ETHToronto Developer Panel: Building the Future of Blockchain Technology // Futurist Conference 2024

Blockchain adoption in developing regions like Africa and Southeast Asia is driven by lack of traditional banking access, with use cases around identity management and financial inclusion

Cross-chain interoperability and seamless bridging between networks will become increasingly important, but bridges should operate invisibly in the background rather than as prominent branded products

When starting blockchain development, it’s recommended to begin with smart contracts on established networks before building a custom chain. Only build your own chain if absolutely necessary due to scaling needs

EVM compatibility remains crucial for developer adoption due to familiarity with Solidity and existing tools, even when building on alternative platforms like Cosmos or Polkadot

Transaction speed and gas fees continue to be major factors in platform selection, with many projects choosing Layer 2s or alternative L1s over Ethereum mainnet

User experience needs to be dramatically simplified - users shouldn’t need to understand the underlying blockchain technology, similar to how they don’t need to understand internet protocols to browse the web

Strong developer communities and support resources (documentation, grants, bounties) are essential for ecosystem growth

Physical crypto cards and traditional finance integration are emerging as important bridges between Web3 and mainstream adoption

Building sustainable tokenomics and community incentives is crucial for project success and ecosystem growth

Infrastructure and tooling improvements are focusing on making blockchain development more accessible while abstracting complexity away from end users