Top 10 Panels at Mainnet 2022

Messari’s flagship conference, Mainnet, is one week away.

Over 3000 attendees will be watching over 250 of crypto’s greatest minds discuss today’s biggest issues, opportunities, and trends in the industry. With over 100 sessions across three stages, it is going to be a busy three days in the Big Apple. While all the panels will be interesting in their own right, we wanted to highlight 10 key panels that are sure to be can’t-miss events for attendees.

Aptos on the Move Movement

Wednesday, Sept 21, 11:30 am Main Stage

Aptos and Sui are two chains launching in Q4 with sky-high expectations… and valuations. Both chains utilize the Move language developed during their genesis as Facebook’s Libra project. Move promises to be a much more flexible and developer-friendly language. There are already rumors of projects porting over their applications to these new chains prior to launch. Will Move blockchains be the next big trend in crypto?

Solana Anatoly Yakovenko on Why Mobile is Web3’s Missing Link

Wednesday, Sept 21, 12:00 pm Main Stage

Out of nowhere, Solana launched the Saga phone in early 2022. They also launched the Solana Mobile Stack, a framework for Android that allows developers to create mobile experiences for wallets and apps on Solana. While pre-orders have been low, Solana phones can potentially be a real game changer for crypto adoption. In this session, Anatoly will lay out the bull case on how mobile can finally help crypto go mainstream.

Multicoin’s Kyle Samani on Picking Winners

Wednesday, Sept 21, 12:30 pm Main Stage

Multicoin has been one of the most successful hedge funds, not just in crypto but for any asset class. Kyle Samani shares his thoughts on how to pick winners. This talk should be especially interesting given Multicoin’s announcement of an investment in Aptos, a direct Solana competitor.

How Brad Garlinghouse Made Ripple the Industry's Unlikely Champion

Wednesday, Sept 21, 3:00 pm Main Stage

Messari CEO Ryan Selkis and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse have a long and colorful history. In 2019 Messari published a report stating the XRP circulating supply could be overestimated by 48%, even calling the token snake oil. Selkis and Garlinghouse have gone head to head on Twitter debating some of these claims. Likewise, many in crypto have questioned Ripple’s legitimacy over the years. But this time, everyone is on the same team. Selkis and the industry are rallying behind Ripple in its fight against the SEC, which calls XRP an unregistered security. This event is sure to have some fireworks and tough questions on both sides. The enemy of my enemy, I guess.

The Cosmos Approach to Appchains

Wednesday, Sept 21, 3:00 pm Main Stage

In mid-2022, dYdX left the Ethereum L2 ecosystem to move to a Cosmos app chain. The move caused a debate among the crypto community. Some question if L2s can actually sustain viable ecosystems, while others point out that the appchain approach provides more advantages to builders. Injective Labs, Osmosis, Sommelier, and dYdX all will discuss the future of appchains in this panel and the decision to build there instead of Ethereum.

Flashbots on The Merge and MEV Boost

Wednesday, Sept 21, 10:00 am Main Stage

In this panel, Flashbots founder Stephane Gosselin discusses one of the most challenging and unsolved issues within crypto: maximum extractable value. What will MEV look like after The Merge? Are there any long-term solutions to the MEV challenge?

How Ethereum Stakeholders Are Playing The Merge

Thursday, Sept 22, 2:30 pm Main Stage

Galaxy’s Christine Kim leads a discussion with Blocknative, Figment.io, Flashbots, and Lido on how these key stakeholders are approaching The Merge. With this talk scheduled about a week after the big day, it will be important to find out directly from the source on what is working (or what isn’t) and what challenges and opportunities lay ahead.

Can Bitcoiners Build Again?

Thursday, Sept 22, 2:30 pm Main Stage

Bitcoin is perfect the way it is, right? No changes needed? Not according to these panelists. Udi Wertheimer joins The Block’s Mike Brock and Trust Machine’s Rena Shah to discuss new functionality that can be brought to Bitcoin. With talks of the Flippening running hot as The Merge approaches, this is an important philosophical discussion for every Bitcoiner to attend.

Balaji Srinivasan on The Network State

Friday, Sept 23, 2:30 pm Main Stage

Balaji is one of the industry's greatest thinkers and investors. His many 4+ hour interviews are educational masterclasses on everything from history to geopolitics. His recently released book titled The Network State pushed the conversation of the vision for decentralization further than ever before. He defines a network state as “a highly aligned online community with a capacity for collective action that crowdfunds territory around the world and eventually gains diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states.” An integrated cryptocurrency is at the heart of each of these network states. Balaji will give a keynote on the concept and then sit down with Ryan Selkis for further discussion.

Being Short and Being Right: Galois Capital

Friday, Sept 23, 4:00 pm Main Stage

Galois Capital founder Kevin Zhou took a lot of criticism early in 2022 for repeatedly calling for the collapse of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem. He got the last laugh as UST and LUNA went to zero, sowing the first seeds of the deep bear market we find ourselves in today. Kevin has also recently been vocal on the interesting opportunities brought on by The Merge and the subsequent forks. This should be an informative and potentially alpha-driven session.

Wrapping Up

That’s just a taste of what to get excited about for Mainnet. The full list of speakers can be found here.

We have another major L1 founder yet to be announced who brings a certain energy to the stage that should be electric. Not to mention one of the heads of the world’s biggest exchanges.

While this is a conference for operators, there also will be fun to be had. A dunk tank, mechanical bull, cornhole, and other fine events to unwind will be right outside the event doors.

See you in (the third week of) September.

Let us know what you loved about the report, what may be missing, or share any other feedback by filling out this short form. All responses are subject to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.