NFT.NYC was calm, but side events ramped up the drama
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NEW YORK — NFT.NYC 2023 brought the heat to Manhattan.
The three-day flagship non-fungible token (NFT) conference took place as temperatures hovered between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, uncharacteristically warm for mid-April.
The main programming took place at New York City’s Javits Center, a conference venue on the west side of Manhattan where over 6,000 attendees poured through the glass doors. Sponsored by companies including layer 2 blockchain Immutable, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea and Amazon Web Services, event partners arranged galleries, metaverse exhibitions and lounges for degens to network.
While the 2023 event used a single venue (as opposed to NFT.NYC 2022’s sprawling approach, which had programming in seven venues in Times Square), the Javits Center felt empty despite the 1,300 speakers on eight stages over three full days.
From programming covering topics such as NFT regulation, intellectual property (IP) gaming, fashion, health and the metaverse, the content of the event itself seemed to mature as Web3 has become synonymous with the emerging industry of tokenized assets.
Stepping out of the air-conditioned building onto the sunny roof of the Javits Center and looking out over the Hudson River, it felt like the scorching sun wasn’t penetrating the panels and sessions inside the glossy building.
But the heat was real, begging the question: where did the surge in NFT energy over NYC really come from? The answer – the side events.
Yat Siu, chairman of Web3 gaming and venture capital firm Animoca Brands, told CoinDesk in an interview immediately after an event he hosted that while NFT.NYC itself may not have been well attended, the side events fueled the week.
“All these events bring people together,” Siu said. “The actual excitement happens in all kinds of restaurants and bars, and other people you connect with, and so, I think that’s really the magic.”
But while the true value of the conference may, as in previous years, be found in the events scattered around New York City, NFT.NYC was also marked by the drama that emerged from these side events, both from real parties in the city as well as online activities and crypto Twitter.
The NFT Now Gala celebrates 100 years, but one stirs up controversy
The hours following Web3 publication NFT Now’s release of the NFT100 list on April 11, a list recognizing the biggest names in the NFT space, were joyous for creators, collectors, builders and influencers. All those named on the list, Now Pass loyalty token holders and other guests were invited to the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center for the NFT100 gala, which CoinDesk was invited to attend.
Drinks flowed, artists and executives caught up and attendees cheered as Matt Medved, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of NFT Now, praised the audience for their perseverance in battling through a tough year for Web3.
Less than a day later, however, NFT Now said it had removed one of the names from the list for violating the publication’s editorial guidelines.
“We aim to be a positive force in the space and we are committed to not encouraging harassment, so we are not naming this person here in accordance with our editorial guidelines,” NFT Now wrote in a tweet. “Interested persons can find out who was redacted and why by visiting the website.”
By visiting the website, it is obvious that the person was Nicole Benham, founder and CEO of media company Beyond the Interview. Benham’s photo was removed and the word “redacted” follows her name. An editor’s note on her profile explains that “it has been determined that they violate our criteria.”
On the Wednesday after the gala, Benham posted a Twitter thread explains her involvement in what appears to have been a pump-and-dump scheme. On Tuesday afternoon, Benham promoted the free coin NFT collection Blocky Doge 3 created by Dogecoin creator BillyM2k, featuring pixelated profile pictures (PFP) of the iconic Shiba Inu dog.
While hyping the collection on Twitter sites, she dumped 220 of the 250 Blocky Doge 3 NFTs she owned. According to data from OpenSea, the collection’s average price lost half of its value in 24 hours.
“An error was made in a wallet that I checked,” Benham said in a tweet. “The way the last 24 hours went down was not cool and I’m doing my best to rectify the situation.”
Benham received backlash from followers for not only her actions, but the language surrounding her “apology” — who noted that she never said the word “sorry.”
Betty, creator of the popular NFT compilation Deadfellaz, said in a tweet that NFT Now’s choice to single out Benham was “discriminatory” and that many other names on the list have engaged in the same behavior that forced Benham to be removed from the list .
“Nowhere in this statement do I say the behavior is right or right or justified,” Betty said. “I say use it on everyone if it’s going to be used.”
