Projects
![]()
No projects found
Investors
New
DAO Treasuries
DATs
Lend / Borrow APRs
Chains
Categories
Spaces
NFT NYC Recap
Recorded: April 8, 2024 Duration: 0:35:58Space Recording
Full Transcription
All right, everybody.
Thank you, everyone for joining.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, everyone, for joining.
We are going to get started.
We're going to go ahead with you today.
Thank you, guys.
I'm here.
Thanks, man.
And I'm here.
Okay, I'm here.
And I'm here.
I'm here.
Nice, man. Well, always good to have you. Just literally saw you two days ago. But yeah, I had a super great time. And it was nice to be able to see IRL. It seems like we'll probably get to do that, even though you live halfway across the world, maybe two, three times a year, which is nice. But let's check on in with Galabas. Galabas, how are you doing?
I am good. And I know Reese has a lost voice over there. So do I. I mean, after a week at NFDNYC, I would be surprised if anyone doesn't have their voice gone. So excited to be in here. Excited to be talking a little bit of the recap. And yeah, no, it was a pleasure, you know, tearing it up with the boys over here, both Smokey and Reese.
Nice. Yeah, I my voice is definitely hurting a little bit, for sure. I mean, just going around from event to event, having to scream over the music. But yeah, I mean, you know, I think major takeaways for me, we don't we don't have to, you know, make a super long space about this. I know, you know, we're, we're all pretty beat from the trip.
But I think, you know, major takeaways, it's just, it's really nice to be able to, you know, first of all, of course, see you guys. Right? I do enjoy that. But it's really nice to also, you know, hang out and be able to meet individuals that you spend a lot of time with online. Right? And, you know, we even speak to them, right? We'll speak to them in Twitter spaces.
You know, we'll hang out in group chats and do all these different things. And then, you know, when you finally are able to go and meet them in person, that's that's something that's really special. Right? And I think it's, I think it's, it's just different, right?
Like, we have these, these NFTs, right? And they're digital representations of ourselves. And we get to run around on Twitter and like, have fun with each other, trade, do all these different things.
And then we get to go to events, you know, maybe two, three times a year, to be able to hang out with these people. And, you know, this was the first time being able to meet some, you know, Polygon community members.
And I really enjoyed that. We got to go and, and, you know, have a lunch with them, you know, hang out with some of the, you know, the Pluto founders. And that was really nice. So I will say I really enjoyed it. But Reese, what was your top moment at NFT NYC?
Top moment is, is hard. There was actually so many, I think every event was, was, was pretty good. Getting to see you guys was amazing.
Getting to, getting to chat with like the Pluto guys and hearing their plans for building on Polygon is probably the most bullish. But then also get to sit down with the Polygon community at dinner. That was one of my favorite moments, talking to No Futuristic and BSB to all these guys and hear more about what they're building. And I think that was probably the best dinner, dare I say. But yeah, I'd love to hear Greg's top moment too. I think it's probably something pretty similar.
Yeah, no, I think likewise, I think, you know, NFT NYC is so robust when it comes to parties. It's always the moments where you get to sit over lunch or dinner, or, you know, just in a little bit more of an intimate group, intimate space.
And actually getting down to the roots of the culture, you know, just whatever everyone's building. Much more meaningful conversations, right? As much as I do love, you know, the parties to see, you know, everyone in one space. And then also, you know, listening to great music, getting a couple of drinks in you.
So, you know, that's all fantastic and all. But I think more actionables and more building is provided in these intimate lunches, dinners, gatherings that I really enjoyed. So obviously, the Polygon community lunch, you know, the Polygon client dinner, a little bit of both of those, I think those were my favorite events.
And also, you know, just grabbing drinks at the bar at 2, 3am with an intimate group that, you know, wants to just talk blockchain. So it wasn't one specific event, although, you know, there's quite a few teams that absolutely threw down. I mean, obviously, you had Forbes with an enormous presence out there, Pudgy with an enormous presence out there, a newer Solana team, I think Dive Dolphins with a enormous presence out there.
So, you know, so, you know, Meme Land, obviously enormous presence out there. It's these teams that came in, that threw absolutely amazing parties, you get an idea of organization within those projects as well. Right? That's what I use the bigger parties for is to get an understanding of how thoughtfully are these people spending, you know, so, you know, and how much do they care about the holders? How hard does it get into the party?
