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The Blockchain Education Network prides itself on making sure students have the opportunity to attend blockchain conferences and hackathons where they can learn, network and find job opportunities. We’ve brought students to Consensus, The North American Bitcoin Conference, Bitcoin 2020, Bitcoin 2021, Devcon, the MIT Bitcoin Expo, ETHBoston, ETHIndia, and more.
To that end, thanks to student tickets provided by the Messari team, we put out an application to our network with the goals of bringing a diverse array of students from different universities to the conference. Additionally, we are providing a BEN Airbnb for students to stay at during the entirety of the conference. We had dozens of students apply, and while we could not accommodate everyone, we hope that we could bring more and more students to each subsequent conference. <a href="https://www.blockchainedu.org/">Donate if you want to help support our mission</a>!
We are excited to be bringing 10 students from Rutgers, Drexel, UPenn, Columbia, University of Michigan, and Holberton School (Puerto Rico).
Here are some of the reasons why our students are excited to attend Mainnet:
Drexel ’25
Firstly, the sessions on the consequences of multi-chain world are what excites me the most. Hearing about the specifics about Blockchain and crypto from such knowledgeable people would be an amazing experience at such a young age. Being able to witness new and innovative products is something I really look forward to. Furthermore, I hope to meet like minded people and form meaningful connections with them.
Drexel ’24
I have been active in the blockchain space for more than 5 years, from buying my first cryptocurrency in my 9th grade to being a blockchain developer at SpaceLedger and a stack engineer at foundry digital. I always looked for opportunities to seek more knowledge, and the most effective way to learn about the space is to talk and listen to more people. This opportunity will let me represent my university and club at one of the highest levels and give exposure to works that we have been undertaking. I believe there is no better opportunity than to interact with leaders in crypto-space than at Mainnet and learn about what’s next and the future of blockchain under its present leaders. This will be my first blockchain event and I look to utilize this opportunity to learn, network, and represent my university.
Rutgers ’23
I hope to learn about new blockchains, learn more about different tokens, new iterations to current technologies, and expand my network in the crypto field along with ideating on new crypto projects. I also want to gain resources that I can take back to university and share with the blockchain club.
Rutgers ’23
I am most intrigued by the lineup of speakers @ Mainnet, particularly OxMaki. I want to hear his take on the direction of AMMs; specifically, the governance process. I also want to learn about how VCs are acting as players in the NFT market, and if they prefer individual NFTs or governance tokens. In addition to learning from the many speakers, I am looking to help BEN at the event, as well as getting to know the team better. Being able to interview a few speakers is also a plus, and I want to share with them what academia is doing to help prep students for careers in the blockchain &#x26; crypto space.
Columbia ’22
I can’t wait to network with and meet people from the blockchain community in person. I have been involved with Blockchain club at Columbia, and have learned a lot about crypto online, but I’m very excited for my first opportunity to actually meet with people working in the industry and to ask them questions and to learn about the crypto products they are building in the world. Moreover, I want to sharpen my understanding of crypto beyond the understanding of blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and into all the different real world use cases which these technologies have and all the problems they can solve. Mainnet has such a comprehensive lineup of speakers that provide an opportunity for learning about the financial side of blockchain, the technological side, the ideological side, etc. I think going to the conference will be a seminal moment in my exploration of the blockchain world, and will be an efficient way of learning a lot in a short amount of time.
Columbia ’22
There are several things I hope to gain by attending Mainnet. First, I hope to enhance my knowledge of specific blockchain/crypto topics and stay up to date on the latest developments in the industry. I am planning to write my master’s thesis on blockchain, DeFi and Web3 trends from a statistical perspective and attending this event would help me obtain valuable insights toward that end. Second, I want to connect with other attendees who are as passionate about blockchain and crypto as I am, and hopefully develop some long lasting personal and professional relationships as a result. Such connections can often lead to impactful collaborations and projects down the road and I hope to maximize the potential of such collaborations through interactions with other Mainnet attendees. Finally, I hope to draw inspiration from Mainnet. I see events like this as a way to expose myself to new ideas, and this exposure can often be the catalyst for developing ideas and projects of my own. It’s simply impossible to be around all the luminaries in this space discussing all the amazing things that are taking place and not be inspired and motivated to contribute to this revolutionary technological movement.
University of Michigan ’23
More than anything, I want to build incredible DeFi applications to spread financial equality and help people in Blockchain at Michigan do the same.
Having built MeldX from 0 to Celo Camp (https://www.notion.so/MeldX-e80b6e68e1f949aa9552ab41c7da1033), I learned a lot about building products for users. But I also realized that I’m missing a lot of context in the blockchain space overall. With MeldX, we faltered because of poor legal compliance. Knowing what I know now, I would have structured MeldX so we weren’t creating securities. It’s hard to imagine what I don’t know — from community-building through NFTs to building a crypto-native Blackrock (an actual panel I’m hyped for), I have a lot to learn.
I hope to inspire my community as well with the stories I’ve learned. From Miami Bitcoin Week, I met incredible builders like Ian and Dylan Macalinao from Saber. They reframed how I think about cross-chain swaps, as well as synthetic assets and their viability. I’ve brought these stories back to Blockchain at Michigan, rejuvenating people with the possibilities of crypto. For example, we’ve included more L1s other than Ethereum, like Solana, into our curriculum, the starting point of significant change.
University of Pennsylvania, ‘24
I hope to meet many individuals who are deeply embedded in the crypto ecosystem. I hope to derive valuable insights about the state of DeFi, NFTs, blockchain middleware layer, Solana, and other innovative topics.
As the President of Penn Blockchain, I would love to have this opportunity to spread awareness about BEN and Penn Blockchain, and the large opportunity there is for the industry to get student clubs more involved, given the grass-roots nature of crypto. My previous experience in the field includes leading the $300m launch and IDO sale of Immutable X’s tokens (first Layer-2 for NFTs on Ethereum) as a full-time product manager.
As this would be my first conference ever, I would be extremely grateful for this opportunity and look forward to meeting and working with BEN team members in real life! I greatly appreciate the work BEN is doing with coordinating the different student clubs, and recognize the immense support Penn Blockchain was given when we were passing our Governor Bravo Uniswap proposal.
Holberton School, Puerto Rico ’22
I will gain insight into what new technologies the developments of today will bring to the industries of tomorrow. Attending the conference will give me a competitive edge by shedding light on where the direction of blockchain development is headed and what interesting new fields are hungry for new talent. Additionally it represents a fantastic networking opportunity to build lasting relationships in a field that I intend to devote the rest of my life to. I have been lucky enough to cross paths and become friends with some trailblazing blockchain developers like Zane Witherspoon and Zack Pontgrave, I hope to continue to grow my repertoire of mentors (and hopefully run into some of them too!) As an added bonus, the conference overlaps with the week in our school curriculum where we must choose the topic for our portfolio project so I aim to get inspired and find a good subject to get to work on right away!
Additionally, during the conference, we will be conducting interviews between the students and speakers in the industry. The students have let us know what topics and projects they are interested in, and we are excited to help them meet potential future employers and make lifelong connections. The speakers are also excited to interview them, and the interviews will be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/BlockchainEdu">shared on our YouTube</a> after the conference.
We look forward to meeting you there! Look for someone wearing a BEN shirt or feel free to <a href="https://twitter.com/BlockchainEdu">tag or DM us on Twitter</a> to get in touch.
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Want to attend blockchain conferences with BEN? <a href="/opportunities">Get involved</a> or <a href="/">explore our university network</a>.

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