The dust from NFT.NYC has settled. Your newly minted Covid has subsided. Swag memorabilia has been properly organized.
What a week! Let’s reflect on NFT.NYC. Feel free to share your comments below.
TL;DR:
- Despite market conditions, the energy level at NFT.NYC was beyond elevated.
- NFTs need to talk about what they deliver for people, other than just being an NFT.
- It’s not called a bear market; it’s a builder’s market.
- With ~15k attendees, there were people from all segments of the NFT market, as well as many newcomers.
- Common critique among attendees: The concept of an “unconference” is interesting but having speakers and booths spread out among different buildings makes for a great deal of confusion about what is actually going on.
Despite market conditions, the energy level at NFT.NYC was beyond elevated. Creators, collectors, devs, investors, and curious minds came together for the massive event to share ideas, stories and unique perspectives. Before the event though, there was a question that loomed: What will be everyone’s take given the atrocious state of markets? Well, one didn’t have to wait long in the registration line to find out the answer: attendees felt more certain about the future adoption and growth of the NFT industry. Of course, if you’re flying to NYC for the event, you may be a bit biased. Nonetheless, one couldn’t help feeling the amount of energy that was present.
One of the most bullish aspects for the future of NFTs was the diversity of people attending. Attendees weren’t just collectors or developers. They came from many different backgrounds and levels of engagement with NFTs. Yet, they all believed in the long-term growth outlook for NFTs. One of the most interesting themes that I heard throughout the conference was how NFTs will be evolving.
NFTs Need to Deliver More than an Acronym
With about 1,500 speakers, we definitely heard a lot said about NFTs. One topic that was consistently share though was about onboarding new people into the NFT world. In order to do that, NFTs must provide them with value and utility. In 2021, just having the name “NFT” associated with something was enough for people to be intrigued. Now though, people are asking, “What can this bring to me?” So, for new NFT projects, many of the presenters suggested to mention first what they can deliver to people and then have the NFT aspect of their project be the underlying technology but not the highlight.
You Need People You Can Trust When Building a Trustless World
It was thoroughly interesting to hear how different projects were planning on taking NFTs to the next level. Of course, PFPs had major representation. But many teams were working on implementing NFTs with DAOs and more advanced smart contracts. Delivering on utility that truly adds value to organizations and members was something many teams were looking to solve.
Games Are Not Dead
Games have been heralded as one of the most natural use cases for blockchain and NFTs. Yet, with the hype seemingly fading, games have plummeted. This is due to the fact that we are in a downturn and games are considered one of the riskier bets. Also, many of the initial NFT games were driven more by tokenomics and not their playability. I was beyond delighted to see a number of games at NFT.NYC that are looking to change that. Are we switching from a Play2Earn model to a PlayAndEarn one? We patiently await, but the demo by Metalcore is looking highly captivating. Also, I was excited to see that “My Neighbor Alice” is continued to be developed and having some major upcoming news.
The Days Didn’t End at 5:00
When the conference finished, it seemed that the actual NFT.NYC was just beginning. Side events were sprinkled throughout Manhattan. It felt like an IRL Discord meetup in some instances. There was a clear winner though: Uber drivers. Now that NFT.NYC has reached a critical mass at both a conference and side event level, will a certain sector of Manhattan be devoted to NFTs. Otherwise, it’s very easy to miss an event. NFT.NYC has clearly gotten large enough that one building can’t house the conference. Also, even at ~15k people in attendance, this is far fewer than the goal of 100k. It’s still a bit mind-blowing that projects that are only about a year old can be bringing in the same artists and celebrities that the Super Bowl does.
Still About Community
The word community at times seems to be overused. But that’s because it is still so pertinent to the NFT space. It was really neat to meet up with friends I haven’t seen in ages, becoming reconnected on account of our fondness for JPEGs. It’s also neat to hear from friends who knew very few people when they entered the NFT space, to now have flocks of “Hey, _____!” when walking around Ape Fest or standing in line for a Doodles badge.
Communities are the most important element for NFT projects. It’s also the most important element for NFT.NYC. Sure, the side events may be more entertaining, but we also recognize that NFT.NYC is a major catalyst for all of the event to come together in the Big Apple. Without communities, a project can’t sustain long-term growth. The beautiful thing shown by NFT.NYC is that projects don’t need to compete over communities. There is so much room for different niches and representation in Web3. This was on full display at the conference. As long as one can be authentic and garner true connections among a focused community, the growth will take care of itself.
All in all, NFT.NYC was super worthwhile. I made connections I will want to foster. I also feel inspired for the future of NFTs and digital ownership. And for the things that really matter, I must say our Nswap Diamond Pass mascots were a major hit!
About Nswap: Nswap is building a decentralized, multi-chain information aggregation platform (Launchpad) and open market (Marketplace) for NFTs. We hope that everyone has the opportunity to experience, access, and own NFTs. With Nswap, you can access NFT collections for sale on our primary Launchpad and trade them freely on our secondary Marketplace.
Join the Nswap community on Twitter, Discord, and Medium! For business inquiries, contact official@nswap.com. Stay tuned to our Medium to check the hottest NFTs as it happens.