It raises those kind of question marks. And it's a nice way of vetting some of these teams too, right? Because organization within a team is very, very important. And putting these events together is very, very difficult.
So when you see a successful event planned out, and you know, the place isn't overcrowded, the place isn't undercrowded, take that take note of that, because that means a lot.
Nice. I mean, I couldn't agree with you more, Greg. You know, I am of the mind. I really like some of these smaller events. Like, you know, obviously, you know, it is really fun going to some of these larger events.
I have a great time. And, you know, you just kind of mingle, right? You maneuver through the crowd. There are a whole ton of individuals for you to meet. I mean, I remember, at the Magic Eden Yacht Party, I just sat down at a table. And, you know, I was like trying to make a Twitter post or something, right? Like post about the party.
And I sit down, and I'm trying to make this post. And then these guys are like, Oh, hey, how's it going? And they introduced themselves. And it was the Doodles team. And I was like, Oh, cool. Like, what's what's going on, you guys, right? And just just started having a great conversation with them about like the future of the space, like where we're going, like, what's happening, you know, like, what do we think will happen in five years, right?
And it was just like a really great conversation about like the overall state of the space, right? And I think, you know, that's the thing when you go to these events, you get to be around other passionate individuals that live and breathe Web3, right?
And, but no, I did really enjoy the, you know, smaller, you know, dinner that we had with some of the Polygon community members got to give them some Polygon merch, which is always very cool. Yeah, I definitely, definitely enjoyed that for sure. But we do have somebody else up here on the stage. We've got Matt Taylor. Matt, how is it going? What is going on?
It's going amazing. My NFC NYC experience was better than any year I've been able to enjoy it in the past. For those who don't know, I'm actually the Polygon New York City Guild Mage. And the funny thing was, just from like having such a booked calendar, and yet going to all of these same events where I'm hearing like magic eating out party, pudgy party, and I was there in a Polygon t shirt.
I didn't recognize a single person from the team when you guys posted your lunch. And that like, made me feel like, oh my god, like, even after meeting, like, probably 1000 people, I still didn't meet, like, I there are people I still didn't meet and just how much our space has grown. And every single one of those people were positive about, like, what we're building, what we're doing, where the future of the space is going.
So very funny, that like, my own community, I didn't find, but so many people came up to us, asking about, like, what are we up to? What are we building? What are we working on? How can we get involved? And I have too, too big of a stack of stickers and business cards of people to like reach out to. But thank you for having me on stage. It's a pleasure to be here.
Well, great to have you, Matt, you know, happy to hear that you had a good experience at NFT NYC. I mean, there is so many different people. So definitely understandable why you would not have met us. But yeah, it is pretty amazing to be able to see even even when NFTs are down, right, like this year, and there was still a big showing at NFT NYC.
And I think like, you know, what's interesting, you know, I think, from this, this year to last year, you know, at least for me, this year felt like there was a little bit more professionalism, right, a little bit more, you know, serious networking that was going on, at least with the people that I knew, you know, and maybe that's just because it's been a year, right?
Like, and people have had more time to be able to work within this space. But yeah, definitely super great that you enjoyed it. But we also have somebody that came with us out to NFT NYC. We've got Logan. Logan, how is it going? Tell us about your favorite event at NFT New York.
Making me sound like a little tag along here. How you guys doing? My favorite event, geez. I mean, okay, so, you know, I went last year, and I think this year, I'm not even answering your question, which is horrible. But anyways, I think this year, one of the things that I noticed was there's like less tension. You know, last year, it was like, okay, our bags are sinking, our bags are sinking. And everyone's a little worried. And now this year, it's like,
okay, okay, it's like the the dog in the fire, like, this is fine. You know, I think we're in a spot where like, people are understanding that there is just, you know, it's not all price speculation. Obviously, that's a nice attribute to have is like, price discovery. But it just felt more calm. And like, we're there for like a professional event. And I really enjoyed.
