Q&A: NFT.NYC Producer Says Trading Most Boring Part of the Ecosystem

Cryptocurrency valuations are down and so are NFT floor prices, but the annual NFT.NYC event is going full steam ahead

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • A fourth annual NFT (non-fungible token) event featuring 1,500 speakers will take place next week across seven venues in New York City
  • “We don’t allow people to come and talk about crypto because we don’t want that,” the event producer told Blockworks

NFT.NYC is an annual conference aiming to thrust new projects into the spotlight by providing a stage for speakers from various domains and disciplines.

This year’s event takes place June 20-23 across seven venues in New York City. General admission tickets are priced at $849, while VIP access costs $1,999.

Slumping cryptocurrency prices in recent weeks appear to have sparked renewed interest in snapping up NFTs (non-fungible tokens) at a bargain price. Trade volumes for some of the most popular collections surged earlier this month following a broad market sell-off, which pushed some floor prices down 30% in US dollar value.

Despite sinking valuations, Twitter is abuzz with NFT cheerleaders calling on each other to attend NFT.NYC. While 70% of the event’s attendees are expected to come from the US, 30% will be from 80 other countries, according to the event’s organizers.

Loading Tweet..

Jodee Rich launched NFT.NYC in 2019 as part of a joint effort with top collectibles marketplace OpenSea. Currently wearing the event producer cap, Rich is a long-time innovator who wants to build out the practical and mainstream uses of the technology to power commerce and strengthen global brands. 


Blockworks interviewed Jodee Rich, NFT.NYC’s executive producer:

Blockworks: What triggered your interest in NFTs?

Jodee: In 2018, [OpenSea co-founder] Devin Finzer and I were having lunch at Bar Pitti in New York, and we were both wondering how to communicate something that used initials like NFT. We decided on a conference, reached out to the community and ended up with about 100 speakers. At one point, in February 2019, there were more speakers than attendees. We’ve always wanted to be very community-focused and put as many thought leaders on stage as possible. That is why we have 1,500 people on stage this year. It was 600 last year, the year before I think it was 300 and the year before that it was 100.

Blockworks: What are some NFT projects that stand out to you?

Jodee: I like what Ticketmaster is doing. They’re giving people live stubs, commemorative stubs — things to remember the events people go to. A number of brands such as PwC, SAP and Coach are releasing collectible NFTs. I think the idea of NFTs doubling as awards is really fun. We’ll be giving awards at the NFT.NYC award night, and those will be both physical and in NFT form.

Blockworks: How do you see NFTs evolving going forward?

NFT.NYC Executive Producer Jodee Rich | Source: NFT.NYC

Jodee: My friend Jehan Chu [managing partner at blockchain venture capital firm Kinetic] and I are soon talking on stage at Radio City about “dynamically compositing” NFTs, which sounds like a mouthful. But it really interests me. I think the next phase for NFTs sees tokens grow, evolve and morph with external inputs. An NFT doesn’t have to be static. It doesn’t always have to look the way it does. It can carry metadata. Compositing means overlaying different images on NFTs as it evolves and is passed from one person to another. 

My personal favorite NFT evolution would be identity. I look forward to the day when my NFT controls advertising and social network access to me. I look forward to the day where Google properly indexes NFTs so that when people search for me, they see all of the NFTs I’ve touched and that I’m interested in. I think NFTs will become a way of expressing both our brand identity and our personal identity.

Blockworks: Do you have tips for NFT buyers who are only looking to trade their collectibles?

Jodee: I don’t think about that very much. For me, it’s the least interesting part of the ecosystem. We don’t allow people to come and talk about crypto because we don’t want that. We want thought leadership around NFTs. The trading part of it is probably the least interesting. This year we have a stage where people can come and talk about their drops, and we’re helping them by putting them on stage. 

Blockworks: Is it still early days?

Jodee: If you say there are 1,000 days in the life of NFTs, I think we’re really only at day one. We are barely at the beginning. The good news is that your taxi driver probably knows what an NFT is. 

This interview was edited for length and clarity.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

4.png

Research

This months PPGC covered four main areas. Firstly, debriefing the progress and status of the mainnet implementation of the Ahmedabad hard fork. Secondly, a retrospective on the testnet phase of the Ahemdabad Hard Fork. Thirdly, an update on PIP-36 which involves replaying failed state syncs. Lastly, PIP-47 which pushes upgrades to the Polygon Protocol Council.

article-image

Plus, NFT trading volumes are seeing all-time lows

article-image

And could BitGo’s offering dump the entire stablecoin market on its head?

article-image

Institutions to test out the settlement of “digital assets and currencies” on a network that annually carries more than 5 billion financial messages

article-image

After Bitwise’s XRP ETF filing this week, one industry watcher notes: “Politics will determine whether this happens soon or in a few years”

article-image

Plus, a look back at some of the SEC’s biggest enforcement moves under Gurbir Grewal

article-image

The forward-looking financial system is being championed by several contributors to India’s UPI digital money system