Trading happens behind a screen, but real conviction is built in a room, face to face. We spent the last three weeks doing exactly that.

Seoul 🇰🇷

Building on our success in Seoul in June, we hit the ground running at KBW, sponsoring the Seoul Index event in Cheongdam on 29 September. When we say you couldn’t miss us in the room, we mean it. People asked for RISEx merch and wore it on the spot, so calling it an understatement would be generous. We focused on talking to traders and building meaningful connections, and we left with strong interest in partnerships on both the infrastructure integration and marketing sides.

Two nights later, we headlined PerpDex Night at the iconic SJ Kunsthalle. RISEx lit up the building in its new green, glowing across the glass as cars rolled past on the dark Gangnam streets.

Inside, it was shoulder-to-shoulder. Screens counted down the prediction round, with charts on one side and traders at their laptops along the desk. When the number came in, the room went absolutely ballistic: fists in the air, phones out, everyone shouting at the screen.

On 2 October, we handed the city over to our Korean community with The Seoul Job, an IRL treasure hunt. There were two big prizes, and two winners braved the streets of Seoul on a hot day to find their RISEx treasure. A community doesn’t have to live only in the group chat, and that day ours didn’t.

To tie it all together, we hosted a private lunch with our closest friends and advocates before packing our bags for Singapore and TOKEN2049.

Singapore 🇸🇬

TOKEN2049, in typical fashion, was noise everywhere, so we kept our rooms small and focused on building meaningful connections with our traders and partners.

On 5 October, we hosted a private dinner for our partners, traders and team. No phones on the table, no checking the orderbook, just good food and honest conversation. We argued about where the market is heading, swapped notes on what’s working and stayed well past what anyone had planned. Nights like that remind us why we do this with the people we do.

The dinner drew so much interest that we couldn’t fit everyone in the room, so we added another event. On 8 October, we hosted a smaller VIP Traders Omakase. In a room that size, the conversation gets specific fast. Traders told us what they need, what they’d trade and what breaks their flow. We listened and took the notes home.

Next, we invited a hand-picked group on board for a yacht gathering, sailing into the sunset and taking a breather from the conference noise. Yacht events are never easy: you can’t over-invite, timing has to be tight, and you’re asking busy people to carve out two to three hours of their week for an evening at sea. But when it comes together, they’re one of the best ways to build real connections.

Singapore gave us noise outside and honesty inside. We'll take that trade every time.

Vietnam 🇻🇳

With the whole team already in Singapore, we took the chance to regroup. Building on the momentum from the events and everything we’d learned, the team met in Vietnam from 12 to 14 October for workshops, hackathons and strategy sessions.

On 13 October, we sat down with the VP of Product and Growth at one of the region’s largest fintech unicorns for a knowledge-sharing session. It was a good reminder of who in the region is already scaling, and who we can learn from.

The rest of the time was for the team. We reviewed what we’d learned from the past few weeks, debated priorities and worked through ideas together. A few of those debates have already turned into features and campaigns we’re about to ship.

What we're taking home

At every stop, the mix was the same: traders moving real size on RISEx, partners building with us, and people doing the slow work of growing the community one city at a time.

None of that shows up on a volume chart. It works the same way liquidity does: you have to be there, listen, and talk to the people who are actually trading. Trust built this way takes longer to earn, and it lasts longer too.

Thank you to everyone who stood in those rooms with us.

Back to the book. There’s always more on the calendar.