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Consensus 2023: Businesses show interest in Web3, despite US regulatory challenges

Coin Telegraph
Consensus 2023: Businesses show interest in Web3, despite US regulatory challenges
Analysis

Despite negative sentiment toward crypto adoption in the United States, Consensus 2023 attracted thousands of attendees to discuss the potential of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

Consensus, the annual crypto and blockchain conference, attracted over 15,000 attendees, 220 sponsors and 410 speakers to its 2023 edition in Austin, Texas, despite recent regulatory struggles around cryptocurrency adoption in the United States. 

The turnout at Consensus 2023 demonstrated that U.S.-based companies and international organizations are still very much interested in implementing Web3 technology into their business models.

Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank — a Wyoming-based digital asset bank — told Cointelegraph that the conference attracted serious ecosystem participants, saying, “We’ve seen during crypto winters before where Consensus gets overrun with high time preference people and companies (for example, multiple Lambo’s parked out front of the New York Hilton in 2018), and in bust years the low-time preference people and companies just keep building. This year was the latter.”

Businesses discuss Web3 strategies

Several large organizations were present at Consensus 2023, with Mastercard, Google, Robinhood and Coinbase, among others, gathering to discuss their Web3 strategies.

James Tromans, head of Web3 at Google Cloud, told Cointelegraph about some blockchain-based initiatives the company has recently launched.

“At the end of last year, Google Cloud announced Blockchain Node Engine, which allows users and developers to run an Ethereum node without having to manage or support it themselves,” he said.

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At Consensus, the firm announced that it had expanded support for the Blockchain Node Engine to Polygon proof-of-stake, in addition to Ethereum.

Tromans added that Google Cloud knows what Polygon has been doing in the zero-knowledge (ZK) space, noting that Polygon ZK Ethereum virtual machines (zkEVM) and Polygon supernets will benefit from the provision of Google Cloud’s infrastructure and developer tools.

Moreover, Tromans pointed out that Google Cloud’s startup program will help onboard companies interested in building on Web3 using existing Google Cloud products. “Polygon is an important part of this initiative, as they have provided a $3 million contribution from their venture fund to get this off the ground with us,” he said.

Global financial services giant Mastercard announced its “Mastercard Crypto Credential” solution during Consensus. Raj Dhamodharan, head of crypto and blockchain at Mastercard, stated during a fireside discussion at Consensus that he is “excited about the underlying potential of blockchain technology” due to its ability to store and move value seamlessly.

However, Dhamodharan explained that “this potential is not fully realized today,” so Mastercard has started working on several products like Mastercard Crypto Credential.

“I believe that once you have the right building blocks necessary for safety and simplicity, you can have more businesses building and relying on the basic utility of storing and moving value,” Dhamodharan said on stage.

Conversations continued at side events

While there were 10 dedicated stages for 285 panels during Consensus, many side events allowed important conversations to continue outside of the conference.

For example, zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs) were widely discussed at Consensus, but in-depth conversations around ZK-proofs took place at the “ZK360” event hosted by Mina Protocol. Evan Shapiro, CEO of the Mina Foundation and co-founder of the Mina Protocol, told Cointelegraph that the goal of ZK360 was for attendees to learn about the latest advancements in ZK-proofs and how these can be applied in the real world. “Web3 needs both privacy and verified computation. ZK-proofs provide both of those at a time when applications are needing these features to be more effective, decentralized and scalable,” he said.

Evan Shapiro, CEO of the Mina Foundation, spoke about ZK-proofs at the ZK360 side event. Source: Mina Foundation

Other layer-1 blockchain networks like Ripple and Algorand hosted side events, allowing Consensus attendees to better understand specific blockchain offerings while networking with community members. These events also presented an opportunity for non-Consensus attendees to learn about important topics within the Web3 sector. 

Lacking an international presence

While the turnout during Consensus 2023 was notable, some industry experts highlighted that the conference lacked an international presence.

Yat Siu, chairman of Animoca Brands — a venture capital company focused on blockchain-based games — told Cointelegraph that regions in Asia like Japan and Hong Kong are offering a progressive and welcoming regulatory environment for crypto adoption. He noted that most people he spoke with at Consensus seemed surprised or even skeptical at this. He said:

“I think that a larger presence of overseas participants would have helped allow Consensus participants to better understand the scope of excitement and opportunity that exists outside of the United States. I would love to see a stronger international presence at Consensus next year.”