Honestly, like all of the events were pretty like, calm, and there wasn't any, you know, shoeies going on or like, you know, chance breaking out. It just felt very like, level headed. And I think, actually, no, the best event was hands down going to the stock exchange with VanEck. That was incredible.
incredible. I think that was an experience that I'll probably never have again. But it also kind of was symbolic of the entire thing where it was just like,
we NFT nerds are hanging out here with VanEck, an institution, who is also building out a platform called Segment to like,
use NFT technology, use like vaults and tokenization with NFTs to kind of like, build on real world assets, and also has this questing platform. And it felt like the perfect culmination of like, all this stuff that we do in this space, like all, you know, the polygon NFT vertical, obviously has its like, drawdowns. And there's obviously like some shortcomings that, you know, we're working on and, you know, talking to the Magic Eden team,
team and trying to like, build through, but like, one of the most robust places within the polygon NFT sphere is just this application of like, actual use cases to this stuff, you know, you have, sure, you have like the Reddit PFPs and everything. And we talked about that plenty. But like, the tokenization side, like the courtyards and the, the swap Xs of the world, and like, there's a whiskey protocol, I think, doing something.
It feels like that's like, feels like that's like what the future looks like, where this stuff's actually being applied. And I love my PFPs. But I think that was easily one of the coolest events, just seeing like the, the welcome open arms of Segment and VanEck, and the stock exchange, and there's a pudgy penguin up on the ceiling of the stock exchange. It felt like,
Hey, you know, sure, PFP prices are down, whatever, that's, it is what it is. But like, people are recognizing this for what it is. And the conversations that we had there, we're just focused on like, isn't this such a cool event that we get to come here and just network with cool people and
be at the stock exchange. And be at the stock exchange. Like, I don't think I ever thought that my PFPs would lead me to the New York Stock Exchange with a massive institution. But all right, that's enough rambling, monologuing. That was my favorite event. That's my favorite kind of feeling from this entire thing that we got.
You sure it wasn't at the Korean barbecue joint?
I, you know, that's just like table stakes. Yes, Korean barbecue is obviously my favorite event. I went to the same place twice in a row. I feel like I'm being put on blast here. But, you know, Greg just has to make up some ground because he can't handle his meat.
I handled the meat just fine.
Oh, man, I love it. I'm sure Logan was thinking, never did I think that, you know, being into NFTs would lead me to all of this Korean barbecue in one week.
No, man, but that was actually that was pretty special for me as well, being able to go down onto the New York Stock Exchange and to be able to, you know, be there for, you know, the final bell.
And it was like, you know, it was like somebody that we knew. Right.
I mean, Greg had had introduced Reese and I to this person, Manam, you know, last year at Art Basel.
But it is very interesting to be able to see. Right.
Like you go down there and there's like a pudgy penguin like all over the screens.
And, you know, it really just made me think like, you know, after having been in the space like since 2016, like if you think people are skeptical now, like it was like, you know, next level, like way, way back. Right.
And just to be able to think like, wow, like we made it right.
Like we're here, like we're we're into the mainstream and, you know, being able to hear, you know, the speech from Vanak, like they're excited about this stuff.
So, yeah, but super, super great experience.
Really enjoyed it. I mean, Reese, for you, I mean, you come from a financial background.
What was it like for you being able to go down onto the floor of the stock exchange?
Yeah, that was that was a dream getting to take part in that closing ceremony.
Hopefully I will do that again someday. Hopefully we'll get to ring the bell.
But that was a dream. Get to do that and see all these like investment bankers down there trading and closing the market.
And me thinking, yeah, the markets we trade in don't close, which is pretty cool.
But getting pictures down there, I get to go down there under the floor with you as a team.
It was pretty, pretty special.
And thank you, Logan, for hooking us up with that.
Hopefully we do get to do it again in the next few years with Vanak because they're a great partner building on Polygon.
And we're going to be working much more closer with them in the future.
I love it.
Then they actually had some pretty good merch, too.
They had like the Vanak intern hat and then they had these like really cool like silver coins that said like the New York Stock Exchange on them.
I definitely only grabbed one for sure.
I definitely did not grab another one for a friend.
No, because I wouldn't do that.
But we have to talk about Choose Rich wreaths.
So we were able to get a video from Choose Rich Nick.
We posted it from our main handle.
I posted it up to the very top if you want to check it out.
But, I mean, obviously, like Choose Rich Nick right now is the, you know, he's really taken hold of the zeitgeist.
And he has just been breaking out of the, you know, just normal crypto Twitter sphere, right?
I mean, there were people that were recognizing him on the street, you know, of New York, like people that were, you know, not NFT or crypto people.
But, I mean, Reese, what did you think about Choose Rich Nick, you know, saying Choose Rich, Choose Polygon?
That was pretty funny.
I know we tweeted out to Polygon a few weeks ago during that whole trend.
