Why this monk-turned-entrepreneur is betting his NFT lounge can survive the FTX fallout

Located in the foothills of eastern Malibu across the street from Robert de Niro’s Nobu, Rafi Lounge, an NFT-run wellness center and coworking space, looks somehow like both a beachside country club and a slimming monastery. On a clear day you can see Catalina Island across the ocean. The sign above the entrance says, “Welcome, let us reintroduce you to yourself.”

I pushed through the braided-rope entrance and passed a tranquil waterfall with a stone Buddha head, arriving just after a yoga class by former Playboy model-turned-Dancing With the Stars host Brooke Burke. The central open space that usually holds yoga mats or stationary bikes has been cleared, and the giant projection screen behind the small stage plays a tranquil plant video—an hour earlier, a larger-than-life Burke was on it helping clients. booty burn.”

The building – which used to belong to a venture capital firm – has been completely transformed to look as if nature has reclaimed it, dotted with lemon trees and clad in decorative artificial grass carpets. Buddha statues are in every corner, some larger than five feet. On the way to one yoga room, there is a small shop selling expensive essential oils, Rafi Lounge merchandise and CBD gum. On the wall of the shop hang three breathtakingly detailed portraits of indigenous people made by the founder with charcoal. There is some construction going on, as they are converting former corner offices into hot yoga saunas and a spa.

On the day of my visit, the place is bustling with staff hauling boxes of Himalayan salt panels to install in the hot yoga room. Israeli-born Kung-Fu master and former monk Rafi Anteby, the founder of the eponymously named room, tells me that after our chat he plans to paint them all black to match the walls. No detail is too small to notice, which is evident in his Mandala work.

Rafi Lounge founder, Rafi Anteby, pictured here with his Mandala and sand collections. Photo: Rafi Lounge

Rafi Lounge opened last year on November 10 – the day before the crypto exchange FTX went bankrupt. “Everybody said Rafi, go into a shutdown, don’t do it,” Anteby said. “I said I can’t because I pre-sold to members and I promised them [the launch is] what will happen.”

Nevertheless, Anteby felt that he could not give up his promise to open the salon to those who bought in, so he went ahead. So, what do NFTs have to do with a wellness center?

Each, according to Anteby, corresponds to an access level. The cheapest, Unity, is the lowest tier and gives holders access to virtual classes. The second level, Mindful, includes physical and virtual access to the Lounge. And the highest tier that sells for $5,500, Awakened, are those that Rafi sells individually that serve as an all-access pass to the Lounge and its benefits and events (including, Anteby said, “spiritual yacht parties”). Both Mindful and Awakened NFTs are lifetime memberships to the Rafi Lounge, and include free access to annual retreats it hosts.

But facing the changing seasons in the crypto market and unwilling to sacrifice his brand by allowing the Rafi Lounge tokens to be resold into oblivion on public markets, Anteby took the drastic step of controlling his NFT holdings – buying up the rest just a day after minting. .

Anteby admitted that he “lost a quarter of a million dollars” between creating and buying back the NFTs. But he said it was worth it: “I’m going to take each because I want to control who comes to my salon. I want to know that they will also be my advocates.”

View of the Rafi Lounge in the afternoon, before a yoga class. Photo: Rafi Lounge

There are currently 100 members, of which 55 are lifetime NFT holders. The 6,000 square meter rooftop lounge is also open to the public. That is, anyone can buy a 10-day pass for $250, pay the $40 fee for individual classes or come to public events. One of those people is Amie Yaniak who was diagnosed with stage four cancer in May that has since metastasized into her bones.

“I’ve never been to a place like this. This was the first class I’ve taken since cancer, and it was just so cleansing, says Yaniak. Although she is not a member, Yaniak told me she is interested in returning for more classes.

In addition to the likes of Yaniak, Anteby also curates a more select crowd of wealthy celebrities to act as brand ambassadors for the lounge. He said he wants it to be a kind of more laid-back SoHo house, where the top minds gather in the Pacific to make deals and network. Some of the names dropped during my tour of the property included Jamie Foxx (who Anteby calls a good friend), Chris Noth, Gladys Knight, and Equinox co-founder Lavinia Errico, whom I actually met briefly, as she is a member of the Lounge’s advisory board.

The salon’s entrance and check-in. Photo: Samson Amore

As Tame Impala blares from the lounge’s speakers, Anteby tells me stories about getting Taoist monks drunk at karaoke bars and studying medical qigong and tai chi in China. Anteby hung the intricate mandalas on the walls of a yoga room, and he says they take about two years to complete as he carefully places individual grains of sand and uses tree sap to preserve the shape. The mandalas are meant to be a contemplation of man’s relationship with nature, which is partly why Anteby designed the NFT versions of them to resemble some sort of elemental fusion combining water, fire and earth.

Owning an NFT also equates to owning a fraction of the Malibu Mandala Rafi made hanging in the lounge.

Anteby, right, talks with a partner in his salon in Malibu.Photo: Samson Amore

Although Anteby admits the launch hasn’t brought him any profit yet and said he’s looking for about $1 million to launch the place, he’s determined to turn Rafi Lounge into a franchise and has plans to open future locations in other cities with great technology and well-being. Miami, Scottsdale, Arizona, Newport Beach and Austin.

Besides the obvious cases like Yaniak’s, Anteby said he thinks the larger tech community needs a breather. “They all have digital burnout,” he said. “It’s more than just me helping you breathe. You have to take care of yourself, and here people do that all the time.”