Despite this, Siu said that Consensus 2023 was a well-attended, high-energy conference overall. “I was surprised at the level of deal-making activity that was taking place, even if the narrative was that the U.S. was negative on crypto,” he said.

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Echoing Siu was Keith Grossman, president of enterprise at MoonPay. He told Cointelegraph that he was impressed to see so many executives from some of the largest companies in attendance at Consensus. “Deals were being discussed, and I believe we will look back at Consensus 2023 recognizing it represented a maturation in the industry as it relates to how Web3 technologies can be deployed in a meaningful manner for businesses and their customers.”

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Crypto hotspots continue to thrive despite FTX collapse

Coin Telegraph
Crypto hotspots continue to thrive despite FTX collapse
Austin

Crypto-friendly cities throughout the world report growth and innovation despite recent events.

The sudden failure of FTX has left many people questioning the impact this will have on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. For instance, it remains questionable whether or not crypto hotspots will continue to flourish or if there will be a decline in innovation. 

While it may be too soon to fully understand the impact of the FTX collapse, industry leaders within crypto-friendly geographies believe that the FTX failure will not hamper innovation.

For example, Dubai — which has been dubbed as one of the most innovative regions for crypto and blockchain development — continues to see ecosystem activity. Most recently, The Algorand Foundation, the organization driving the growth of the Alogrand blockchain, hosted its second annual Decipher conference in Dubai. The event took place Nov. 29–30, just weeks after FTX former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down and announced bankruptcy.

While a number of discussions circulated around the collapse of FTX, Decipher still attracted more than 1,500 attendees from around the world. Staci Warden, CEO of Algorand Foundation, told Cointelegraph that the United Arab Emirates continues to be a burgeoning blockchain capital. “This is fueled by a strong talent base in the region, a deep culture of innovation, and a diverse, engaged community,” she said.

The main stage at Decipher in Dubai. Source: Algorand 

Even with Decipher’s impressive turnout, it’s been noted that the Crown Prince of Dubai has plans to invest $4 billion to help grow the region’s cryptocurrency ecosystem. This is expected to add 40,000 jobs to the UAE’s economy over the next five years, which is impressive given that the country is already home to more than 1,000 companies operating in the metaverse and blockchain sectors. 

Nilesh Khaitan, Founder of AcmeDAO — a Dubai-based platform that helps decentralized applications transact on-chain — further told Cointelegraph that rumors that the FTX collapse is impacting crypto hotspots globally may not necessarily apply to Dubai. He said:

“It’s possible that Dubai’s crypto community has been unaffected in particular, or has even seen growth, due to increased regulatory uncertainty in other regions. Dubai may continue to see growth in its crypto community moving forward, particularly if the city offers a more attractive regulatory environment compared to other regions.”

While Khaitan remains optimistic about Dubai’s potential, he pointed out that the region still needs to focus on regulatory clarity between the UAE’s central bank and UAE Free Zone regions issuing crypto-specific licenses.

“This includes the establishment of a regulatory sandbox for crypto startups and entrepreneurs from the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). These challenges could be overcome through unified, strategic efforts by the government to promote Dubai as a favorable destination for crypto businesses and innovation,” he said.

Other crypto hotspots within the Middle East have reported recent positive sentiment. For example, Tel Aviv, which is a known hub for startups, continues to focus heavily on developing the blockchain ecosystem as a whole.

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Or Dadosh, co-founder and CEO at Ironblocks — a Web3 threat detection and prevention platform — told Cointelegraph that in Israel, there tends to be more interest in blockchain technology itself and building products on top of these networks.

“The community here is less driven by crypto trading and speculations around token performance when it comes to Web3 and blockchain,” he said.

This seems to be the case, as a number of cyber security companies were present at the Israel Crypto Conference (ICC), which took place in Tel Aviv on Dec. 7. Ariel Shapira, organizer of ICC, told Cointelegraph that while the event was not as big as last year, it still attracted hundreds of attendees.

“While events like the FTX crash do have a temporary effect on crypto prices and projects’ abilities to raise funds, they never erase the optimism within the industry about blockchain as a technology. Crypto folks understand this technology is going to be transformative. They understand the bear market is temporary,” he said.

