ETH Safari 2025: You just had to be there

I really want to tell you that it’s okay you missed Eth Safari, that you can always visit the coast & another blockchain conference will happen, you know I love you. This time though, you just had to be there.

Lucky for you, Blockwisely was in full attendnace. So here’s how it went down.

Nairobi: Setting Off
The journey began in Nairobi, buzzing as always.. I’m talking happy hours, a nature walk, builders pitching and insightful panels. My favorite takeaway was, African builders are making it with or without first world support. Investing in Africa is no longer a benevolence. And that’s thanks to the builders who against all odds, they’re out there doing what they are doing. Also, moving your project from chain to chain, grant hunting, does not only hurt your product. You’re putting the reputation of current and future builders on the line and it hurts entire communities.
Then came the “Blocktrain” ride to Kilifi. Nerds were coding, people were talking ideas, pushing visions, making friendships and somewhere between laptop screens and panoramic landscapes, ETHSafari decided that the journey matters as much as the destination.

Kilifi: Where the Real Conversations Landed

Once we hit the coast, the conversations leveled up. I know I say this all the time but these were those panels that you walk out of a changed man:

ZK & Privacy: Panelists like Precious Emmanuel and Nyakio Maina showed how these tools are being used now, and grounded the trade-offs that are privacy vs performance vs usability. I’ve never understood why people nerd so much over encryption and privacy. But the discussion on how this could be the bridge between KYC and compliance, really sold this to me. We’ll definitely write an article about this. Stay tuned.

Guarding the Chain reminded us that security isn’t a checkbox—it’s the backbone. You can’t scale without it. The speakers: Scofield Idehen, Alvin Mwambi, Joanne Muthoni really drove this home.

Building Belonging: Communities at the Heart of Web3 highlighted something often underplayed: adoption isn’t just about code—it’s about culture, consistency, and trust. The organizers, the small communities, the local groups—they were the pillars.

Taylor Lahey’s talk on storytelling wasn’t fluff. It reframed narrative as leadership: how we paint community visions, how we connect users & builders, how stories become the glue for Web3 adoption. He talked of an empathetic blockchain where we could tell stories and actually touch communities, in a way that harsh graphs, scary tech and high contrast colors haven’t been able to do before. You should check his children’s book about blockchain.

Finance, Innovation & New Frontiers
ETHSafari didn’t shy from money or what Web3 can do with it.
Stablecoins and Finance dug into how stable tokens are being used for trade, savings, remittances across Africa—real-world use, not just speculation.

DeFi Without Borders tackled scaling: regulation, liquidity, infrastructure, and what it takes to move beyond pilots into widespread use.

Tokenisation & New Asset Classes stretched the imagination: real estate, cultural assets, creative works being digitised. What are the risks? What are the opportunities?

Building the Payment Rails of Web3 asked: if everyday Africans are going to use this, how do you make payments seamless, accessible, affordable? The industry has come a long way and things are moving fast.
Meanwhile, “Beyond the Hype: AI & Web3” opened up fresh territory, AI tools meet decentralized infrastructure, especially in places with fewer resources. New use cases, experiments, hopeful potential.
“Who Runs the Herd? Governance in DAOs” and “The Builders’ Classroom: Onboarding the Next Billion” pulled us back to people and process, because without inclusion, transparency, mentorship, none of this scales.

Closing: Baraza, Reflection, & Shared Intention
When it was time to wrap up, the Baraza happened: an open circle in the Kenyan tradition. A collective moment with speakers, founders, attendees, all together. Reflection. Intentions.

Why This One Was Different
I loved seeing young panelists. This time it was intimate.
We had a deep diversity: in themes (privacy, payments, storytelling, governance, tokenization), in people (grassroots organizers, security experts, storytellers), in the context (urban Nairobi, untouched coast).
It understood its audience: builders in emerging markets, stakeholders who live with constraints, but are inventing anyway. The bridge between global Web3 trends and local realities was constantly being walked.
Sponsors and partners weren’t just on logos. They interacted with builders, shared programs, and they will be investing in locally-relevant projects. Oh and the merch too. Starknet I loved your bags.

So, If You Weren’t There…
You missed more than panels. You missed energy, emerging relationships, conversations after hours, in informal settings. But that’s part of the story and the next one will have its chapter.
Takeaway: ETHSafari 2025 made one thing very clear—Africa isn’t racing to catch up to Web3. It’s already inventing, shaping, leading. If we missed this, the invitation remains: build, contribute, and keep telling the stories. They’re being heard.

I don’t want you coming from this article crippling with FOMO. That was never my intention. If you stick around though, right here, I’ll make the panels come alive, I’ll replay the keynotes and maybe, just maybe, you’ll feel the breeze, smell the sea salt, and if you close your eyes, you too can taste the feeling.
Thanks for reading!