NFT NYC 2021
Happy Monday!
Last week I had the privilege of staying in the heart of Manhattan (Times Square) for the landmark NFT conference in what is the landmark year of NFTs – NFT NYC 2021.
I have been going to crypto conferences since the beginning of 2018. I’ve been to conferences in San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, DC, and more. I have to say this conference was unlike any other I’ve ever been to.
The first thing that was very clear to me is that this is an entirely new cohort. Most of the people I met at NFT NYC had never been to a crypto conference before. Many of them are artists (young and old), or collectors that came into crypto just because of NFTs.
Since the NFT craze started in March of this year (some would say it started months earlier, though it was not on my radar), I predicted that this new “killer app” would onboard millions of new-comers to crypto and web 3.0. Having now met many of these new-comers myself first-hand, I can confirm this prediction remains very much on target. If anything, I underestimated just how powerful of a force this new wave of artists, retail collectors, celebrities, and pop-icons would be.
Sure, there is a lot of speculation going on. But when you pull back the curtain, the NFT space is all about community.
In NYC this past week, I witnessed members of many different NFT communities organize events and come together around common interests. Communities such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Supducks (bug suuuup!), On1 Force, Ethereals, and many others brought their communities together with self-funded, self-organized events.
These groups didn’t have to post their events to facebook or the conference site… they didn’t need to announce it in the paper or with flyers strewn all over the city. Many of these events were organized organically in a Discord group where access is gated based on the ownership of an NFT – a digital fingerprint that can be trustlessly, permissionlessly verified through a public, decentralized blockchain ledger (e.g., Ethereum). How do you stop that? You don’t.
We have entered a new era of community formation. Communities that utilize the power of NFTS – trustless verification – will simply outcompete other types of communities over the long run. The advantage here is just too great.
That’s not to say all NFT communities will thrive… I believe there is a lot of overlap in these communities and at the end of the day only a few of them will survive in the long run. I was slightly concerned to hear just how concentrated – from an investment perspective - some people at the conference were in NFTs… we need to remember that these NFTs have very low liquidity (after all they are all unique, closer to real-estate than a stock), if there is a market downturn I believe the NFT asset class will be hurt the most. So please collect (or speculate) responsibly!
Here are a few more cool pictures from the conference. Have a great week!
Time Square viewing stage
Viewing at a pop-up gallery
Demo of playing Blackjack in the Metaverse (Decentraland) with Decentral Games
Crypto News:
NFTs Take Over NYC (LEARN MORE)
House Sends Infrastructure Bill With Crypto Tax Provision to US President (LEARN MORE)
Pension Funds Wade Into Crypto Investments (LEARN MORE)
Michael Saylor says MicroStrategy will continue to use cash, debt, or equity to keep adding to its trove of bitcoin (LEARN MORE)
Have a great week!
Shahar
This newsletter is meant for informational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as financial advice. If you are interested in financial advice, please schedule a personal consultation with me, and be sure to read the accompanying disclaimer.
