Istanbul Blockchain Week 2025: The Largest Web3 Event Ever Held in Turkey

Key Highlights: From Justin Sun to Pudgy Penguins

Now in its fourth year and organized by EAK Digital, this year’s event featured high-level panels and in-depth workshops on trending topics such as stablecoins, real-world assets (RWAs), artificial intelligence (AI), tokenized finance, and regulations.

Prominent speakers included:

• Mehmet Çamır, Chairman of OKX TR

• Justin Sun, CEO of Tron

• John Linden, CEO of Mythical Games

• Marco Dal Lago, VP of Global Expansion at Tether

In his remarks, John Linden noted: “The Turkish market is becoming a gaming powerhouse, especially in mobile and sports games. It’s a greenfield market with huge potential.”

Justin Sun focused on Tron’s stablecoin ecosystem, highlighting its regulatory compliance and real-world use cases across Türkiye. He emphasized the country’s potential as a testbed for national and retail stablecoin adoption.

Meanwhile, Mehmet Çamır addressed the evolving regulatory landscape, pointing out that Türkiye’s over 14 million crypto users make compliance and investor protection a top priority.

A Fusion of Web3, Art, and Technology

The BlockDown Festival returned in a brand-new format, blending music, art, and Web3. One of the standout moments was AI-powered live performances in collaboration with popular NFT brand Pudgy Penguins—bringing an immersive experience that fused autonomous agents with real-time entertainment.

The event also introduced specialized segments like the RWA Builders Summit and DefaiCon Istanbul, which highlighted the growing infrastructure for tokenized assets and decentralized finance.

Christian Thompson of the Sui Foundation announced plans for a large-scale developer bootcamp, aiming to train 2,000 to 4,000 local blockchain developers within 12 to 18 months—further positioning Türkiye as an emerging tech talent hub.

Part of a Global Crypto Momentum

Istanbul Blockchain Week 2025 is part of a broader global wave of crypto events. Just weeks earlier, ETHCC in Brussels saw Robinhood unveil tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs for the European market, enabling 24/5 trading and on-chain dividends via Arbitrum.

At the same event, Vitalik Buterin raised concerns about architectural vulnerabilities in Web3, including backdoors in Layer 2 solutions and the risks of governance token auctions.