How I organized a research retreat at the Nesin Math Village
Among the serene mountains of Western Turkey, the Nesin Math Village offered us a space for learning and collaborating after Devconnect 2023. Itâs a place built for thinking â 13.5 acres, 7.5 of which are olive groves â nestled just outside the village of Ĺirince in the Selçuk district of Izmir. The houses are simple: stone, straw, and clay, scattered among greenery and cats. Itâs a place that teaches you how to be still and curious at the same time.
It was the perfect setting for 0xVillage: a gathering that wanted to break away from the typical crypto conference circuit. No booths, no badge scans, no over-polished panels. Just people, math, olive oil, and shared curiosity.
A Different Kind of Crypto Gathering
0xVillage was meant to be a non-instrumentalized space. A place where people donât feel like resources or stepping stones. Most crypto conferences say they want to reimagine the future but often end up reproducing the same power dynamics and extractive vibes. We wanted something different: an unconference where people brought their full selves, not their pitch decks.
Imagine a meetup where the stage is a stone house, the audience is a mix of students and cryptographers, and conversations are fueled by shared meals and spontaneous chalkboard sessions.
Talks, Topics, and Tangents
The lineup was a mix of academic depth and casual exploration:
- Random Number Generation by Yigit Kilicoglu
- ZK Email by Ayush and Sora Su
We also dove into group theory for cryptography, proof systems, and new primitives. The format was fluid. Someone would start explaining something on a chalkboard, and before you knew it, a group of people would gather around and stay for hours.
Life Beyond Talks
We explored Western Turkey together â day trips to Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis, soaking in a deep sense of history. We had traditions like 4PM Cake Time and meetups at "the Abacus" that slowly became part of our shared rhythm.
Over 4 days, 48 of us from 15 countries became a web3 commons. No single country made up more than a third of attendees. We didnât just talk decentralization; we lived it. This is what it looks like to inhabit space intentionally.
What We Learned
People will travel across the world for something that feels meaningful and human. The math village in the mountains was a strong enough pull for people to show up, and once they did, they created something bigger than any one of us. The magic came from how light the structure was. It reminded me of BAF meetups: less agenda, more time together, better outcomes.
Communities can be seeded from shared experience. And from that experience, an online network can emerge that actually means something. Itâs hard to build a good online community from scratch. Itâs easier to start from a memory.
Looking Forward
A big thank you to Dilara Savut from Nesin Ä°stasyon for helping us significantly both before and during 0xVillage. Shoutout to UlaĹ ErdoÄan for his support in the early stages.
Special thanks to the Ethereum Ecosystem Development Program for their financial support.
We want to keep building. Not by scaling quickly, but by deepening the roots. Nesin Villages gave us a place to start. The values of peer-to-peer collaboration, trust, open-ended inquiry â theyâre embedded in the soil there.
Weâre lucky to have hosted this first version of 0xVillage. Friends were made, Turkish tea was shared, and a future was glimpsed. Now itâs just a question of what we co-create next.
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