South by Southwest is one of Austin’s largest festivals featuring technology industry leaders, films and musical acts, and began on the first weekend. Many people’s themes were like non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
From Friday to Sunday, we offered NFT-themed exhibits to thousands of participants directly in Texas, from Doodles to luxury car maker Porsche. Many panels and workshops include discussions on how to create and store customized NFTs during the event, and companies such as Blockchain Creative Labs provide an interactive experience across from NFT galleries and other social gatherings. doing.
After enjoying a crypto-themed cocktail, three Cointelegraph team members attended many on-site events, including designing personalized CryptoPunks at Ripple’s house on Rainey Street. One of the festival’s biggest exhibits, FlufWorld featured an immersive experience with digital characters and attracted many attendees with Web3 and Metaverse rabbit avatars and panels.
SXSW’s Fluf World pic.twitter.com/fqsgUeeVxy
— Shinebright (@ shine_bright434) March 14, 2022
Ben McKenzie, an actor known for his role on television shows Gotham When Oc He also spoke to public figures who support cryptocurrencies and hosted a panel at SXSW with New Republic staff writer Jacob Silverman and Vice Media’s Edward Ongweso. McKenzie said the adoption of crypto-related products at the festival seemed like a marketing tool, but Ongweso added that he saw a consistent theme for companies promoting NFTs.
“I was hoping for more interesting gimmicks, demonstrations, attempts to show actual usage of value, and something fascinating and interesting about it. Instead, many of them are very narrow experiences that may really captivate you. But if you’re lucky, you probably don’t really think about how this can do anything other than make money for you. “
Mayor of Austin Steve Adler, along with Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez, talked about how the two cities are coping with cultural change by attracting tech companies and diverse people. Adler announced on Friday an initiative to study how Austin adopted a crypto-friendly policy and promoted the benefits of blockchain technology, but crypto is conversational, except to mention a recent partnership with CityCoins. It wasn’t the main topic.
Related: Crypt City: A Guide to Austin
Founded in 1987, Austin’s SXSW Festival was attended by more than 400,000 people in 2019, before it shrank due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the largest capital of the mainland United States, Austin has become the hub of major technology companies such as Tesla’s headquarters and Facebook and Google offices, and has been nicknamed “Silicon Hills.”
