Alizee Carli gave an overview of Casper’s event calendar and strategy. She emphasized Casper’s commitment to double down on major global events like Token 2049 Singapore, Paris Blockchain Week, and Consensus.

She then touched upon the collaborations with partners: “The goal is to collaborate extensively with exchanges, other ecosystems, existing partners, and future partners to organize side events and small developer connects to foster deeper relationships,” said Alizee.

“We aim to have a large booth and a significant team presence at these global events while creating connections outside the main events to maximize engagement with other ecosystems and communities.”

She announced that the strategy is slightly adjusted for local events. Casper’s geographically dispersed teams will attend to build relationships with a smaller on-the-ground presence:

Regarding the next DevConnect event, Alizee said: “We are planning a Developer Connect event later in the year, likely in Istanbul. DevConnect aims to connect with active developers on the Casper blockchain, nurture relationships, and foster the growth of our developer community.”

Alizee provided a comprehensive update on the grant program:

“We are currently holding back on new grants until Condor's full release to avoid potential disruptions and the need for subsequent necessary updates. The aim is to ensure the ecosystem transitions smoothly before pushing more grants,” she said.

Alizee then highlighted the XP Network integration, which is a grant announced in 2023, allowing NFT transfers across multiple networks including Casper, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, and 30 other networks.

Another grant winner she mentioned was Tubbly, a lifestyle app from Poland that drives significant transactions on Casper. Tubbly's grant supports empowering users to maintain their private keys and interact directly on the Casper blockchain.

“Following the AI advancements by Casper Labs, especially their partnership with IBM around Prove AI, the future direction of the grant program will target AI blockchain solutions,” announced Alizee. This strategic decision aims to leverage AI for innovative blockchain applications.

Casper Labs has been chosen by IBM for a groundbreaking solution aimed at enhancing the transparency and auditability of AI systems. The solution combines IBM’s watsonx.ai and leverages the Casper Network for managing, monitoring, and sharing AI data.

Stay tuned for more information on Prove AI and the new grants.

Piotr provided an update on the Odra framework’s progress: “The Odra framework is being fine-tuned to support all features of Condor, ensuring that developers building on Odra face minimal disruption and additional work post-Condor release,” he said.

Piotr also highlighted efforts to port CEP-78 to allow developers to compare performance and costs between frameworks and understand the operational efficiencies.

Following Odra, Piotr shared metrics on the network’s activity, noting the popularity of various contracts:

He mentioned Crosschain Defender, Tubbly, FATSO, Liquid Staked Casper, Shiboo, Wrap Casper, and Friendly Market are the most popular smart contracts at the time. He invited the community to explore these projects on CSPR.Live to see what’s cooking on Casper.

You can check the smart contract activity here.

Piotr emphasized ongoing work to keep node operators and validators informed about upcoming changes and provided information on a new dedicated course.

We encourage you to join the X Space sessions and ask your questions. During the last session, there was notable interest in how enterprises might use NFTs on the Casper blockchain.

Alizee explained that the past grants aimed to increase interoperability with other ecosystems by creating bridges for tokens and NFTs.

Joe Benso, the host of the session, added that post-Prove AI, the focus would shift towards more AI-driven blockchain solutions, aligning with recent developments by Casper Labs in partnership with IBM.  He also highlighted the recent podcast episode with John Sarson from Sarson Funds and their use of NFTs in conjunction with their newly released stablecoin csprUSD on Casper.

Steve Careaga provided insights into Casper's renewed partnership with Killer Whales, the Shark Tank of Web3.

“Casper remains the official blockchain sponsor and is gaining valuable exposure to a broader audience,” he said. “The first season saw great success, with top crypto influencers as judges, including Mario, Ran Neuner, Anthony Scaramucci, Crypto Wendy O, and Altcoin Daily.”

Steve also reminded the unique opportunity for projects to win grants by impressing the judges on the show at Paris earlier this year. This joint initiative in Paris at Blockchain Week and NFT Paris allowed projects to pitch for a chance to appear on the show and receive grants to build on Casper.

The recently filmed season two promises more exciting content and collaborations, with potential new platform partnerships that could significantly boost audience reach.

Stay tuned for more exciting news and developments from the Casper Association. Be sure to join the next X Space in August, and don’t forget to join us for the developer community call on Google Meet if you fancy some technical discussions about Casper.