EthBoulder: 3 Days of Regen Tech, AI, and Real Future-Building
Hippies with Laptops & AI
I just spent three days in Boulder, Colorado, at EthBoulder (Feb 13–15, 2026) - a regen-tech unconference that hit completely different.
This was not your typical Ethereum event. No scammers, no DeFi hype.
The regen focus pulled in people who actually want to use tech to change the world: technologists, decentralization nerds, creatives, explorers, designers.
Super diverse attendees, but the shared drive for a sustainable, abundant future made everything click.
Sessions revolved around Public Goods Funding, Community Tooling, AI and Society, Decentralization, Privacy, and Localism - with heavy “hippies running wild with technology” energy.
Some attendees were already living in the future: building AI agents, knowledge graphs, autonomous systems. Others were still stuck in old crypto mental models. That contrast made me skip anything orbiting the past, like public goods funding sessions. (Yes, even though my startup GrantOrb.com is the world’s largest AI-first public goods funding, I was there to absorb, not preach.)
Two things absolutely blew my mind:
Vibe-coded event app: Built 100% by a non-software-engineer, it powered the entire bottom-up session proposal, voting (quadratic), and scheduling process. Handled massive usage without crashing once. Proof that non-traditional coders can ship real coordination tools that actually work.
AI-powered knowledge graph: A live knowledge bot in the event Telegram - ingested notes, reflections from 150+ contributors, and high-signal X updates in real time. Goal: preserve the event’s knowledge and enable collective sense-making. This is how you capture ephemeral unconference magic.
@deeparocks on X high signal updates X+ TG
Sessions that hit hardest:
Sessions and moments that stood out most for me (distilled from my real-time notes and threads on X):
AI and Real World Use Cases: Best AI talk I’ve seen. Dev Sodhi dropped practical, grounded examples that would convert any skeptic.
Fireside Chat: Griff Green and Kevin Owocki on Failures: Raw and hilarious. Griff: “I’ve had so many failed projects it’s outrageous.” Real talk unfiltered talk on failures. Gold for anyone building in public goods.
Who wants a Protocol Society: Nathan Schneider, Professor at University of Colorado Boulder destroyed the “code is law” dogma. Rigid deterministic smart contracts are exploitable, require constant dev patches, and breed implicit feudalism. His fix: humans write a readable Natural Language Constitution; AI agents interpret its spirit to execute. Basically what I’ve been preaching since 2023: Humans Define the Why and AI Achieves the Mission.
Artizen Live 50k Funding: Watching $50K get allocated in real time to dance, music, textiles, digital tools, science, biohacking projects was magical. If you’re a creative or out-there science/tech builder, Artizen Newsletter is the best place to fundraise with real support.
@Artizen on X at their Artizen Awards $50,000 LiveStream For those unaware Artizen is a crypto funding platform for creatives across dance, music, textiles, science, biohacking, and more. If you’re in science/tech and thinking outside the box, Artizen is your place to fundraise.
Nouns DAO BlankSpace: Nouns DAO is the longest-running serious DAO experiment (since 2021), raised $100M, granted $65M—all decentralized. Now shipping the best community tooling. BlankSpace is a slick, thoughtful decentralized community hub. If your community needs an online home, check it out.
Cities and Technology (Accelerating Boulder with Regen Tech): Fishbowl panel led by Kevin Owocki. Wide participation, big ideas on local regen tech. Key takeaway from Boulder city council rep: no adoption without grassroots education first.
That’s it—great vibe, great place, great unconference. Left my feedback via the knowledge bot to make the next one even sharper.
Questions? Hit me on X or LinkedIn 🤘
ICYMI: