Wow, I just noticed some interesting statistics about ETHDenver 2026 — the number of side events has fallen off a cliff. If last year there were 668 side events, then this year there are only 56 left. That’s an 85% drop, guys. A crazy decline.

I remember that in 2023 there were 176 such events, then in 2024 it rose to 325, and in 2025 it even soared to 668. It seemed like the trend was only going up. But something went wrong. The conference, which used to be about developers and hackers, gradually turned into a corporate circus with a bunch of sponsor booths.

In 2025, participants joked that they had somehow ended up at some business expo instead of a sanctuary of decentralized innovation. Corporate booths everywhere, free socks from Polkadot, ads all over the place. The original spirit of independent hackers got diluted under a wave of commercial sponsors. That’s what killed the interest.

Another problem: the conference started inviting projects that weren’t even from the Ethereum ecosystem. John Paller, the co-founder, was even forced to comment publicly, saying that 95% of sponsors and 90% of the content are still connected to Ethereum. But people were seeing something else — on the main stage, someone was saying that Ethereum is outdated, while in the halls there were booths for other blockchains. The blurring of the conference’s theme scared off experienced participants.

On top of that, Trump’s administration promised a crypto spring, but the regulatory framework is still in the works. Stablecoins received a law in July, but the rest is silence. The committee on banking affairs is postponing the bill on the structure of the crypto market, focusing instead on housing-related issues. Expectations weren’t met, and interest dropped.

And here’s another thing — the date of ETHDenver 2026 coincides with Chinese New Year. For Europeans and Americans, it’s just a workweek, but for Chinese people and countries with Confucian culture, it’s the most important holiday of the year. Most will prefer to celebrate the New Year with family rather than fly to yet another event.

So the drop in the number of side events isn’t just a number — it’s an indicator. When the bubble bursts and hot money leaves, only those who truly believe in the technology and the community remain. The question now isn’t how many side events there will be at ETHDenver, but whether the conference can hold onto the real builders.