Nick's such a good guy.
I've been listening to him for about maybe over like two years now.
I think when I first came into this space, I typed in NFTs on YouTube and himself and P.O. popped up and I started watching their show since then.
You can really start to see when the NFT bull market starts to reappear when their listeners go over like 2,000 plus.
It's still at a steady 1,000 a day.
Nick's always been a funny guy, always had funny skits.
The Choose Rich character persona he puts on is like beautiful, but really cool that he took that video for us.
It was quite special.
And now, as you said, Smokey, now no other blockchain can do that.
So we're the first to get the Choose Rich, Choose Polygon.
So if anyone's out here copying, sorry, we don't know first.
I love that.
We called dibs.
So, yeah, it's off the table for anyone else.
No, but that was something super special, like being able to see that from Nick after literally just witnessing him, you know, absolutely skyrocket onto Twitter, getting millions of impressions.
And then we're hanging out with him and his team and he's taking that video for us.
So, yeah, I thought that that was very, very cool.
But so I want to kind of switch gears a little bit.
So I think, like, even though NFT prices are down pretty much across the board, except for ordinals, you know, for they've just been, you know, for the most part, a lot of them have really been rocking it.
But, you know, it's not like sentiment was really down at NFT New York, right?
And I think, like, this is something that I think about, where NFT communities are not just about NFTs, right?
Like, they're just people that generally engage with the entire space, right?
They're people that are into DeFi, they're into meme coins, they're into NFTs, right?
They're into all these different types of things.
But, I mean, Logan, I want to check in with you.
I mean, do you think, like, I think it's very important for, like, NFT projects and communities to just kind of, like, engage with the overall space, right?
So then it's not just so focused on the price of the NFT.
But, yeah, I just want to, like, get your thoughts on that and what you thought about, like, the sentiment at NFT New York.
Are you saying it's about the friends we made along the way?
That's the real treasure.
Yep.
That's the real treasure.
Now, you know, I sit here in my little office, in my little house, in my little state of Washington, on my little Twitter account, observing my little Twitter friends and, you know, sending my little Slack messages and huddling and all this stuff.
And it's fun.
Like, I would never want to work in another space in my life.
Like, this is the most entertaining space in the world.
But being in person and connecting, like, it solves so much of that internet tension.
And it's bizarre.
Like, you know, you see all this stuff on Twitter and you go in a little group chat and there's, like, all these tense moments.
And then you just go connect with that person or you just talk to that person and none of it's real.
It's all just, like, this, like, very solvable conversation where you just connect as a person.
And I think that's the one thing, like, I've taken away from, you know, the last two events that I've been to is just a lot of this stuff that boils up boils up because we're all in our little internet bubbles and, like, connecting with people in real life and, you know, members of a project that you hold or teams that you, you know, pass by on the timeline.
Like, all of the tension goes away and there's just so – we have so much in common here.
And I think that's the one thing we forget is we're all, like, excited to be a part of this and we all see, like, value here.
And whenever you get together in person, like, everyone's just, like, working together.
You remember about the mission of working together and, like, just, you know, we want everyone here to make it because we are such a niche space right now.
Still, yeah, we have, like, people entering and institutions and whatever and brands and all this stuff.
But, like, it's still very niche and we are the truest champions of this space.
And I think there's – I've never felt more, like, welcome with my NFTs as I have at NFT NYC.
Like, I don't talk to this – talk to normal people about this stuff.
I don't really want to talk to normal people about this stuff because, like, why would they care?
Like, if I tell my dad about, you know, my pictures on the internet, he goes, oh, what are they going to pay you in Google Books?
And that's just the general response.
Like, my wife could not care less unless, like, I get an airdrop that, like, pays off, you know, down payment for something.
And right now, like, that connection is something that I don't really have a lot of because, you know, I'm pretty quiet on the internet.
And I just – I stick to my Slack channels and all this stuff.
And for me, it was exciting to get involved and, like, there's always this, like, desire to get more involved online whenever you go to these events.
And I think everybody would benefit from just, like, going to one event or connecting with the people that you pass by online.
And I think that's – there's so much value in, like, remembering that we're all people with similar interests and similar goals.
Yeah.
I love it, man.
Yeah.
I mean, I think it is pretty interesting, you know, when there are tensions online.
But, like, really at the end of the day, it's like, you know, we're all people that are highly passionate about this space.