Sotheby’s restarts art auction after outcry
On Thursday, the long-awaited, tumultuous Sotheby’s “glitch art” sale finally went live to the public during NFT.NYC, this time with several different artists included.
Sotheby’s original NFT glitch art auction was set for late March and called “Natively Digital: Glitch-ism,” and featured works by digital artists XCopy, Luis Ponce, jakethedegen and others.
Soon after the collection was launched, however, it was taken down after a lack of diverse representation was called out by both the featured artists and others in the art community.
NFT artist Patrick Amadon, who was featured in the original sale, withdrew his work a day after the sale went live due to the lack of female-identifying artists represented in the collection.
– Representation is important. Inclusion is important, Amadon said in a tweet. “It is imperative that we build this movement right as everything we do now not only affects our society today, it will affect thousands upon thousands of future artists who inherit what we have left them.”
Sotheby’s announced the new collection, “Glitch: Beyond Binary,” to showcase the diverse artists who have contributed to the glitch art movement. The new collection, curated by glitch artists Dawnia Darkstone and Dina Chang, features works from female artist Ina Vare, non-binary artist Sky Goodman and many others who deserved representation in the sale.
“In co-curating Glitch: Beyond Binary, I wanted to present an eclectic ensemble of exceptional artists, each with their own distinct vision and approach to the realm of glitch art,” Darkstone said in a tweet. “My selection was driven by a desire to reveal the multifaceted nature of this genre.”
Sotheby’s plans to open the sale on April 19.
Bored monkeys slide when a whale’s fortunes fail
It was perhaps a good thing that NFT behemoth Yuga Labs decided not to host its annual Ape Fest, an event for Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) holders, at the same time as NFT.NYC this year.
On April 13, the floor price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection fell to a five-month low of 55.59 Ether (ETH), or about $116.00.
What happened? Twitter user “Franklinisbored”, a well-known BAYC whaler, sold at least 37 of his monkeys, according to OpenSea data. He cited “liquidity issues” and the need to pay off loans on NFT lending platform BendDAO, which prompted him to sell tokens.
He later shared that he was scammed out of 2,000 ETH, about $4.2 million, in what he said was a “casino gamble [P]onzi.”
“Please learn from this,” Franklinisbored said in a tweet.
Adam Clegg, studio design director at Web3 gaming company Liithos and active Bored Ape holder, told CoinDesk that the NFT markets are not mature enough to handle whales making such large trades, thus contributing to the drop in collection values so drastically when one person sells.
“In traditional finance, or even with major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or [ether]two retail investors could never swing an entire market like that,” Clegg said. “I think people need to understand that when you invest in NFTs, you’re taking on a lot of risk and personal responsibility to keep them safe.”
At the time of writing, the Bored Ape NFT floor price has fallen to 54.91 ETH, approximately $114,000.
Despite crypto winter, it’s still hot for NFTs
The 10 months following NFT.NYC 2022 couldn’t have been worse for crypto.
Between the fall of crypto lenders Celsius Network and Voyager Digital, the explosion of leading exchange FTX, and the recent bank crises of Signature Bank, Silvergate Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank, events have left liquidity low throughout the cryptocurrency market. Add in increasing regulatory scrutiny and general economic uncertainty, and the mood had definitely changed from 2022.
Although last year’s conference immediately followed a sharp collapse of ETH, energy was still high among attendees. NFT collections Pudgy Penguin and Cool Cats owners attended token street parties, marketplace Magic Eden hosted a yacht party and Yuga Labs hosted its first Ape Fest. Madonna even performed at an event hosted by the World of Women NFT project.
While this year’s side events were less lavish in comparison, they still had many attendees flocking to events across the New York metro area.
From artist Beeple’s event with NFT collective Proof in Brooklyn celebrating the new Moonbird Diamond collection, to Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova and NFT platform Palm DAO’s “Call for Feminist Art” celebration in Soho, to Steve Aoki’s appearance at Animoca Brands and Sandbox party in Midtown, NFT.NYC was not shy about parties and people sharing their enthusiasm and plans for Web3. The great drama and fun just happened mainly away from the Javits Center, as we’ve seen in the past.
