A normal Ethereum conference in 2026:
- you buy the ticket, a few hundred dollars.
- you sign up for 4 post-conference aperitifs in a day, all running at the same time. You get accepted into 3, and decide to attend the 2 closest to each other.
- you enter the main venue on the first day, then spend 90% of your time at side events far from the conference.
- you go back for lunch, but food runs out 5 minutes after the break starts. If you're lucky, you spend 20 minutes in line and a few veggie burgers are left.
- you read some talk titles: "how to onboard the next billion users", "the future of DeFi", "how L2s are scaling Ethereum". Maybe next time.
- you want to find clients, you end up talking to infrastructure protocols, security firms, API service providers.
ETHMilan in 2026:
- 1000+ tickets released in multiple discount phases. You could pay less than $50 if you were early, or $100 buying on the last day.
- the venue is a monastery turned into a museum dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci, a chad of the Italian Renaissance: painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, architect. The man behind the Mona Lisa did a pretty good job. You can visit the museum for free.
- Italians judge hotels by breakfast and conferences by food. "Focaccia" by Antico Vinaio is the best you can expect.
- a few years ago, people only spoke Italian here. This year most panels were in English, with attendees from London, Paris, and across Europe.
- everything happens at the main venue: sponsored café, lunch, aperitifs all in the monastery's cloister. Only one post-conference side event. Everyone goes there. No crowd dispersion during the day.
- the "Derivatives Summit" hosted @ThalexGlobal, who brought technical discussions on volatility trading; @ryskfinance @DanDeFiEd showed how to build an options protocol and hit 90% retention. Another panel put together @Ostium (perp DEX), @defi_raven (MM), @Perpsdotfun (HIP-3 market builders), and @pear_protocol (long-short trading on HL). From theory to practice.
- "Institutional Day" brought the clients every DeFi protocol is looking for. I also found more real traders here than at conferences with 10x the attendees.
Kudos to @guid_eth @ilsignorwolff @DavideFi @mattdotfi @miriam369h @bbmilan0 @0xMop_ for making this happen, and sponsors like @moonpay that supported the event. See you next year at @mbw_xyz 🇮🇹
ETHMilan 🇮🇹 May 21-22@eth_milano
ethmilan day 1 recap: > milan blockchain week 2027 announcement!! > milanomaxxing is real, fomo kicked in > most international edition to date, milan is an international conference fr > immaculate weather, maximum vibes, meet your frens here type of conference > everyone says this is the best edition we ever had for the crowds we gather over here > the conference is the event, everyone under one sunny roof
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