Vibe Check: How was NFT NYC in the middle of a bear market?

The crypto market fell for several weeks before NFT NYC 2022, but the queue to pick up passports on the first day of the convention still stretched hundreds of meters around the block in Times Square.

When the doors opened on Monday, the New York Marriott Marquis became a coordinated march of participants walking through a vertical maze of escalators and walkways, while company representatives put the finishing touches on a series of exhibits. Enthusiastic cryptocurrencies chatted in line about their projects, and some munched on free fruit. Once the badges were secured, almost everyone spread throughout the hotel and beyond.

The main purpose of the conference is to showcase what is popular in NFTs and provide an excuse for people to network and celebrate, while companies peacock success in front of competitors.

But the week could also have been seen as a chance to measure the temperature in the entire crypto community, which seemed as optimistic as ever, even though their wallets have become dramatically thinner.

The floors of the Marquis were stacked with some of the biggest names in cryptocurrency, from Coinbase to Polygon to Flow to Tron, but only a few exhibitions were running on Monday afternoon. The early birds stared at some rare Pepe NFTs or looted the conference floor for what stickers and freebies they could find when companies set up their booths.

If the awning served as the conference’s future leader, the body stretched far beyond the boundaries of Times Square – which was patched into ads from Web3 companies. NFT NYC spread across Manhattan and into the city’s suburbs. The so-called satellite events that the companies could arrange on their own felt instead as the main feature of the convention, and sent the participants constant ping-pong from Midtown to Brooklyn and back as the week went on.

It would be possible to take part in a whole week of events related to NFT NYC and never go into the central hotel – and that is the route many took. Despite this, the organizers promised that over 15,000 artists and enthusiasts, along with 1,500 speakers, would participate, according to Jodee Rich, confounder and producer of NFT NYC.

The venues ranged from high rooftop bars overlooking the city skyline to dense dance floors hidden underground, including concert venues such as the Palladium Theater, Terminal 5 and Gotham Hall, an over-the-top venue in Midtown with high ceilings and a distinctly neoclassical style. Steve Aoki took the stage there to participate in a panel that discussed how Web3 could change the future of media, music and entertainment – a major order.

Many of the events felt lavish, magnificent and costly to put on – something that seemed to fly in the face of what an outsider to the crypto space can expect is possible given the current market.

A few organizations reduced their party venues at the last minute, but a majority of the companies stuck to their plans, which were probably organized well before the prices of digital assets began to fall.

“I think a lot of companies paid for their NFT NYC parties before the bear market really took off,” Amanda Cassatt of Web3 marketing firm Serotonin told Decrypt at Serotonin’s own BBQ event in Brooklyn. “So I think we can see a short form of swan song of a certain level of festivity that we may not see in a little while.”

No one at these events was very concerned about the state of the crypto industry, at least externally. There was no pervasive sense of doom or gloom around the recent crash that one could derive from the crowd’s behavior at various events or in excerpts of overheard conversations.

The bear market may have been a backdrop for NFT NYC, but it was completely out of focus for most of the participants.

People were generally happy to be there in touch with each other, whether they were associated with the ownership of a “blue-chip” NFT (monkeys, doodlers, cats and goblins adorned clothes as if they were sports teams), a brilliant new idea for a start-up, or the longer waiting times than expected at almost all events.

Most of the participants at NFT NYC appeared to be in their 20s or 30s, and a majority of the convention goers were men – which led to much criticism from spectators on Twitter.

The week was not without PR stunts, and one of the most remarkable and clever took place on the first day of the convention. Streetwear brand The Hundreds staged a fake religious protest on the streets of Manhattan, with people swinging signs at NFTs that included languages ​​such as “God hates NFTs” and “Crypto is a Sin.”

Another viral moment occurred a day later when Snoop Dogg allegedly studied the awning’s conference floor and posed for photos with fans – not so unlikely, given his involvement in previous Web3 projects such as Decentraland.

The man turned out to be an imitator, wearing a conference pass marked Doop Snogg.

The real Snoop Dogg would later release a BAYC-themed music video featuring Eminem that week at ApeFest, the collection exclusive to Ape holders.

While many people were there to do business, many more treated NFT NYC as if it were a music festival. It created an often striking contrast: pure businessmen in blazers who stood with artists in lavish costumes and people who cosplay like their PFPs – all part of the same crowd.

At Serotonin’s BBQ at Fette Sau in Williamsburg, a person in a bear suit rubbed a crystal ball and predicted cynical fortunes for people before sitting down to eat pulled pork and talk.

A few blocks away, digital had become physical in a mural depicting dozens of the most recognizable NFT collections: Doodles, Goblintown, Bored Ape Yacht Club, World of Women, CryptoPunks, Cool Cats and Boys Cats.

To the crypto-disinterested, the mural may only look like a spray-painted selection of cartoon animals, but the significance is clear to JPEG fanatics as a permanent, physical marker left on the city by a community of artists united through the internet.

But maybe events like the Goblintown Afterparty felt like a piss-wet petri dish because … they were. As the week drew to a close, more and more human beings twitret that their time at NFT NYC was shortened when they tested positive for COVID.

At least they went home (or in quarantine) and felt positive on Web3.

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