From conversations about RPC reliability to solving infrastructure challenges during the Origins Hackathon, our time in Singapore showed us what Web3 teams actually need to keep building.
Singapore brought together thousands of people working across the Web3 industry. For NOWNodes, TOKEN2049 was an opportunity to reconnect with partners, meet teams building new products, and understand where blockchain infrastructure needs are heading.
But the most valuable part of the trip wasn’t just who we met. It was what those conversations revealed about the challenges developers and businesses are trying to solve.
And during the TOKEN2049 Origins Hackathon, we had the opportunity to put some of those conversations into practice.
The conversations that mattered
We came to Singapore with a few things on our agenda: catch up with existing partners, meet teams we’d been hoping to connect with, and introduce NOWNodes to more people in the industry.
Some of the most useful conversations turned out to be about problems companies were already dealing with.
One exchange was looking for better blockchain coverage and a more reliable RPC provider. Another team was considering moving away from its current provider because of pricing. We also spoke with companies trying to manage infrastructure across a growing number of networks.
The same questions kept coming up: How many chains can you support? How stable is the infrastructure? What happens when traffic increases? And how much will it actually cost?
Exchanges were particularly interesting to talk to. Many are expanding their products with integrated wallets and additional on-chain services, which means they need infrastructure that can handle more than a handful of networks.
Outside of RPC, we heard quite a bit about cross-border payments, stablecoin settlement, and prediction markets. These topics came up naturally in conversations with teams working on different parts of the Web3 industry.
Beyond infrastructure, several broader trends appeared across our meetings.
Cross-border payments and stablecoin settlement were recurring topics. More teams are exploring practical applications of blockchain technology for moving value between markets.
Prediction markets also attracted attention, with use cases extending beyond traditional financial trading into sports, gaming, and other markets.
These observations were a useful reminder that infrastructure providers need to follow how products are evolving, not just how individual blockchain ecosystems are growing.
For NOWNodes, Singapore generated several promising conversations around infrastructure integrations, technical collaboration, and potential co-marketing initiatives. The next step is turning those discussions into concrete technical evaluations and long-term relationships.
Bringing infrastructure conversations to the developers
While our team was meeting partners across TOKEN2049, we were also preparing for the Origins Hackathon.
NOWNodes joined the event as its only RPC infrastructure provider, supporting developers working on Web3 applications.
The session addressed a practical question:
What happens to your infrastructure when a project moves beyond its first working prototype?
A prototype might have one blockchain, a limited number of requests, and users in one region.
As the product grows, requirements change. Developers may need additional networks, more predictable performance, better geographic coverage, and reliable access to engineering support.
The workshop explored how to approach those challenges from the beginning rather than waiting for them to become production problems.
The audience also raised questions about the x402 protocol and AI-friendly node documentation, reflecting growing interest in infrastructure that can support applications involving AI agents.
For us, that was one of the most interesting signals from the workshop: developers are not only thinking about how to connect their applications to a blockchain. They are also thinking about how infrastructure should work with new types of applications and automated systems.
What developers built with NOWNodes
The Origins Hackathon gave us a closer look at how developers use blockchain infrastructure under real time constraints.
One particularly interesting example was CoinGraph, which took first place at TOKEN2049 Origins 2026.
CoinGraph combines market and on-chain data to help users and AI agents evaluate risks before interacting with crypto assets.
The hackathon version used NOWNodes infrastructure to retrieve blockchain data across five networks:
- Ethereum
- BNB Chain
- Bitcoin
- Solana
- Cardano
The project brought together information about transfers, exchange flows, transaction fees, and blockchain addresses to support risk analysis.
For a multichain application like this, developers need consistent access to information from different blockchain ecosystems without having to maintain the underlying nodes themselves.
CoinGraph demonstrated one practical application of that approach: combining data from multiple networks within a single product.
Explore the project: CoinGraph
A Cardano devnet request that couldn’t wait
One of the most memorable technical moments of the hackathon came from an unexpected infrastructure requirement.
