A week of code, culture & craic in the heart of Dublin
From May 23–25, ETHDublin 2025 brought together the misfits, builders, artists, and thinkers shaping Ethereum's cultural frontier. This year’s gathering was an experimental blend of hacker ethos, local identity, and regenerative imagination, punctuated by folklore, first wallets, technical deep dives, and tender human connection.
Here’s what we learned, what worked, what we’d do differently, and where the forest of possibility leads next.
Recap By the Day
Thursday — BTC Pizza Day
Our soft open coincided with Bitcoin Pizza Day, a nice nod, but a mismatched crowd. A few suits showed up expecting a conference, not an arts-infused warm-up.
Artists were still setting up, which made the space feel more like a rehearsal than a showcase, but everyone wanted more, not less. Many requested greater exposure to the artists throughout the weekend.
Takeaway
Give the cultural layer a clearer narrative arc and better visibility on Day 1. Embrace the creative chaos — but frame it.
Friday — Hacker Bootcamp + Vitalik IRL
A physical registration booth on Friday would’ve helped. Some people arrived expecting the conference to begin and were a little disoriented.
Caren suggested scheduling informal meet-ups to fill the early hours for next year.
Vitalik’s community session in Urban Brewing was intimate, but sound bleed from the bar made parts of the talk inaudible.
Takeaway
Friday should feel like Day 1.5, bootcamp by name, soft conference by nature. Next year, we’ll lean into a low-pressure, high-connection programming to bridge the gap.
Saturday — Conference Kickoff
Saturday was mighty craic. Everything pretty much went according to plan in The Vaults and the Public Goods Workspace.
Minor confusion persisted for hackers not present on Friday, but Giancarlo ran a tight ship in the Urban Garden. Mentor quality was high. Next year we’ll scale it even further.
A big lesson: everyone really wanted a side event. Although we hosted one for the speakers, there was appetite for more: culturally, socially, spiritually.
Takeaway
Don’t under-serve Saturday night. Hackers need downtime, and attendees want space to process and connect.
Sunday — Closing Day
A bit of venue confusion early on. Some people mistakenly went to The Vaults for Vitalik’s talk because we changed it to Urban Garden last minute (for the better).
Our final day went rather smoothly again. Everybody seemed at ease and having fun, which is a beautiful thing. Just like a festival.
Presentations, judging and awards are always tense because hackers have just poured their soul into a weekend and then you keep them waiting. IN our defence, there were just so many high quality projects to get through. It wasn’t easy on the judges.
Takeaway
The small cracks (venue, sound, signage, presentations) don’t show up in spreadsheets but shape the lived experience. Lock in logistics early.
Monday — Community Debrief
Two other side events were happening, so we had a nice lean crew of builders, artists, and organisers gathered for TechStars Crypto Mondays to reflect and regroup.
The main themes explored were coexisting with Solana without friction, rooting Ireland’s ecosystem in substance, not hype, and rebellion as cultural strategy.
Takeaway
We need less gatekeeping and more trust. Ireland deserves to be a sovereign node in Ethereum’s cultural layer, not just a satellite.
Maybe even more audacious: is it time to rebrand to EVM Dublin, signalling alignment without dependency?
Onsite Experiences
Ornella & Didier: New to Web3 Onboarding
This was a continuation of the Bangkok edition, with Dublin seeing ~10% of attendees onboarded, primarily finance students and working professionals.
People loved the “why” behind Ethereum. Telegram was a blocker; participants asked for alternative comms channels.
Follow-up opportunity: Conduct a light-touch survey + follow their wallet journeys post-event.
Tessa's Cultural Exhibit: “How to Fall in Love with Complex Systems”
This was such a fulfilling thing to do, as we brought in more local artists to exhibit their work. Maëlla, Jillian, Lauren, Johnathan and Niamh.
The Agora Offer Board worked well in theory (meet → vouch), but drop-off happened at vouching. Pol.is opinion tool needed better onboarding to evoke emotional engagement.
Next year, we’ll build on this by encouraging artists to be ambassadors for their work. We also contemplated adding passion-led volunteers stationed at each installation, based on their interests.
Takeaway
The art layer isn’t just an add-on — it’s a knowledge system. Treat it like protocol architecture. Anyone new to the space can easily walk through the exhibit and absorb more crypto-related lore than they would in a standard conference talk.
NFC Treasure Hunt: A Web3 Onramp with Real Stakes
Prizes included $200 GHO, Ledger wallets, Chorus.One instax cameras, Chainlink wine sets, and plush Filecoin corgis.
This is so worth it, we got huge engagement blending exploration with onboarding and real-world delight. Fair play to Eoin for pulling that together.
Hacker Showcase Highlights (via DoraHacks)
🏆 Top 3:
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RecETH -- Confirmation payments for Web3.
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Latinum -- Enabling AI agents to buy things.
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Fundraisely -- Compliant fundraising for games of skill.
🎖 Runners-Up:
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LockedIn -- Social accountability to combat doom-scrolling habits.
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Skill Token -- Reinventing knowledge and skill certification.
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KinChain -- Preserving familial heritage for diaspora groups.
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… and plenty more at DoraHacks ETHDublin
A Voice from Our Community
Looking Forward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOO9bPkrz5U&t=13s
Come for the tech, stay for the craic.
Leave with a renewed sense of what it means to build: culture, not just code.
What’s next?
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Install onboarding stations in the Irish Tech Hub Netwokr and universities all over the country.
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Develop a post-onboarding guidance layer, based on the offer board in our exhibit.
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Refine the cultural layer into a repeatable, open-source experience
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Consider rebranding to EVM Dublin
ETH Dublin wasn’t perfect. But it was real. And that’s rarer than it should be.
Slán go fóill, a chairde! The forest is just beginning to grow.
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