Istanbul Blockchain Week: Turkey talks web3, blockchain and cryptocurrencies in August

On the 13th and 14th of August 2024, the third edition of Istanbul Blockchain Week returns to Istanbul, an international event that brings together enthusiasts and experts from the world of cryptocurrencies, the blockchain universe and everything related to the web3.

For this third edition, theIstanbul Blockchain Week presents itself as an event not to be missed, both for experts and enthusiasts in the field. The previous years, 2022 and 2023, have been crucial in confirming the event to date: more than 8000 participants, more than 180 international speakers, numerous personalities from the crypto and blockchain worlds have populated the venues of this festival, turning it into a true landmark in the industry.

What is Istanbul Blockchain Week and why is it so important

Istanbul Blockchain Week is a dynamic event, perfect for networking and sharing knowledge from both a technological and a business perspective. A place for exchange, confrontation, growth, to explore, collaborate, innovate together.

This year, as in previous years, the event organised in Istanbul offers its participantsa rich programme of events, round tables, workshops and exhibitions, to delve together into all aspects of web3, including the critical points and those that need to be worked on to improve even more in the future. Offered by EAK Digital, a web3 agency specialising in the world of marketing, events and public relations, Istanbul Blockchain Week was strongly promoted by the CEO of EAK, Erhan Korhaliller, a Turkish entrepreneur who back in 2020 set out to make his homeland, Turkey, the ideal stage for presenting to the world everything related to the web3 universe - blockchain and cryptocurrencies included.

The venues of the festival 

Theatre of this very important event will be the Hilton Istanbul Bomonti, which again this year is preparing to welcome at least 4000 participants, seeking to continue the success it has already enjoyed in previous years. Somehow Istanbul in a specific sense, and Turkey in a broader sense, was the ideal place for this unmissable event to take place. At the third edition of Istanbul Blockchain Week you will find areas dedicated to live eSports, interactive gaming stations and all the gaming experiences you can test on web2 and web3 platforms.

Istanbul Blockchain Week's most important events

There are four main events related to this major fair: Istanblock, W3Expo, IstanHack and VC Connect.

IstanBlock 

IstanBlock is probably the most important event of Istanbul Blockchain Week, where leading and relevant speakers from around the world will come together to analyse future of Trading, of DeFi so-called decentralised finance, cryptocurrency-related regulation and mining, venture capital and beyond. There will be panels, meetings, conversations and debates on the subject, one more interesting and unmissable than the other. Impossible to miss.

W3Expo

W3Expo is the most important trade fair related to the world of gaming in the web3: two days of events dedicated to gaming enthusiasts but also to investors and creators, gathered in one space and ready to reason together on what strategies can be adopted to allow technology to advance in the best possible way. It will be two days dedicated to performance, live games and there will be a big return: the W3E Championships LAN tournament.

"We are very happy to have brought W3Expo back to Istanbul once again," said Team Lead Damian Bartlett. "The one in 2022," he continued, "was a revolutionary event, where we managed to combine the newest web3 games with the tried and tested web2 games and eSports in general. Turkey has a great eye for these new technologies, which is why we are increasingly convinced that Istanbul is the right place for these events to grow".

IstanHack

IstanHack is the event you have been looking for if you are passionate about innovation, development and design of web3 applications. Building innovative products and finding technological solutions: this is the slogan of IstanHack, a true hackathon where developers from all over the world meet to network, first of all, but also to present their latest innovations. Top experts in the field attend this event, but also young emerging talents looking for investors ready to believe in their ideas and their determination. Because innovation also comes through collaboration, but above all through confidence in the future. For this and many other reasons, IstanHack is a hymn to creativity, to the future, but also to a present now totally immersed in the world of web3, blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

VC Connect

Another unmissable event is VC Connect, which aims to focus on web3 related start-ups looking for investors really interested in their business. Participating is very simple: just register on the site and propose your idea. The ideas deemed most valid and promising will be selected and invited to participate. There are three official modes of participation: Web3 Startups is the section dedicated to anyone wishing to propose a pitch of their project; Web3 Venture Capital is the section dedicated to VCs, investors looking for projects to finance; Start Up Zone Booths is, finally, the section dedicated to companies (especially start-ups) interested in presenting their reality to the general public, with a dedicated and possibly themed booth.

On 13 August, from 6 to 9 p.m., the Planeth will then host a VC Connect side event: an aperitif offered to guests will provide everyone with the opportunity to network in a simple and relaxed manner, with an eye, however, always on innovation.

Choosing Turkey to host the web3

As we have already mentioned several times, Turkey has proven over the years to be the right place to host such an important event in the world of web3. From the gaming point of view, it is one of the most active countries in Europe and beyond; from the point of view of web3 in a narrower sense, however, Turkey seems to be one of the countries most inclined to the use of this new technology, if not one of the world's top five users of web3 technology.

The importance of gaming in the web3

Looking to the future also meansflawlessly integrating the world of gaming into the web3 world, which has always been seen by the general public as something generally childish. On the contrary, it is possibleto integrate gaming also in the world of learning, growth and especially in the world of work. Playing video games is now such an immersive experience that reducing it to a purely playful activity is almost reductive. For this reason, many new video games will be presented at the new edition of Istanbul Blockchain Week: Avalance will return to Istanbul to present many new games, such as Raini: Lords of Light, Providence, Spellborne, RoboKiden and Fableborne. What do these video games have in common? They all, uniquely, exploit the blockchain technology extensively developed by Avalance.

Turkey and cryptocurrencies 

It is not only gaming that is Turkey's flagship: cryptocurrencies are too. It seems, in fact, that latest research shows a growing interest of the Turkish population in the crypto world. Forty per cent of the Turkish people, in fact, already seem to be investing in cryptocurrencies, and there are already plenty of testimonies from those who believe that the future will be more and more web3 oriented in a broader sense - but also about digital currencies in a narrower and more specific sense. What better place, then, than Turkey to present innovations in web3, blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general to the world?

"This year we will take Istanbul Blockchain Week to unprecedented heights. It will be a memorable event". With these words, the president of the most popular event for web3 enthusiasts and others, Erhan Korhaliller, launched the new edition. And we are ready to believe it.