This November, Latin America’s Southern Cone becomes the center of the crypto universe as Devconnect, the Ethereum Foundation’s premier developer gathering, lands in Buenos Aires.
Argentina has long been a breeding ground for both crypto adoption and talent due to the country’s unique economic situation. Now, the international crypto community will be able to fully experience firsthand why Latin America has become ground zero for the industry’s organic growth.
“Argentina has one of the biggest user bases,” explained Nathan Sexer, head of Devcon and Devconnect at Ethereum Foundation. “We expect that 5 million people use crypto on a daily basis, which is about 10% of the overall population.”
A World’s Fair for Ethereum
Devconnect is the sister event to Devcon, which functions as the EF’s flagship conference that convenes not just the Ethereum ecosystem but much of the broader crypto world. Devconnect, which alternates annually with Devcon, serves as more of an “unconference” that is collaboratively organized by various groups across the community.
This year’s edition will break the mold, however. Sexer told me during an interview for the Brazil Crypto Report podcast that the 2025 edition of Devconnect aims to be a hybrid that blends the best of both events.
“You can forget everything that you know about Devcon and Devconnect because this edition is going to be very different from anything that you’ve seen in the past,” he said.
It will feature a “World’s Fair” theme that feels like several conferences in one and aims to showcase the diversity of applications that are being built on Ethereum – everything from payments to gaming to privacy-preserving technologies.
“We want to inspire attendees by coming and then playing with Ethereum-based applications of all kinds,” Sexer explained.
The main event will feature 30 to 40 community events staged in a large indoor-outdoor venue in Palermo, one of Buenos Aires’ trendiest neighborhoods. Attendees will be able to experiment with Ethereum-based applications while enjoying co-working spaces and dozens of side conferences scattered around the city between November 17–22.
The Road to Devconnect
With Latin America enjoying a brief moment as the center of gravity of the global crypto industry, other events have popped up across the region seeking to seize on the momentum be pre-Devconnect stopovers.
Edge City Patagonia is taking shape as a community-driven experiment in building new economic and governance models, with a residency program from October 15 – November 15.
Another pop up city project called [Re]City is happening in Recife, situated in Brazil’s northeast, happens during mid-October with the objective of bootstrapping a Web3 community outside of the region’s main business capitals.
ETH Latam will take place November 6-9 in São Paulo and will reflect Brazil’s increasingly institutional approach to cryptocurrency adoption, particularly with regard tokenization use cases.
This eventis notable because, unlike the grassroots movements that defined crypto’s early days, Brazil’s crypto revolution is now happening in boardrooms and regulatory offices. Banks are conducting deep blockchain research, the central bank has explored EVM compatibility for its central bank digital currency project, and corporate leaders no longer need basic blockchain education—they’re already building.
“In Brazil, you don’t need to explain what blockchain or Ethereum is anymore,” explains Romina Sejas, founder of ETH Kipu and organizer of ETH Latam. “They’re already doing the research.”
Also in São Paulo that week is Satsconf, Brazil’s largest bitcoin conference, which takes place November 7-8. The event is organized by Vinteum – a non-profit group run by Lucas Ferreira that works to fund and train open source bitcoin developers in Brazil.
Not to be left out, ETH Floripa happens from November 11-12 in Florianopolis. The city is situated halfway between São Paulo and Buenos Aires and is home to one of Latin America’s most prominent startup communities.
By the time Devconnect kicks off in Buenos Aires, Latin America will have spent weeks as the proving ground for crypto’s next phase – a clear signal that the industry’s center of gravity is shifting south.
