I recently came across an announcement about extending a local discount to “neighboring South Asian countries,” which listed Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
This list made me wonder about the criteria used to define “neighboring” in this context. Specifically, I’m curious why India is included while China is not. China shares borders with several of the SEA countries.
China has banned crypto conference for many years as everyone know. So this SEA Devcon is the nearest and most affordable to Chinese builders. 600 bucks may not be expensive for VC people or employees of western crypto company, but considering the highly depressed web3 environment in China, it’s way too expensive for average builders.
I am the founder of 登链社区（ x.com ）， which is the top Web3 developers community in China.
I agree with @qingshun_li , 600 bucks is too expensive for most builders.
I am the builder of Tradao (Perp on-chain data) ，We are a team that is not yet profitable, but we have been doing some data development
I agree with @qingshun_li , 600 bucks is too expensive for most builders.
There’s no valid reason to exclude the vast number of developers in China from this discount, China is geographically and culturally much closer to SEA than South Asian countries like India or Pakistan.
The organizers need to learn both geography and industry reality.
Also for DEVCON, the price is insane for new developers who just got into the industry. This rip off price basically restrict normal devs from other areas in the world from joining.
If only business people can join the party, call it BIZCON or VCCON instead
I completely agree with the sentiment expressed here. The decision to extend the local discount to neighboring South Asian countries while excluding China raises some important questions. Given China’s geographical proximity to Southeast Asia, it seems logical that it should also be considered for this discount.
To provide some context, the full ticket price of $699 is significantly burdensome for many Chinese participants. Although China’s per capita income stands at $12,970, which is higher than some Southeast Asian countries, this is still far below the income levels in countries like Singapore, which has a per capita income of $59,798. Additionally, when adjusting for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), China’s GDP per capita is approximately $18,607—considerably lower than that of high-income countries in the region.
Moreover, the ongoing depreciation of the Chinese Yuan against the US Dollar has further increased the effective cost of tickets for Chinese attendees. At $699, the ticket price converts to nearly 5,000 RMB, representing a substantial financial commitment for many Chinese developers.
China’s Web3 community is one of the most vibrant and active globally. Including China in the local discount category would not only make the event more accessible but also enrich the discussions and collaborations at Devcon.
I hope the organizing team will reconsider the criteria for the local discount and include China in the list, aligning with the principle of fostering greater participation from neighboring regions.
I also agree with the above comments and look forward to a reasonable explanation from the Devcon organizers.
Chinese developers have always been one of the core forces in building the Ethereum community, and they also deserve South Asian Discount Policy.
thanks all for your input here.
I wish we could offer discounts to everyone in nearby countries like China, as well as Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. I also wish we could offer discounted tickets to people from other low-income regions like Africa and Latin America, who actually have to travel farther and pay more to be able to participate in Devcon this year. But ultimately it comes down to tradeoffs.
Devcon does not have an unlimited budget and we sadly cannot afford to offer discounted tickets to everyone. Tradeoffs must be made, and this year we have a particular focus on Southeast Asia. We expanded the discounts to some parts of South Asia as it is similarly low-income — moreso than much of East Asia on average.
that said, there are still ways for people from China and other countries to get discounted tickets. First, the regular ticket price is actually $599 (not $699 as mentioned above). Second, many of you here in the forum sound like you could qualify for a Builder discount, reducing the ticket by 50% to $299. You can and should apply here: https://forms.gle/orBcYMeCmQS2pgML6
also want to mention that the ticket includes breakfast, lunch, all-day snacks, swag, all programming, etc etc. Devcon is not a profitable event. The EF puts on Devcon as a way to give back to the community. The actual costs we incur to put the event on are well above $599 per person.
ultimately we are excited to have many different countries and cultures represented at Devcon, of course including the amazing Chinese community. And actually, Mandarin already represents the second-most popular language of people coming to Devcon SEA, so we expect a large representation from China and nearby countries at Devcon already and look forward to more. Thanks again for your enthusiasm about attending Devcon. We hope to see you there.