Are conferences like Blockchain Life worth chasing for insights?

I’ve been thinking a lot about whether crypto conferences are actually useful or just hype. TOKEN2049 earlier this year had tickets going for almost $5k, and now Blockchain Life 2025 in Dubai is gearing up for its 9th edition since starting back in 2017. They’re expecting 15,000+ people, founders, investors, regulators, basically the kind of crowd where early ideas and connections form.

What caught my attention is how access is changing. Instead of just paying a huge ticket price, some people got in through exchanges. I even saw someone win a TOKEN2049 pass this way, and now for Blockchain Life, Bitget (as a Sapphire sponsor) is doing something similar by linking tickets to trading activity. I’m not saying this is the best model, but it’s interesting to see alternatives to the usual paywall.

For me, the bigger question is: are these events really worth it for the networking and early signals, or can most of the value be found online later anyway? Has anyone here actually been to Blockchain Life or TOKEN2049, and did it give you an edge, or was it more of a good to be there experience?