CryptoSlate had the chance to take a seat down with Erhan Korhaliller, Founder & CEO of EAK Digital, the web3 communications and occasions company behind a number of the trade’s most inventive IRL occasions, as he places plans collectively for the a lot anticipated Istanbul Blockchain Week.
Why is the Turkish market so scorching for crypto?
Turkey has been preventing excessive inflation and rates of interest for a while now, a very long time earlier than it began seeping into the worldwide market. The official inflation fee of Turkey at the moment sits at 78.6% for the month of June; this has led Turkish individuals to search for various belongings wherein to protect and develop their wealth.
Turkey additionally has a really profitable cellular gaming market; in a latest report, it was acknowledged that 79% of adults in Turkey play video games, so persons are used to swapping out and in of tokens and cash, and I think Turkey will play a key function within the upcoming surge of web3 gaming that we’re going to see within the subsequent few years.
What sectors of the web3 trade are notably scorching in Turkey proper now?
Turkey has an enormous quantity of retail merchants; this has led to lots of the main exchanges constructing a Turkish presence, together with Binance, Huobi and FTX, and extra. In my discussions with exchanges, I’ve been advised commonly that Turkey is within the prime 2/3 markets for buying and selling on their platforms. Along with the worldwide exchanges, there are large nationwide exchanges at the moment posting large volumes, akin to BTC Turk and Paribu.
Turkey has at all times been an enormous marketplace for cellular gaming, and there continues to be a particularly massive gaming neighborhood in Turkey which can be ripe to be onboarded into web3. We plan to allow that at Istanbul Blockchain Week at our W3E championships, the world’s first Web3 gaming championships.
What impressed you to organise Istanbul Blockchain Week?
Apart from my Turkish heritage, because the founding father of EAK Digital, a web3 inventive communications company since 2017, now we have partnered with many occasions as their PR companion in addition to labored with high-profile shoppers akin to Binance, XX Community, Theta Community, Neo, and so forth., as our company grew our community grew with it. In 2019, I made a decision to discover the Turkish web3 occasions panorama and I used to be very disillusioned at what I discovered.
There have been no main occasions going down in Turkey and the occasions I might discover had questionable audio system and characters within the area usually identified of shilling and questionable tasks. Along with this, the Turkish economic system was struggling while adoption within the nation was exploding. This impressed me to launch Istanbul Blockchain Week, the premier web3 occasion in Eurasia, wherein we invite actual builders, educators, thought leaders and prime enterprise individuals each in Turkey and internationally to launch an occasion that Turkey may be actually happy with.
What’s the present regulation for crypto in Turkey?
In Turkey, it’s unlawful to make use of crypto as a type of cost nonetheless it isn’t unlawful to commerce cryptocurrencies. Apart from this, they’re hasn’t been clear regulation tips set by the federal government. President Erdoğan mentioned the laws relating to crypto belongings is prepared for the parliament, with no clear date as to when this could come into follow. We’re longing for rules that enable for the area for innovation and progress to proceed within the crypto asset area in Turkey.
What may shock some individuals is that President Erdogan, after assembly with Tesla firm CEO Elon Musk, introduced that TOGG, the home automobile model of Turkey, will cooperate with the Avalanche blockchain. He additionally acknowledged that Turkey must be one of many main nations within the Metaverse universe in January of this 12 months.
What are the important thing spotlight occasions of the Istanbul blockchain week?
The week kicks off with a 1 day NFT Day devoted to all issues NFT/Metaverse and gaming, this can be a extremely curated lineup of leaders of the NFT area inside Turkey and Internationally. We then transfer into the principle occasion of the week, IstanBlock, which is a two-day occasion that can function Turkish authorities audio system, massive multinational corporations, and naturally, web3 heavyweight thought leaders.
Following the principle occasion, we’re extraordinarily excited to be launching the W3E Championships, the world’s first Web3 gaming championship. Now we have a devoted 600-seat E-Sports activities area in Istanbul for the finals of the championship, which incorporates a number of the prime video games in web3. Players should enter the qualifying tournaments for the championships going down in August and September earlier than the finalists descend to Istanbul for one remaining epic showdown.
Who’re a number of the headline names planning to talk at Istanbul Blockchain Week?
At this 12 months’s Istanbul Blockchain Week, we’re specializing in a lot of completely different areas within the trade cut up throughout the completely different occasions. You may count on a complete host of audio system from leaders in web3 alongside mainstream web2 manufacturers which can be breaking into web3. Its been fascinating to observe the likes of Tiffanys and Adidas not too long ago develop into web3 and we need to host occasions that facilitate such partnerships.
As well as, at IstanBlock, the flagship occasion of Istanbul Blockchain Week, attendees can count on main figures in web3 and legendary figures like David Chaum, a legendary cryptographer and pioneer alongside prime enterprise capital funds and establishments. We may also have a powerful NFT/Gaming/Metaverse presence at NFT Day and the Web3Esports Championships with audio system anticipated who’ve labored on a number of the largest video games AAA+ video games to affix the dialog.
Why ought to individuals attend Istanbul Blockchain week?
Istanbul Blockchain Week represents one of the best alternative for the worldwide neighborhood to enter the rampant Turkish crypto neighborhood, and construct relationships with merchants, influencers, thought leaders, authorities, and huge multi-national corporations in search of companions to interrupt into web3.
At Istanbul Blockchain Week, now we have a variety of occasions which can be appropriate too many alternative profiles of attendees. Whether or not you might be an NFT fanatic, a significant enterprise/financial institution pivoting to web3, or an avid gamer, there’s something for you.
Istanbul is an iconic historic metropolis and the thrill for web3 is palpable, you solely should spend half a day in Istanbul to see how massive it’s right here. Seemingly wherever you look there’s a reference to crypto from promoting within the airport, native trams, and buses to bodily alternate retailers outdoors the well-known Grand Bazaar.
The Turkish persons are a number of the most devoted and enthusiastic about web3 and cryptocurrency and the occasion is a significant alternative for tasks who need to attain a brand new receptive viewers or meet their current Turkish neighborhood.
