Bonuz Founder Mende to Keynote Blockchain Life Dubai 2026
Matthias Mende, founder of bonuz and co-founder of Dubai Blockchain Center, returns to the Blockchain Life 2026 stage in Dubai on 1 December 2026. For regular wallet users, his talk matters because it shows how visiting real places, not learning crypto jargon, could earn digital rewards.
What actually happened
Blockchain Life 2026 runs on 1 and 2 December in Dubai, alongside the AI Future forum, during the UAE's busy pre-F1 business week. Organisers expect more than 15,000 attendees, over 200 speakers and guests from more than 130 countries, with over 200 exhibitor booths, according to Blockchain Life 2026. Mende will deliver a keynote on moving Web3 past its early crypto crowd and into everyday use. 'Being invited back to this stage is an honour,' Mende said. 'At bonuz we build everything in our own lab, millions of lines of code by now, so what I show is not theory. It's what works when real people use it,' he added, per Blockchain Life 2026.
How we got here
bonuz is built in Dubai by Bonuz Technology DMCC. The app blends a Pokémon Go style map with GTA like real-world movement and World of Warcraft style quests. Users walk through a city, check into real venues and finish quests, while brands pick the reward, a voucher, a loyalty stamp or a digital keepsake. Mende has stood on the Blockchain Life stage before, and organisers invited him back this year, a sign the event sees bonuz's onboarding approach as relevant to where Web3 is heading next.
Why this matters for you
For everyday bonuz wallet users, this keynote signals more real-world quests and venue partnerships ahead, with no crypto knowledge required to join. Visiting a cafe, a store or an event could soon unlock a reward that business chose, stored directly in your wallet. For builders and brands, Blockchain Life is where partnerships and integrations get discussed, meaning new venues and campaigns could plug into bonuz after this event. For the wider Web3 industry, it is a test of whether gamified city experiences, not token speculation, become the real entry point for mass adoption.
The bigger question
Can simple, real-world quests succeed where years of token incentives and technical jargon have not, in pulling everyday phone users into Web3? Mende's keynote argues that experience beats education as an onboarding strategy. Blockchain Life 2026, with its scale and global audience, will show whether the rest of the industry agrees, or whether crypto-native habits still dominate how new users are won over.
What to watch
Speaker lineups and the full agenda are rolling out now on blockchain-life.com. Mende keynotes on 1 December 2026, the forum's opening day. Side events and the after party follow on 2 December. The following week, the F1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi keeps the region's business calendar full. Bonuz users can expect event recaps and any new quest announcements shortly after.
