Side events may be reduced by more than 80%. Why did ETHDenver decline after its peak?

Author: Zen, PANews

With less than a month to go until ETHDenver, this annual developer conference, held at the beginning of each year and attracting significant attention from the cryptocurrency industry, has grown increasingly popular over the past three years. Even during Ethereum's prolonged downturn in 2025, ETHDenver still drew nearly 20,000 attendees to Denver.

However, this major Ethereum-themed developer event has reversed its upward trend this year, showing a remarkable cooling. Data from cryptocurrency event information platform CryptoNomads reveals this trend:

There were approximately 176 side events registered during the 2023 conference, rising to 325 in 2024, and surging to 668 in 2025. However, in 2026, less than a month before the official opening of the conference, the number of confirmed ETHDenver side events was only 56, a drop of approximately 85%.

When the side event craze "bursts," and the once ubiquitous side events shrink dramatically, this contrast sends a clear signal and serves as a direct illustration of ETHDenver's decline and even the current industry downturn.

Why did ETHDenver go from unprecedented success to a sharp decline?

The Myth of Over-Commercialization

Originating from a Denver-based Ethereum community gathering, ETHDenver has always been associated with a strong sense of "festival and celebration." As a conference specifically for developers, its free admission, community-driven approach, and buildathon-centered mechanism distinguish it significantly from the heavily commercialized atmosphere of traditional conferences.

Denver's more central location in the US, coupled with the lower costs of hosting events in such non-central cities, allows attendees and participants to reduce overall expenses. Therefore, for a long time, ETHDenver has been more of a compromise community meeting point than a high-cost showcase located in a major coastal city.

However, in recent years, there has been increasing criticism directed at the conference's changing positioning and atmosphere. Many question whether ETHDenver is transforming from its initial status as a technology event championing open-source hacker culture into an overly public relations-driven brand exhibition.

During the grand ETHDenver 2025 event, some attendees jokingly described their experience as an accidental stumble upon a corporate expo. They had hoped to enter a "holy land of decentralized innovation," but upon entering the venue, they were surrounded by a dazzling array of company booths, with sponsors everywhere, and even Polkadot's booth handing out free socks to attract attention.

The original intention of being open, inclusive, and not reliant on ticket revenue has fostered a large-scale penetration of commercial sponsorships by ETHDenver. The atmosphere of the conference has also subtly changed as a result. This shift towards more commercial activities has led some Ethereum community developers to lament that the conference is losing its early grassroots hacker spirit and has been diluted by heavy commercial promotion.

The Ethereum narrative is diluted

At the same time, ETHDenver's focus on Ethereum has also been questioned.

Many attendees noted that in recent years, the conference has invited and accommodated numerous projects and sponsors from outside the Ethereum ecosystem, making the theme increasingly generalized and blurring the conference's Ethereum focus.

This criticism caused a huge uproar in 2025, so much so that conference co-founder John Paller had to respond publicly. He clarified with data, stating that over 95% of sponsors and 90% of the content were still related to the Ethereum and EVM compatible ecosystem.

Even so, many people are still dissatisfied with the exposure of other public chains and unrelated topics at the conference. Some commentators pointed out that since ETHDenver is not an event officially hosted by the Ethereum Foundation, but merely uses the "ETH" name, it is easy for various unrelated projects to be mixed in, diluting the original theme of Ethereum.

When guests on the main stage even touted the idea that "Ethereum has declined" and urged people to switch to other blockchains, while other ecosystem projects were also present in the exhibition hall, the feeling of the theme going astray and the direction being lost exacerbated the unease of the community's veteran members.

Even more worrying is that the industry's diverse narratives and categories are now a thing of the past, with many tracks nearly disappearing. Affected by the overall environment, ETHDenver has also lost its former creative spark.

The phrase "creative exhaustion" became a common feedback from many attendees.

The rise and fall of expectations for new crypto policies

Behind the rise and fall is also the significant influence of the Trump administration on industry sentiment. The inauguration of the "crypto president" at the beginning of last year greatly raised industry expectations for his new crypto policies. A large number of attendees flocked to ETHDenver, the industry event held at the beginning of the year, with anticipation of the arrival of the "crypto spring."

However, after a round of symbolic deregulation, the industry's situation has not improved effectively. While various risky assets, stock markets, and metals around the world have soared, cryptocurrencies remain at rock bottom, and the "anything but crypto" rhetoric is stinging the crypto community.

At the policy level, although the stablecoin bill was passed last July, a broader regulatory framework is still under development. Currently, the progress of the cryptocurrency market structure bill is not optimistic. The Senate Banking Committee has repeatedly delayed the cryptocurrency market structure bill, pushing it to late February or even March, and its focus has shifted to more pressing housing legislation that affects people's livelihoods. This expectation of new policies remaining merely verbal contrasts sharply with the discouraging reality, also affecting people's enthusiasm for attending the meeting.

Car crash during Lunar New Year

In addition to the reasons mentioned above, the opening date of ETHDenver 2026 is set for February 17, which coincides with the Lunar New Year in 2026.

While participants in Europe and America might treat ETHDenver as a work week, for many Chinese people and even countries and regions with predominantly Confucian cultures, this week is typically the least suitable for business trips throughout the year.

After all, the Spring Festival is the most important cultural festival. Compared to small meetups, demo nights, and closed-door ecosystem meetings that heavily rely on "cross-time zone flights" and "team travel," most people will choose to put aside the busyness and troubles of the past year, reunite with their families, and celebrate the New Year together.

However, judging from the official narrative, ETHDenver in 2026 still places "builders" at the center and attempts to create a more integrated space for events, content, and experiences. For teams truly focused on delivery, this centralization may improve efficiency: they no longer need to waste energy on urban traffic flow and information noise.

However, judging from the controversy itself, criticism does not mean death. The debates surrounding it also show that it is still anticipated and is still regarded as a symbol of industry culture.

The real problem in 2026 may not be "how many fewer sides there will be", but whether we can still rely on technology and the community itself to retain those who are willing to go through the cycle when the crypto bubble bursts and hot money flows away.