So being able to meet in person, I think, you know, maybe clears a lot of that, right?
Like, when you're going around NFT New York and, you know, even if you're talking to people that are from maybe quote-unquote competitive, you know, areas of the space, you know, comparatively to you, right?
It's – there is no feeling of tension, right?
It's just like, hey, we're just, like, you know, basically, like, two people that are here in this space that are passionate about it, right?
And, yeah, I mean, it is the same way for me.
You know, I mean, my family doesn't understand anything really about this stuff.
They're just happy that I enjoy it and, you know, I'm able to do well with it.
Like, that's pretty much it, right?
They don't really understand.
So, you know, being able to go and talk with individuals that do get it and, you know, with just a huge amount of those individuals, like, at one time, it really feeds the soul, right?
You know, because we can connect as much as possible online, but it's just different when you go in person, right?
So to anybody thinking about going to crypto events, I would highly suggest it.
I think that it really enriches your experience in this space.
But we're going to get over to Matt and then we're actually going to close it out.
We just wanted to do, like, a little brief recap on some of the goings-on at NFT NYC.
But, Matt, what is going on?
I just wanted to respond to the part about, like, not wanting to talk to normal people about crypto and, like, what we do or, like, people not caring about what we do.
And it's actually a little bit why I started the Polygon Guild or, like, took it over in New York.
I come from a game design and esports background, and some of my favorite things are talking to gamers about, like, why your game should be on the blockchain, why the tech would create a smoother experience, and showing them games where that's actually the case.
And I currently work in game design education, so I lead workshops for students, usually around high school age, that are already fluent in something like Unity or Unreal Engine and, like, how to adapt, like, Web3 tech into their games.
And every time I've done it now, that, like, I've hit a niche that they enjoy and, like, explain how their niche would be better, I've gotten a lot more positive reactions than just telling them about the other JPEGs that I own.
So, like, consider, for anyone listening, consider starting a Polygon Guild in your community.
It's been a lot of fun for me, and now I have a ton of people to talk about it.
I know New York is very dense, but it's something to look into.
I want to add, so, you know, I really like what you talked about, just, like, presenting the bridges in, as opposed to, like, you know, I spend a lot of time on super, super niche, edge case, like, spaces where I'm, like, farming layer twos that nobody's ever heard of, and, you know, people, like, it wouldn't make sense to anybody.
But I think, you know, when people ask me, like, hey, what game would you recommend?
I always, always, always start with Planet Mojo.
And I think that's, like, just some of my favorite apps, aside from, you know, all these different tokenless protocols, are the things that make it easy.
And the things that kind of obfuscate a lot of this, like, weird world that we live.
So, like, Planet Mojo, you just go type it in the browser, and you can start playing, and you don't need a wallet, like, you don't need any of that stuff.
And I think that's super important, and I really appreciate what you're doing, because, like, I could never get my family to go bridge into Blast and play some roulette game or something.
But I can get them to go type in play.planetmojo.io, and they just start playing.
And then at some point, you know, whenever a person is, like, really into it, and they're intrigued by it, like, you can say, hey, if you want to make your experience better, you can go buy a beta test, or go buy a Mojo Champion, or go buy whatever you want.
And then it makes the experience better.
And I see these conversations right now going on between, like, Prime and, I think, Hearthstone, where it's, like, the Hearthstone team or community is very upset that, like, somebody's making money off of a game that they enjoy.
I'm probably, like, making it sound worse than it is, but the starting point is super important.
It's almost more important than, like, you know, where we end up or making money or whatever it is.
It's, like, how do we find that starting point?
And I think, you know, what you're doing is super valuable, and I just want to say I appreciate that approach.
And hopefully there's, you know, a thousand more developers in the space because of that work that you're doing, or even 500.
I think that would be incredible.
Anyway, while I'm here, go play planetmojo.io.
I love it, Logan, just the little shill at the end.
No, but great stuff, you guys.
Really enjoyed being out there with you, Reese, Glavas, and Logan.
And really excited to be able to do more events with you guys.
Definitely got to hit NFT New York every single year.
Definitely got to hit you up next time, Matt, while we're out there.
Be able to meet up somewhere for sure.
Invite you to one of the dinners that we do with some of the community members of Polygon.
But look, you guys, thank you all for coming out to the space.
Really appreciate it.
And I hope you all have a good day, morning, night, whatever it is, wherever you are.
And we will see you next week.
