In spite of the challenges encountered by members of the crypto community traveling to the United Arab Emirates for the Token2049 event, the surprising number of attendees who persevered impressed community leaders in attendance.
On April 18, the attendees were confronted with blocked roads and obstacles that would have deterred many from continuing their journey and would have made them turn back and leave the country.
Prominent figures in the industry who were scheduled to have interviews with Cointelegraph were stranded in different airports and had to cancel their plans due to the circumstances.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, had to endure an additional two-hour delay in the air because the plane was unable to land due to the storm. Ardoino expressed his gratitude that he was fortunate enough to only spend two extra hours in the sky.
Nevertheless, Ardoino was impressed by the determination of those who managed to make it to the event despite the challenges. He stated:
“It’s amazing to see the kind of people that make up the crypto community. I am grateful for their resilience.”
Emin Gün Sirer, founder of Ava Labs, also shared the difficulties his team faced while traveling to the event. He described the landing as a five-hour ordeal in the midst of the worst storm ever.
“It was incredibly challenging to get here. We had to land in the middle of a historic storm and the landing that should have taken 20 minutes ended up taking five hours,” Sirer said.
However, despite the hardships faced, Sirer believed that attending the event was the right decision and that it was worth the struggle. He commented:
“We made the right choice by coming here. It was definitely worth it.”
Nearly every attendee encountered their own set of difficulties. In fact, on the first day of the event, the Token2049 team had to stop accepting new registrations because all tickets had been sold out.
Members of the crypto community fully engaged in the various activities offered at the event, including informative talks, project exhibitions, and networking opportunities.
Ultimately, the crypto community demonstrated great resilience in the face of a historic storm that made attending the event a challenging endeavor.