Vivid Labs joins the NFT conversation NFT NYC 2022
Vivid Labs joined the maelstrom of positivity that was NFT.NYC, where an estimated 15,000 artists, fans, creators, and collectors gathered in Times Square to celebrate and opine the present and future course of NFTs. Compared to our previous visit in November, the environment seemed healthily subdued. The same energy and passion was tangible, but to our eyes we didn’t see the same overt ‘flexing’ that characterized the heady days of the bull market. We believe this shift in energy will be prosperous to the industry.
The current market conditions were spoken about across all corners at NFT.NYC, but the discussion was one of proactive encouragement that boiled down to an overarching theme, how could we improve upon the past year and how to avoid pitfalls? Our take was more of a ‘professionalization’ in the industry, where concern over product-market fit and sustainability outweighed chatter about the next alpha or flip target. The overarching mindset at NFT.NYC was one of ‘build mode’.
Throughout the conference sessions and panels, a common theme was a questioning of ‘what’s next for NFTs?’. A huge focus was on the utility of NFTs and how the experience could be pushed forward to deliver more value, a seeming collective agreement that the industry, in order to push further mainstream, had to distinguish itself in the eyes of ‘normies’ beyond just JPEGs.
Inherent in this certainly was a little bit of conflict between how mainstream to push the industry. In this edition of NFT.NYC, the presence of large companies — brands, content platforms, and technology — was ever more apparent as stalwarts of the Web2 and traditional VC occupied the same spaces. Interestingly, even born and bred Web3 companies, like Polygon, have even gotten so successfully large that a more general ‘corporate’ feel was apparent throughout.
The questions of what’s next for NFTs, its utility, and the mainstreaming were certainly conversations we were poised to participate in. Vivid Labs is amongst those taking an evolutionary approach to NFTs. We believe that media-rich NFTs with multi-asset and updatable features will drive more compelling experiences whether your goal is narrative, marketing/branding, education, or collecting. Count us among those who are trying to bring the infrastructure to give creators a larger sandbox within which to create. We carried this opinion to our panel, “Next-Gen Possibilities and Opportunities for NFTs”, joining other panelists to speak on the future of NFTs. Head of Growth Strategy, Robert Powers, used the panel to discuss VIVID NFTs, and how the infrastructure and toolset we employ position NFTs as the next media format.
All in all, a great week to take the temperature of the industry and be invigorated again and again by the intelligence, creativity, and positivity that this space is attracting.
