PROOF cancels NFT conference, Bitcoin meme creator earns $150K and more
‘Less interest than expected’ — PROOF cancels NFT event
Kevin Rose, the co-founder of the nonfungible token (NFT) pool Moonbirds has confirmed that their flagship conference “Proof of Conference” planned for May has been canceled, citing “less interest than expected.”
The conference was first announced at the beginning of November. It was scheduled to run in May. 11 to May. 13 in Los Angeles.
However, Rose explained in a February 20 letter to ticket holders that it was not the “right time” for the conference:
“As you know, in the NFT world, timing is everything. And today, it’s time for us to acknowledge that right now is not the right time for the conference certificate.”
Rose explained that he and his PROOF team were considering options, such as choosing a new location for Los Angeles – where it was to be held – a smaller venue, reducing the scale of the event and lowering ticket prices.
But ultimately it was best to cancel the entire event, he said.
“After several weeks of sales data, talking to potential sponsors and talking to community members, it’s clear that there is significantly less interest than expected for an event like this right now.”
Rose confirmed that Ether (ETH) refunds are being processed right now and that PROOF has a claims page where people can submit non-refundable flight cancellations.
The event was set to feature Michael “Beeple” Winkelmann – the artist behind the famous NFT that sold for $69 million in March 2021 – Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow of Yuga Labs and NFT founder Gary Vaynerchuk, among others.
The announcement comes despite the NFT market surging in recent months, with the month of January in particular seeing an eight-month high in monthly NFT trading volumes above $1 billion.
Artist paid $150K for Bitcoin wizard meme on Ordinals
The emergence of NFT-like “Ordinals” on Bitcoin over the past month has brought a series of memes to the network recently, including a famous Bitcoin wizard meme that first circulated on the Bitcoin subreddit in 2013.
Thanks to Ordinals, the artist of said meme, known as “Mavensbot” has just received 6 Bitcoin (BTC) – worth $150,000 at current prices for his iconic work.
This was made possible after blockchain research analyst Udi Wertheimer and the meme-inspired Bitcoin community Taproot Wizard entered the wizard meme on Bitcoin to not only “celebrate the 10th anniversary of his art” but raise money for the creator of the meme, “Mavensbot ,” according to Wertheimer:
In the first three hours alone, 6 Bitcoin (BTC) were sent from “NFT enjoyers” to Mavensbot via the Lightning network.
“Seeing this made me very happy. The NFT community that I admire is using the bitcoin asset and lightning network that I believe in to support an artist whose work means so much to me.”
“You love to see it,” he added.
Taproot Wizards is part of a movement that wants to “make bitcoin magical again” with magical internet JPEGs written forever on the Bitcoin blockchain.
However, Wertheimer highlighted that not everyone is on board with the whole Ordinals concept — especially the “Bitcoin maximalists.”
But Wertheimer doubled down, demanding that Bitcoin maximalists not take everything seriously:
“It’s time to get back to the spirit of the 2013 bitcoin wizard. Playfulness, experimentation, innovation. Don’t take ourselves so damn seriously all the time. HAVE FUN, for Satoshi’s sake. I really think with ordinals we finally have a chance to do this.”
Australian cocktail bar launches NFT membership program
Australian cocktail and NFT connoisseurs have found a new place in Sydney to haunt – one that gives holders of their non-fungible tokens (NFTs) access to additional privileges at the bar.
The Sydney-based cocktail bar, Bar Lulu, launched on February 21 local time, alongside an NFT Members Club Bar named Cryptolulu.
Based in Sydney and overlooking the city’s harbour, patrons must purchase the NFT Member Club Bar on the NFT marketplace OpenSea on the Ethereum network to access certain privileges.
There are three tokens that can be purchased – Jia Lulu, Joo Lulu and Ryuu Lulu.
Each NFT represents a different level of your membership that will unlock unique and incremental rewards, priorities and benefits.
Token holders will be able to attend a variety of different Web3 networking events and educational sessions, gain access to exclusive private lounges and dinners among others.
Bar Lulu claims the NFT membership program is an Australian first.
Baren added that the launch comes on the back of months of seeing how similar experiments worked overseas in the hospitality sector.
Former Amazon CEO launches Yelp-like platform to rate NFTs
Ben Straley, a former Amazon and Starbucks executive, has launched NFT startup “Thred” which aims to be the Yelp, Tripadvisor or Zillow of the NFT industry.
NFT-focused startup “Thred” launched on February 16, which will help users discover NFT collectibles and rate them, according to a report by TechCrunch.
Straley’s move to the NFT space comes after 25 years in leadership roles for digital products and customer experiences.
Thred’s platform will combine automated machine learning and algorithms to rank NFTs on the Etherum and Polygon networks.
It will help potential buyers better understand the significance of the collections and help distinguish which NFTs are legitimate.
Other good news
A month into the NFT-like “Ordinals” craze on Bitcoin, a protocol fork has taken place to make Ordinals possible on the Litecoin network. Australian software engineer Anthony Guerrera said it was “pretty easy” and that he was motivated to do the fork because of a 22 LTC bounty.
Real Vision CEO and co-founder Raoul Pal also stated on February 20th that NFTs will act similarly to high-end real estate in the traditional economy, potentially outperforming Ether (ETH) during bull markets.
The former JPMorgan executive explained that NFT collectives like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have become status symbols, much like luxury cars and houses, and he expects the trend to continue.
