“My bags are underwater!” the crypto bro exclaimed.
His hands were in the air, while his chrome AirPods Max headphones were still, as ever, over his ears. It only took him a second to realize the irony of his phrasing. He cracked a smile.
“But like, literally!”
The bro, like myself and countless others, had just arrived at Dubai International Airport on Tuesday evening, expecting a quick taxi to a luxury hotel, a few Instagram stories worth of opulence, perhaps some sort of overpriced fusion meal, and a good night’s sleep before heading into Token 2049, the massive crypto industry conference.
Instead, we—some of the least street-savvy individuals on the planet, it quickly appeared—were greeted with a minor taste of apocalypse, in the form of the most devastating flood to hit Dubai in some 75 years.
As we eventually discovered, the airport tarmac had been transformed into a giant lake, and most major highways and roads in the city turned into rivers. Cars were floating away faster than they could be abandoned, and buildings were crumbling. Taxis obviously were out of the question, and the city’s public transportation infrastructure had collapsed under the strain.
I did not get my baggage that night. I did not make it to my hotel. But I did get some glimpse at the answer to a question I’ve privately pondered on numerous occasions: How would crypto’s elite fare in a World War Z type scenario?
I had met the aforementioned bro at the airport’s metro terminal, which we had both determined t