An IRL event fully depicting the Web3 vibes here in Karachi! What more could a tech enthusiast want? Web3 Disrupt broke all barriers by bringing the Web3 ecosystem to Pakistan in a way never done before. Organized by Xord in collaboration with IBA Blockchain for Business Club, the Web3 DIsrupt: KHI edition was a must-attend event, especially for the people of K-Town.
With Lbank as the Gold Sponsor, Web3 Disrupt occurred on 6th November ‘22 at the IBA Main Campus in Karachi, Pakistan. Web3 Disrupt was a full-day event with speaker sessions exclusively by the Web3 industry leaders from all over the world, panel discussions on the hot topics of Web3, such as the dawn of blockchain technology, the rise and fall of NFTs, and the boom of Metaverse and the gaming industry. Moreover, to give the full essence of the Web3 space, Web3 Disrupt held multiple workshops covering the different domains of Web3, such as blockchain development, design and user experience in Web3, and blockchain security. With 700+ attendees for the main event, over 220 participants in the workshops, and 10 qualified teams for the hackathon, Web3 Disrupt proved to be a huge success.
Speaker Sessions
Web3 Disrupt hosted speaker sessions from renowned leaders in Web3. The sessions kicked off with Yurii Kyparus’ session on DAOs, followed by Muazzam Kamran’s extensive talk on enterprise blockchain. Tyreek Houston, Web3 UX Researcher at Consensys, then talked about the importance of products with a good User Experience and how design plays a significant role in the successful adoption of Web3 products worldwide. Matt Sorg from Solana Foundation was next with his views on how the Solana Foundation is playing its part in accelerating the Web3 ecosystem with its initiatives. It doesn’t end here, though; Mehdi Farooq highlighted the need for tokenomics as the building blocks of DeFi and why it matters. Finally, Hamiz Awan, the Founder of Plutus21 Capital, took Web3 beyond the common landscape of investments and the financial aspect and talked about how this is the next paradigm shift in the tech world.
Panel Discussion
Web3 Disrupt hosted a couple of panels to debate some controversial topics in Web3. The first panel centered around the virtual world of Metaverse, the hype behind NFTs and what made them valuable, and the emerging expanse of gaming in Web3. Krinza Momin, DevRel at Ankr, moderated this panel. And the panelists included Chaudhry Bilal from Manifest Studios, Pashmina Noor from Metaschool, alongside Syed Noor and Asad Ali from Expedite Design.
On the contrary, the other Panel focused on the Blockchain Trilemma, where speakers from Xord discussed this ever-green topic in detail. Moderated by Abdur Rehman Jamil from BlockApex, the panel featured the following panelists: Abdul Sami Jawed, Moazzam Arif, Asad Naeem, and Shakeib Shaida.
Workshops
Web3 is still a relatively new concept in Pakistan. And to help developers get hands-on experience under the guidance of experts from Xord, Web3 Disrupt arranged a variety of workshops for them:
- Blockchain Genesis: A workshop for blockchain developers to start building in Web3 by developing a decentralized application.
- SDLC on Steroids: A workshop focused on securing code and highlighting the best practices of writing quality code.
- UX in Web3: A workshop especially for the designers to better understand the world of Web3 and create a good user experience for Web3 products.
Hackathon
What’s a Web3 event without a fun hackathon? So, Web3 Disrupt also hosted a hackathon where the participants were pushed to ideate creative Web3 projects and provide a Proof-of-Concept for their ideas. The 10 shortlisted teams gave pitches at Xord Basecamp. And after careful analysis of their ideas, the judges announced the hackathon winners on the event day.
CodeFellas was the crowned winner and rewarded with 125,000 PKR. Webnitians got 80,000 PKR as the runner-up. And a special prize of 60,000 PKR for Social Block, who came out on top for the Xord Track (Xordians who participated in the Hackathon).
Career Counseling
A separate booth was set up by the Culture and Capacity Building team from Xord to educate the attendees about the Web3 ecosystem and guide them regarding different domains they could work in such as blockchain development, Web3 design, audit & security, research, etc. Here, the attendees could talk directly with experts in the fields they were interested in and get an in-depth understanding of the expertise they should develop.
NFTs
Everyone who attended the Web3 Disrupt also received really cool NFTs as a proof of attendance. The speakers, attendees, volunteers, workshop attendees, and the hackathon winners and participants each got personalized NFTs for their contribution to make this event a huge success.
Ending Note
Web3 Disrupt was a one-of-a-kind event in the history of Karachi where people got to experience the true essence of the Web3 ecosystem. It provided a way for the attendees to become a part of this space, gave them clarity on many buzzing topics, and busted plenty of myths. Xord aims to continue hosting events of such caliber to accelerate the adoption of Web3 on a local and global scale.
