First, I want to thank the Web3Conf Enugu team for their hospitality and care. I was treated incredibly well, too well I think, always being sat in the most comfortable chair, having the best view available, team members trying to give up their spots for me, and so on. It wasn’t necessary and I declined these overtures many times, but I really appreciate the desire to go above and beyond. Biodun, our Community Operations Manager and who I met in-person for the first time, was incredibly dutiful and was the best person to have with me on this trip.

From the moment I arrived in Enugu, I was met with friendliness and curiosity. We had a terrific lunch together – the whole Web3Conf Enugu team, Biodun and I – and then briefly dropped in at the hackathon venue to see the building and meet some people. We were then taken to our hotel for the evening.

On Monday, we headed back to the hackathon venue to hear some speakers talk about Web3 development, security, and more, and I had a chance to talk about Reef Chain, the transition we’re going through thanks to all the progress we have made throughout 2025 and the core blockchain upgrade in progress, and share why we though Web3 technology was pivotal to improving people’s lives. 

After my talk, several individuals approached me outside to discuss more about Reef Chain, the projects they were building, ideas they had, and get my advice. I did my best to answer their questions, advise on technical feasibility and how to approach certain ideas, ask probing questions about startup ideas being shared with me, and more. It was a fantastic energy that’s hard to replicate, and can only be found at in-person events like this one! I also had a chance to hear about some of the hackathon projects in progress, and was very excited to see them get deployed.

On Tuesday we had a similar agenda, but this time my talk was focused on actually building something on Reef Chain. I worked with Matjaz and Anukul, two of our developers, to put together an information package sufficient for getting started building on Reef Pelagia testnet, the brand new testnet we were opening up to these hackathon participants in order to stress test it and start getting feedback, and shared it during this talk. This directly lead to multiple projects deploying to Reef Pelagia testnet during the hackathon and even being seen live in the wild, like Reefly on X.

More new people came to talk to me about their startup ideas and plans to bring cultural Nigerian traditions involving money on-chain.

I love rickshaws in their various forms, and the organizing team took this knowledge and ensured we had some fun driving through Enugu in several of them. There’s just something about these small, motorized vehicles I really enjoy no matter if I'm in France, Colombia, Cuba, or Nigeria. We took the rickshaws back to the hotel where Biodun and I were staying, and enjoyed a nice boat ride around Nike Lake.

Wednesday was a side event, South Stable Day. This time both Biodun and I were given an opportunity to speak about what having access to stablecoins can do for you, from two very different perspectives. I spoke to them about all the things they needed to consider if they wanted to start their own stablecoin, regardless of which fiat currency or other asset it could be pegged to. How are the tokens minted? Is this stablecoin backed by other stablecoins, fiat currency, or other assets like Bitcoin or gold? I spoke about marketing and attracting users, attracting strong growth early on, and of course the business model that would make this all sustainable. I think it was well-received and was a good reminder that, no matter what you’re building on-chain, either it’s a free, public good that you’re funding yourself, or you need to make it sustainable somehow.

One of the most compelling talks I attended was by Biodun, who shared a deeply personal story about how non-Naira stablecoins have become essential tools for Nigerians navigating economic uncertainty. Speaking with the passion of someone who's lived through Nigeria's currency volatility, Biodun painted a vivid picture of stablecoins as more than just crypto—they're financial lifelines.

His story was striking: Back in 2017, when the Naira was trading at around 415 to the US dollar, he split his savings between traditional banking and stablecoins. By 2022-23, when the exchange rate had plummeted to around 1,700-1,800 Naira per dollar, his stablecoin holdings had preserved their value while his bank savings had been devastated by inflation, emphasizing how the stablecoins had protected his purchasing power.

The room felt the weight of his message as he explained the harsh reality: with the Central Bank of Nigeria lending to commercial banks at nearly 28% interest rates, and businesses paying even higher rates, a cup of coffee that cost 1,000 Naira two years ago now costs over 2,000. "Don't blame the businesses," he urged, "the joke is on the government."

What resonated most was his practical perspective on stablecoins as empowerment tools. For Nigeria's tech-savvy population working in the global digital economy, stablecoins serve as crucial intermediaries—allowing freelancers and remote workers to convert various cryptocurrencies to spendable value, facilitating instant cross-border transfers that bypass the delays and fees of traditional remittance services like Western Union.

Biodun's energy was infectious as he emphasized that "the future is now"—urging developers and entrepreneurs to build solutions incorporating stablecoins as the essential "switch" in Nigeria's evolving payment infrastructure. The talk felt like a rallying cry for financial sovereignty in the face of economic instability.

You can watch Biodun's full talk, with captions, on YouTube.

On Thursday we had some time to ourselves, and also provided some tech support to the hackathon participants. Distributing testnet $REEF, making sure the testnet RPC was up and running, and answering questions about deploying to the testnet chain. We also spent some time polishing up Biodun’s talk he was going to give during the main conference on Saturday. On Friday I left for Crawley, England to go watch my first Crawley Town match.

On Friday, Biodun welcomed Jamil to Enugu and made sure he got settled into the hotel and prepared for Saturday.

On Saturday, Biodun and Jamil manned the Reef booth greeting visitors, introducing them to Reef Chain, discussing what support we’re offering builders to come to Reef Chain, and distributing some beautiful t-shirts we had made in Lagos. There were good vibes all around!

Biodun also delivered his talk on Reef itself, Nigeria’s leap into Web3 adoption with over 22 million users already, and some highlights of our week in Enugu. He also reiterated our ideas for building long-term relationships with builders and users in Nigeria to help accelerate the industry’s growth and adoption, with Reef as a core partner. We still have a lot of work to do in this area, but it’s clear that Nigeria and western Africa are adopting cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology at a much faster pace than developed nations.

Friendly people, great food, fantastic vibes, and all around a trip that was well worth our time and financial investment. I was cautiously optimistic about the trip and event beforehand, but I came away from Nigeria feeling like this was one of the best decisions we have made in 2025! Now we have new relationships with incredibly motivated and highly skilled people who are building innovative projects and businesses, and building on Reef is part of their plans. Now we need to formalize an approach to continue to build on this momentum, help advance worthwhile ideas into real projects and companies, and continue to develop Reef’s brand in this area of the world, building on top of great marketing avenues like conferences in Europe, and our sponsorship of Crawley Town Football Club.