During the hackathon, one of the teams asked for access to a Cardano devnet. We didn’t have it working at the time, so our engineers had to set it up while the hackathon was already happening.
In a normal development cycle, setting up an additional blockchain environment might be handled as a planned infrastructure task.
But at a hackathon time is different. Teams have a limited time frame to build, test and display their products. Waiting for infrastructure is wasted time for development.
Our team connected with Cardano’s technical specialists, who provided the necessary network snapshots.
With those resources available, NOWNodes engineers brought up the required node in approximately one hour.
The developers could then continue building and testing their application.
It was a relatively small episode within a much larger event, but it captured something important about developer infrastructure.
Providing access to an RPC endpoint is only part of the job.
Sometimes the value of an infrastructure partner becomes most visible when an unexpected requirement appears and there is an engineer available to help resolve it.
This experience also reflected the discussions we had with the technical teams from Cardano and Solana during the event.
A recurring theme was how ecosystem tools, accessible infrastructure, and engineering support can work together to help developers move from an idea to a working application.
The Cardano incident was a practical example of that cooperation.
From hackathon prototypes to production infrastructure
Hackathons compress the development process into a short period of time.
Developers need documentation they can understand quickly, working examples, access to the right networks, and an efficient way to get technical help when something breaks.
However, many of the same challenges remain after the event.
When a project moves toward production, the requirements expand:
- Infrastructure must behave predictably under increasing request volumes.
- Once a project starts working across several chains, keeping those connections running smoothly becomes a challenge of its own.
- When an RPC endpoint starts failing or slowing down, developers need to know what’s happening and have a backup ready.
- An application might work perfectly for users in Singapore but respond much slower for someone connecting from Europe or the US.
- And when something breaks, the last thing a developer wants is a generic support reply. They need someone who can actually investigate the issue and help fix it.
This was the central message of our workshop, and the hackathon reinforced it.
Infrastructure decisions made during the prototype stage can directly affect how easily a product scales later.
For NOWNodes, supporting builders means helping them through both stages: getting their first application running and preparing the infrastructure for what comes next.
The best conversations didn’t always happen at the venue
Of course, TOKEN2049 wasn’t only about workshops, technical discussions, and scheduled meetings.
Some of the most valuable introductions happened in hotel lobbies, elevators, and side events around Singapore.
As Alex from our business development team pointed out, you never really know where the next useful connection will happen.
Even our merchandise became part of those conversations.
This year, instead of relying entirely on conventional conference giveaways, we brought branded macropads.
The response was encouraging. People were genuinely interested in the devices, asked about them, and often used them as a reason to start a conversation.
It was a small detail, but an effective one. A useful desk accessory turned out to be a natural way to connect with a developer-focused audience.
And at a conference where hundreds of companies are competing for attention, those conversations matter.
What comes after Singapore
For our team, the value of TOKEN2049 will be measured by what happens after the event.
We’re already back in touch with several teams we met in Singapore. Some are reviewing their current RPC providers, while others want to discuss integrations or see whether NOWNodes can support more of the networks they work with.
We’re also reaching out to developers from the Origins Hackathon. CoinGraph is one project we’d like to explore in more detail, particularly how the team used NOWNodes to work with five different blockchains. We’re planning to speak with other teams as well and share their technical experiences where possible.
The hackathon itself provided an important starting point. CoinGraph showed how multichain infrastructure can support applications combining data from different networks. Our collaboration with Cardano demonstrated how responsive engineering teams can help developers overcome an unexpected blocker.
Those are the kinds of experiences we want to build on.
Singapore was a busy few days of meetings, workshops, development, and conversations.
But the real work starts once the conference badges come off.
That’s when introductions turn into technical discussions, prototypes continue toward production, and the connections made at an event begin to deliver results.
We’re back to building.
Building a Web3 application?
NOWNodes provides RPC and API access to 120+ blockchain networks, with infrastructure designed to support developers from their first prototype to production.
Explore our infrastructure: nownodes.io
