Devconnect 2023 was a defining moment for Istanbul and for the Turkish Ethereum ecosystem. In the centennial year of the Republic, Istanbul hosted one of the most important Ethereum gatherings in the world and proved that the city could carry global blockchain events at scale. Devconnect ran across Istanbul from November 13 to 19, 2023, with the Devconnect Cowork at the Istanbul Congress Center and many more independent ecosystem events spread throughout the city. The week brought together over 3,500 people at the cowork alone, with many more participants across side events and community-led gatherings.
node101’s role and contribution
For node101, Devconnect was not just a week to attend. It was a long preparation process and a city-wide contribution. The work started before the event week itself and centered on one big idea: if Istanbul was going to host Ethereum at a global level, it needed to be presented not only as a beautiful city, but as a functioning event city. That meant helping global teams understand venues, logistics, neighborhoods, production quality, technical setup, and the kinds of local spaces that could actually support serious ecosystem gatherings. The same approach later continued into other ecosystem events, where node101 handled venue sourcing, production planning, catering, print, AV, post-production, and local coordination as part of the execution layer.
That contribution was both practical and editorial. It was about showing what kind of city Istanbul could be for Ethereum. Not only major venues such as the Istanbul Congress Center, but also theaters, libraries, historic stages, and culturally meaningful spaces across the city. The goal was to make the event week feel local, memorable, and rooted in Istanbul itself rather than detached from it. That is also why so many of the events around this period used venues with strong architectural and historical identity, from Grand Pera Emek Sahnesi to Rami Library, and why node101 kept building events that tied technical depth to place.
Devconnect also became a bridge between node101 and the global Ethereum ecosystem. The week created real working relationships and opened the door to longer-term collaboration in Türkiye. That relationship did not end with the event itself. It carried forward into later conferences, hackathons, educational programs, and ecosystem-building efforts that aimed to keep the Devconnect energy alive in Istanbul rather than let it remain a one-time moment.
Side events node101 organized with its global partners
Side events and ecosystem gatherings. One of the strongest parts of the week was the side-event layer. node101 was part of the local group that helped turn Devconnect week into a real city-wide ecosystem experience, not just a single central venue. During that period, node101 co-hosted and organized events such as Cryptist 2023, Celestia Game Night, Mina zkConnect, Aleo, and other ecosystem gatherings that brought protocol teams, researchers, developers, and local communities into the same city-wide flow. That side-event structure is part of what gave the Istanbul edition its character: Ethereum was not confined to one building, but spread across communities, venues, and conversations throughout the city.
The organizations connected to these events reflect the breadth of that week. Across the broader event network around node101 and ModaPalas, teams such as Ethereum Foundation, Mina Protocol, o1Labs, Celestia, Scroll, zkSync, Aleo, Starknet Foundation, Kakarot, Herodotus, Sui Foundation, and Aztec were part of the ecosystem layer that node101 helped convene, host, or coordinate in Istanbul. Some appeared as sponsors, some as speakers, some as community partners, and some as foundations building direct contact with local developers.
Cryptist 2023 stood out as one of the most visible ZK-focused side events of the week. It was built as the Turkish Zero-Knowledge Community Summit, aimed to host 600+ zero-knowledge enthusiasts, and brought together support from Aleo, Scroll, Mina, zkSync, o1Labs, LambdaClass, Rise In, and Antalpha Labs. It also featured speakers from o1Labs, Mina Foundation, Aleo, Scroll, and LambdaClass, making it one of the clearest examples of how node101 used Devconnect week to create a more focused technical surface for the Turkish community.
The same city-building logic continued into interoperability events as well. In the planning and execution of IBC Istanbul, node101 helped with venue search, proposals, catering, AV, video, photography, post-production, print materials, and branding details while also connecting ecosystem teams to local logistics and venue options. That kind of work captures node101’s real role during this period: not only organizing its own summits, but also helping global protocol teams operate smoothly in Istanbul.
