter called ‘Relaynode’. (relaynode.io) It shares the best events going on in Seoul and content that the Korean blockchain ecosystem is paying attention to.

2) Listen to learn about Korea’s crypto ecosystem:

-An interview with Korea Tezos team and the former founder of the Korean exchange Korbit on the crypto entrepreneurial and developer community in Korea.

-An interview with Alex Shin, partner of Hashed, Korea’s largest crypto fund

-An interview with one of the largest stablecoin companies in Korea called Terra money that is building on top of Cosmos

-Our founder Joyce Yang’s interview with Laura Shin about the Korea crypto community, and her takeaways from her recent trip in Korea.

3) Note down the following local blockchain community organizers and checkout their events page for evening/social events.

Over 50% of the population in Korea lives Seoul, so the blockchain activities happening in Seoul is very vibrant. Here’s the list of all the crypto meetup sources in in English:

• https://meetup.decenter.kr/
• www.kryptoseoul.com
• https://www.meetup.com/HashedLounge/
• https://www.meetup.com/nonce-community/
• https://meetup.decenter.kr/
• https://onoffmix.com

4) Checkout the crypto companies’ workspaces if you are there. Many crypto companies reside in Wework or FastFive (the Korean version of Wework):

• Hashed hosts meetups with their portfolio projects at their office
• nonce – Multiple folks that we’ve spoken to have recommended nonce. Nonce runs a co-working and co-living space in Gangnam, dedicated to projects/developers/people who work with decentralized technology. More than 70 crypto enthusiasts are working and living together. nonce also run a pretty popular YouTube channel and are regarded as influencers in the crypto space, so Nonce provides accommodation on the 3^rd floor, office space on the 2^nd floor, and a large lounge that holds blockchain jams and meets up on the 1^st floor. You should contact both places before visiting though
• Dreamplus, a co-working space where Terra is currently located, is home to a number of crypto projects and media as well
• WeWork Yeoksam II, is where Blockcrafters (a crypto fund), Aergo, Medibloc, ITAM reside
• Uljiro Wework (ICON and many projects are there)

5) Wander around the neighborhoods with the most crypto activity:

Most crypto companies reside in Gangnam area with quite a few in Pangyo and Yeo-uido.

“Almost everything related to crypto happens in Gangnam. (Yes, Gangnam from Gangnam Style the song)”

In the Gangnam area, most of the WeWork are dubbed CryptoWork as a large chunk of its space is taken by blockchain and crypto companies. From exchanges(Upbit, Bithumb, etc.) to projects or even funds(Hashed) are located in Gangnam.

This region used to host many IT companies. Especially games companies in the past until they moved to the Pangyo area. Now those office spaces are being replaced by crypto and blockchain companies.

6) Go to a blockchain coffeeshop:

There’s a blockchain cafe near Gangnam area. The name is ‘Decentre’ and the names of coffee drinks on the menu that come from such celebs in the blockchain industry as Satoshi Nakamoto, and Vitalik Buterin. The best seller is Ethiopia Buterin.

7) Hear from the locals:

“There are plenty of activities going on in Korea. It is often dubbed as the speculative market, however, I translate that to “risk takers and early adopters.

It is important to see the full picture of Korean blockchain and Crypto markets. From projects springing out from large corporates to Tech savvy start ups. From professional reporters covering daily news on the industry to bloggers and influencers that provide deep inside views in a more casual fashion.

The largest issue of crypto and blockchain market is that there’s just too much information lingering around and most are hard to know if they are actually true or not. Our advise is to talk to local blockchain & crypto companies to get a full view of the players and information here before heading out and meeting entities. ” —- Joony Koo, Blockcrafters

8) Checkout the largest crypto events Korea has every year that people shouldn’t miss?

• Tezos Korea Event (http://tezoskoreacommunity.org/)
• Deconomy (https://deconomy.com/)
• Buidl (https://buidl.kr/)
• Conference centered around games and blockchain may be an addition coming up this year around Gstar(One of Asia’s largest games conference) (TBD)
• Conference focused on exchanges are happening in Busan in June (TBD)

9) Follow these local blockchain community connectors on Twitter!

We sincerely appreciate their contribution to this post: Tezos Korea, Terra team, Erica Kang from Kryptoseoul, Joony from Blockcrafters, Tiger Kim from Kyber