Context & Vision
Create a space that feels like a local indoor market — small businesses, independent food vendors, and craftspeople — all accepting onchain payments via USDC. It’s a hands-on, human-centered demo of what crypto is supposed to enable: direct, open value exchange, without intermediaries, in service of real communities.
Proposed Activation
We are proposing to host this market inside La Rural, ideally within or adjacent to the official DevConnect co-working space. If placed there, the market would be a natural meeting point for attendees.
Conceptually:
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~10–20 curated local vendors
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~50% food and beverage, 50% artisan crafts
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All vendors accept USDC
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Attendees pay from wallets of their choice
What It Takes
To make this work, we’ll need:
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Physical space with electricity, airflow, and foot traffic (within La Rural preferred)
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Permission to invite and coordinate local vendors (we can handle all onboarding)
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A few minimal branded elements (placards, signage) to help attendees navigate
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Vendor operations support (setup, food handling compliance, waste mgmt.)
From a tech side:
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We will use public tooling and wallet onboarding flows from acceptusdc.com, built to onboard small merchants with minimal friction
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We’ll work with vendors to ensure each has a payment-ready wallet + interface
We are also exploring ways to “give back” to the vendors — such as subsidizing food, covering fees, or offering setup stipends — to ensure a positive experience for everyone involved. Once we have a better idea on what resonates with vendors we’ll implement this.
Have We Done This Before?
Our core organizing team has helped execute similar activations at ETHGlobal events.
Several contributors have successfully onboarded merchants in LATAM markets, including to accept stablecoins for goods and services.
Execution Team
- Local operations lead (to handle vendor setup/logistics)
- Elena DiMento (US production - L&K)
- Sarah Elabdi (US Account Lead L&K)
- Sofia Zayat (BA Account Director VBE)
- Delifna Garcon Maceda (BA Production VBE)
- Catarina Amazonas (SA Account Lead Oito)
- USDC onboarding team
- Community comms/brand support (to ensure attendees come prepared to spend)
- DevConnect team
Why This Matters
Ethereum isn’t just infrastructure. It’s a public good for global value exchange. This activation shows what that looks like — not in a blog post, but in a tangible, local, sensory experience.
Attendees buy empanadas with USDC. They tip baristas from mobile wallets. They shop from local craftspeople with a single scan.
That’s the future we’re building — and DevConnect is the perfect place to show it.
Request to DevConnect
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Approval to host the market within or adjacent to La Rural’s co-working space
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Support navigating venue requirements (e.g. insurance, food handling, vendor rules)
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Optional, inclusion in DevConnect programming or wayfinding to help attendees discover the market