Formerly rich NFT buyers party through the pain – TechCrunch
Welcome backChain Reaction.
Last week we discussed infinite pessimism within crypto markets. This week, we’re talking about parties and tattoos and booze and fun.
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Exit opportunity
It’s no secret at this point that plenty of onlookers are watching the crypto crash with glee, laughing as tokens tumble and NFT volumes shrink. The crypto industry has managed to make plenty of consumer enemies throughout this bull run — with detractors highlighting aggressive energy usage, the addictive profile of crypto investing and how NFTs have become “MLMs for dudes” — as justifications for their distaste.
As the bull market meets its end, there’s probably a good moment here for introspection on how investors’ web3 vision for the web can give consumers more to be excited about than skeptical, but something tells me that the crypto industry is about to grow more insular than ever.
NFT-dwellers gathered in Times Square, New York, this week. Images of high-end items were displayed on large advertising screens. Token-gated parties thrived, and a host formerly wealthy collectors made their way to New York to share their stories and double down. My co-host Anita was able to visit NFT NYC in person. She shared her thoughts below. In some ways, the positive vibes reflect an industry that is moving from growth mode to survival mode.
The NFT world’s version of survival looks a little different of course. Bored Ape Yacht Club hosted a festival featuring Future, LCD Soundsystem, and Amy Schumer. Tame Impala headlined Kevin Rose’s Moonbirds event where token holders could get owl tattoos onsite. NYPD busted token-gated NFT parties. A project hired dozens of protestors holding signs saying “God Hates NFTs” to stand outside their event. One NFT startup hired a Snoop Dogg impersonator “Doop Snogg” to walk around their event as a tacit pseudo endorsement.
In the end, it’s no secret that the NFT market was filled with an awful lot of bullshit, and any bear market could and should restore some sanity to what’s left behind, but the lines are looking a little blurry in NFT land.
It’s almost as if the NFT space’s wealthiest collectors are leaving space to escape the chaos. So-called blue-chip projects with 10+ ETH floors, venture funding and significant trading volumes have shown surprising resiliency in the face of the downturn despite the sinking values of the underlying cryptocurrencies they’re based on, but NFT project floors across the board have taken major hits as less wealthy collectors look for exit liquidity where they can, struggling all the way down.
The most recent pod
We kicked off this week’s episode by unpacking some controversy incited by none other than the Dogefather himself – Elon Musk. Musk and SpaceX and Tesla, his companies. Dogecoin holder is suing youFor allegedly inflating cryptocurrency’s value, which has since crashed.
It’s time for NFT NYC this week, a crypto conference that’s attracted influencers, investors, celebrities and the like to New York (more on that below from Anita, who’s been bopping arond the city talking to the NFT community). We did a deep dive on the NFT market to see what is driving the NFT industry’s apparent exuberance despite dire crypto and tech market conditions. We wrapped up this week’s news with two DAO-related disasters that may not bode well for the future of this recently trendy, but undeniably messy governance structure.
Latasha, a visual and musical artist, joined us this week on the podcast to discuss how NFTs allowed her to claim ownership and make a living out of her creative work. In her role as Zora’s head of community, she shared her vision for Zoratopia, a festival experience that she hosted at various crypto events across the US.
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Follow the money
Where is the startup money moving in the crypto world?
- FalconX, a digital asset platform for institutional investors, has announced a $150 million Series D round led by GIC & B Capital at an $8 billion valuation.
- NFT collectibles project Doodles attracted an undisclosed amount of funding from Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six.
- NFT marketplace in Solana Magic EdenThe company raised $130 million in Series B funding, which was co-led by Greylock Partners and Electric Capital. This brings its value to $1.6 billion.
- Prime TrustA crypto and fintech infrastructure startup,, received $100 million in Series B funding from investors Fin Capital, Fin Capital, and Kraken Ventures.
- Protocol for margin trading without permission OpenLeverageBinance Labs provided a strategic investment of unknown size.
- NFT-based comedy and meme tooling company Terrible Pets, a project of the producers from the TV show Silicon Valley raised $4million in funding led by First Round Capital and XYZ Capital.
- AstariaAn NFT liquidity provider, e-Finance, closed an $8 million seed round with investors True Ventures and Arrington Capital.
- Endstate, a NFT platform that focuses on sneakers, raised $5.5 million from investors Archetype and Castle Island.
- Protocol for algorithmic exchange rate IncrementParaFi led its seed round raising $1.56million.
- AfropolitanBalaji Srinivasan raised $2.1million in pre-seed financing from other investors to create a digital nation for Africans.
This week in web3
Hey, it’s Anita here, reporting (pretty much) live from NFT NYC this week. Everyone who lives in Manhattan has been surrounded with a deluge full of happy degens ignoring the downturn this past week. You can listen to this week’s podcast to hear my thoughts on all that, but I want to tackle a different question here:Is the crypto community living up to their ideals?
People who waited for hours to get their tickets for NFT NYC were complaining on Twitter. They told me that even those on panels had to wait in line with everyone else, which apparently stretched for three blocks.
I’ve lived in New York for a while now, so I’m not easily shaken by a long line, but it got me thinking about the irony of the whole affair. NFTs, and the tech that goes with them, can provide easy authentication or identity verification. NFT stans love citing events as a prime example of the technology. They claim that it could make administrative burdens such as checking people in to conferences so much easier. So where is that technology at this week’s conference?
I’m sure putting on a crypto event involves creating order from chaos in a way that’s well beyond my own capacity, so I’m not singling out NFT NYC’s organizers or anyone else in particular. However, the lines at NFT NYC prompted me to think about the contradiction between the crypto community and what I was seeing. SaysIs the future the same as how the crypto community actually behaves? Why are in-person conferences so important in getting to know people in web3 Shouldn’t we all be past the point where we need to breathe each other’s air to feel human connection?
Based on what I’ve heard for the past year from much of the web3 community, I would have expected we’d all be hanging out with our besties in the metaverse 24/7 by now. It seems that crypto conferences offer a great opportunity for web3 enthusiasts, to actually use the tech they claim will change how we live. It seems that this opportunity has been largely overlooked.
TC+ analysis
Here’s some of this week’s crypto analysis you can read on our subscription service TC+ (written by TC’s Jacquelyn Melinek):
Crypto’s emphasis on community could lead followers off a cliff
The idea of the “family” culture that so many businesses push for is seeping deeper into the crypto world as communities are formed on a sometimes toxic, cultish stance to unwaveringly back the projects they are invested in. Don’t get me wrong, some parts of the crypto community are great — I’m a part of a few communities myself — but when it’s misused, it can lead to the blind leading the blind.
Crypto founders Face falling valuations, pulled transactions amid market volatility
As the crypto market continues to plummet founders in the space are struggling with investors who are trying to minimize risk and backing out funding rounds. The market is shifting to a VC-friendly landscape, but not every founder is happy with the way they are being treated now that investors are back in the driver’s seat.
Thanks for reading, and again, if you want to get this in your inbox every Thursday, you can subscribe on TechCrunch’s newsletter page. We look forward to seeing you next week!
Source: TechCrunch
