Avalanche Summit LATAM Highlights A Community-Driven Future

Web3 leaders from across the globe gathered in Buenos Aires for Avalanche Summit LATAM earlier this month.The three-day event was charged with energy, focusing on key defining themes: the rise of grassroots initiatives, government engagement and the impact of Web3 games.

Avalanche Summit LATAM celebrated the launch of Avalanche9000, the most significant upgrade in Avalanche history. The upgrade makes it simpler and more economically feasible for projects to launch layer ones. However, the event’s discussions and themes went beyond just the technology, focusing on how to leverage innovation to tackle real-world problems for everyday people.

Grassroots initiatives are shaping policy in Argentina

“One of the things we noticed was that Latin America and South America in general has been ignored by the blockchain community,” said Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer at the event. Despite this, some of the most glaring use cases for Web3 technology come from the region.

“Many people here understand loss of value, many people here understand the need for digital assets and many people here need vehicles by which they can either invest overseas or allow overseas investments to come into the country,” Sirer added.

Under libertarian President Javier Milei’s leadership, Argentina’s monthly inflation rate has slowed, yet annual inflation remains over 200% – the highest in the world. In light of these economic challenges, the Avalanche Summit showcased the region’s rapid pace of innovation and Web3 adoption.

Buenos Aires Secretary of Innovation and Digital Transformation Diego Fernandez attended the summit and shared his vision for the country. “Argentina is perfectly poised to become perhaps the first country to adopt [full] crypto railways,” he said, “because we in Argentina have been struggling with a lousy economic landscape for the last 100 years.”

Fernandez describes himself as a founding member of Crecimiento, a grassroots movement gaining traction in Buenos Aires. Though only a few months old, Crecimiento has brought together crypto leaders like Lemon Cash founder Marcelo Cavazzoli, Protocol Labs founder Juan Benet and others who share a mission: to transform Argentina into a global hub for crypto innovation and adoption. The movement aims to bring over 10 million people on-chain, increase the number of startups tenfold and establish regulatory stability for crypto projects within the next four years.

Crecimiento means “growth,” and there couldn’t be a better time for it in the region. “The current administration has an open currency competition policy,” said Crecimiento co-founder Emiliano Velazquez, enabling people to experiment with new solutions to longstanding financial challenges. In Buenos Aires, Crecimiento collaborated with the local government to establish a regulatory sandbox for the city. Velazquez said that the initiative was so well-received that government agencies have now proposed a similar sandbox project at the national level.

LATAM becomes a magnet for builders and capital

For LATAM to achieve the innovation and adoption goals set by many Web3 leaders, it will need significant capital, and fund managers are closely watching the region. Ariel Muslera, General Partner of the Borderless LATAM Ecosystem Fund, said that after months of analysis and research, they recognized LATAM as the ideal location for the firm’s inaugural regional fund. “We want to identify the incredible projects emerging from the region that have global potential,” he said, following the announcement of Borderless Capital’s $50 million LATAM fund at the event.

Builder energy permeated through common areas, on stages and during the live video stream published on CoinDesk. Builders from the region and abroad discussed common challenges and opportunities, learning from each others’ experiences.

Ahead of the Avalanche Summit, Avalanche introduced The Avalanche Innovation House, where four teams were invited to live and build in Buenos Aires. The teams gained access to weekly dev workshops, mentorship sessions and even a private chef so they could focus their full attention on their projects. Anish Lathker, co-founder and COO of Inertia, was among the founders who participated. Originally from California, he said the experience exposed him and his co-founders to a different culture and financial landscape, encouraging them to approach problems from new perspectives as they build their prediction market platform.

The resurgence of Web3 games underscores community

Just like grassroots movements start from the ground up, Web3 gaming is also emerging from the ashes, and Avalanche is one of the chains at the center of the excitement. “When the bear market hit, everybody was like, ‘Web3 gaming is dead,’” said Defi Kingdoms President, Dreamer, “but others continued to build. People like Defi Kingdoms, people like MapleStory and people like Gunzilla Games.”

Throughout the summit, Gunzilla Games’ flagship title, Off the Grid, was celebrated by builders and Web3 enthusiasts alike for its mainstream success. Days before the event started, the Avalanche ecosystem game became the number one free title on the Epic Games Store, topping popular titles like Fortnite and Rocket League, a first for any Web3 game.

“The success that we’re seeing with Off the Grid is a showcase of how this industry is evolving, and how we are evolving with the technology,” said Angela Son, Head of Business Development at MapleStory Universe. MapleStory is a product of the largest Korean game studio and has been played for more than 20 years. Recently the game joined the Avalanche ecosystem to launch its Web3-enhanced extension.

When it comes to MapleStory’s Web3 offering, Son said, “we think of this as an upgrade or expansion [...] we’re using blockchain to really be able to incorporate the community.”

At Avalanche’s LATAM Summit it was clear that community-driven initiatives are at the heart of adoption. From grassroots movements like Crecimiento to successful projects like Off the Grid, the summit underscored a powerful message: In Web3, community is not just an aspect of success – it’s the foundation for a brighter future.