Brussels Unchained: TezDev 2024 Highlights

The week of TezDev 2024 has been Tezos at its finest. The flagship Tezos conference, coupled with a series of side events, have brought together community members, builders, and enthusiasts to learn, network, and showcase the best of Tezos and Web3.

Beyond the main event, two side events and over 1,000 billboards showcasing Tezos artists have taken Brussels by storm during the week-long celebration of Web3.

TezDev 2024 in numbers #

TezDev 2024 was a success by any measure, showcasing the growth and enthusiasm within the Tezos community. Held at the prestigious Royal Library of Belgium, this year’s event saw nearly double the attendance compared to 2023 – reflecting increasing participation from the Tezos ecosystem.

The conference was a hub of activity, featuring an array of sessions, booths, and speakers that kept attendees engaged from morning till night:

• 11 hours of bustling activity (from 10 am to 9 pm)
• 11 sessions, including talks, fireside chats, and demos
• 14 booths showcasing ecosystem projects
• 18 speakers including keynote, panels, and presentations
• 420 attendees to the main event
• 270 attendees to the afterparty

Here’s a recap with some of the key highlights from the week.

Tezos X: a proposed roadmap #

The grand vision for Tezos X permeated and extended to all corners of the event with a bold and fresh perspective that stirred conversations throughout the week.

On the main stage of the flagship event, Tezos co-founder Arthur Breitman opened the day by presenting a proposed roadmap to Tezos X to hundreds of community members.

Yann Regis-Gianas, head of engineering at Nomadic Labs, followed suit with a deep dive into the roadmap until now and a look at the next two years of technical development of Tezos.

Etherlink’s “Hello, world” moment #

Etherlink was a star in its own right, attracting literally hundreds of Ethereum enthusiasts to its EthCC booth. The EVM-compatible L2 has made its mark among dozens of other projects vying for the attention of passers-by.

One of the highlights of the Etherlink presence was Block Reflex: a fun, competitive match-pairs memory game rooted in the Etherlink mainnet. The fun little LoFi game has drawn over 500 players (and a whopping 10k+ attempts!) to try and get their names in the leaderboard.

How fast can you match emojis?

Etherlink also took to the EthCC stage with Nomadic Labs’ Thomas Letan, who introduced the Tezos/Etherlink scaling model and its journey toward a Stage 2 rollup in front of an Ethereum audience.

Jstz: bringing JavaScript to Tezos #

The recent unveiling of the Jstz vision was complemented by a brilliant introduction and humor-laden demonstration of a prototype by Trilitech Developer Advocate Beata Lipska.

Beata took the audience through a journey on the importance of language and developer experience, culminating in a step-by-step walkthrough on building a simple link shortener application using a JavaScript rollup.

Side events #

In addition to the main event, Tezos was present in two side events alongside community and ecosystem participants.

On-chain Payment Networking and Drinks #

Hosted by Baanx and the Etherlink team, the soiree brought together over 200 attendees at the Warwick Hotel, just a 2-minute walk from the EthCC conference venue, on Tuesday, July 9.

The event explored the latest innovations in non-custodial on-chain payment solutions with experts from CLC/Baanx, Tezos, and Etherlink. And of course, networking – and drinks.

Art on Tezos x Artcrush | Gallery Drinks #

Co-hosted by Artcrush Gallery and Trilitech on Wednesday, July 10, the Art on Tezos show brought together over 200 attendees and 20 talented Tezos artists whose works were exhibited on more than 1,000 billboards across Belgium throughout the week.

The show celebrated their upcoming drop on Objkt, and featured an evening of discussion, drinks and art.

Artists exhibited include: Mina Tahmasb Kazemi, Luciana Guerra, MARYAM, Noortje Stortelder, Edgar Fabian Frias, Vidal Herrera, Eraserhead & Mortezaaa, Simulacro, Hrant Khachatryan, Cozmonika, Quantum Spirit, Anastasia Mihaylova, Kamand Kavand, Lau, Mat Nova, paraxeno daimonio, Henrique Cartaxo - Augurs, Buba Viedma, mim_maryam, Antoine Doré, and was curated by Sendrock and UnknownCollector.

The road ahead #

Reflecting on TezDev 2024, one can’t help but feel optimistic about the journey ahead for Tezos. The week’s events showcased the community’s commitment to pushing the envelope in blockchain technology.

From the ambitious Tezos X roadmap to the buzz around Etherlink and Jstz’s innovative JavaScript rollup blueprint, the future looks incredibly bright.

The strength and energy around the Tezos ecosystem are literally and figuratively portrayed by the vibrant arts community and a solid, ever-growing network of builders.

As we move forward, let’s build on the energy and ideas generated at TezDev 2024, continuing to innovate and collaborate. The horizon is vast, and with the Tezos community’s passion and ingenuity, the possibilities are endless. The future of Tezos is not just promising; it’s here, and it’s now.