Attendees at the Israel Crypto Conference 2022. Source: Israel Crypto Conference 

Given this, Eylon Aviv, principle at Collider Ventures — a Tel Aviv-based venture capital firm focused on Web3 companies — told Cointelegraph that he believes the Tel Aviv crypto community will actually see an acceleration in growth. “Perhaps the phrase ‘no such thing as bad publicity’ is true, as founders are now specifically targeting problems that have arisen from the FTX fallout.” 

In addition to Dubai and Tel Aviv, crypto hotspots within the United States seem to be pushing forward. For example, Austin, Texas, continues to attract a number of Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies. This was apparent during the second annual Texas Blockchain Summit that took place in Austin on Nov. 17–18.

Main stage at the Texas Blockchain Summit 2022. Source: Texas Blockchain Summit

While turnout for the Texas Blockchain Summit was not as large as last year, optimism for the future of the crypto industry was evident. This may have been fueled by United States Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s friendly stance toward Bitcoin. During the summit, Cruz announced that he likes Bitcoin “because the government can’t control it,” further sharing that he makes weekly purchases of Bitcoin. 

Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council and summit organizer, told Cointelegraph that Austin is home to several companies that promote self-custody for their customers. As such, Bratcher believes that the proportion of crypto holders with their assets on a hardware wallet or hot wallet is likely higher in Austin.

“The number of people that are building great Bitcoin and digital asset companies in Austin insulates it a bit from the chaos in the centralized exchange ecosystem,” he remarked.

Miami — one of the fastest-growing crypto hubs in the world — is also making strides. Specifically speaking, Miami remains the main attraction for NFT artists throughout the world. For example, Art Basel recently took place in Miami, showcasing a number of NFT artworks.

While notable, spending behavior in Miami does appear to be impacted by the FTX collapse. Jumana Al Darwish, serial entrepreneur and Web3 investor, told Cointelegraph that while Art Basel Miami this year was a mixture of blue chip artists and emerging talent, galleries were playing it safe with the pieces that they had on display. She said:

“With post-pandemic economic recovery in place and crypto winter being in full swing coupled with the latest FTX scandal, one could sense that visitors were more conservative versus the impulse buying behavior that had taken place in previous years.”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, as a recent report from the Financial Times has also suggested that Miami nightclubs have taken financial hits following the failure of FTX.

It’s also interesting to point out that once-popular crypto cities like San Francisco have been gaining traction. Tegan Kline, co-founder and head of business at Edge and Node — a Web3 software development company — told Cointelegraph that Edge and Node recently opened a Web3 house in San Francisco to provide a coworking space for startups and entrepreneurs:

“Some U.S. hubs like Austin and Miami have taken away from San Francisco, but the startup ethos of San Francisco will never die. It is one of the few places in the world where you can talk about your crazy startup idea at dinner and they don’t kick you out, but rather offer to help — be it by financing, looking for talent, etc.”

In addition, regions like Singapore are reporting growth within the Web3 sector. Oliver Xie, founder and CEO of decentralized insurance platform InsurAce, told Cointelegraph that although Singapore’s crypto ecosystem has been affected by the FTX collapse, there is now a stronger focus on Web3. 

“Within the government, there are signs of a pivot away from crypto, the Deputy Prime Minister in a recent parliament hearing also said Singapore no longer seeks to become a global crypto trading hub, but rather will be focusing on real innovations with new Web3 technologies,” he said.

Crypto hotspots face ongoing challenges

While it’s notable that crypto-friendly cities continue to thrive despite recent events, there are still a number of challenges that may result in slow growth. For example, regulatory clarity is still very much needed in order for these ecosystems to advance. 

Yoav Tzucker, chief marketing officer at Collider Ventures, told Cointelegraph that regulation continues to be a pain point for the Israeli ecosystem. Although Israel’s chief economist recently developed a list of recommendations as to how policymakers should tackle digital asset laws, Tzucker still believes that regulation is lacking.

“I think that this is the main barrier for Israeli founders in the Web3 ecosystem.”

Even in regions such as Dubai — which has established laws on virtual asset regulation and has created authorities like the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) — regulatory clarity still needs to advance. Linda Adami, founder and CEO of Dubai-based Web3 platform, told Cointelegraph that while companies such as Binance and Kraken have received licenses in Dubai, more local companies need to be developed from the ground up. 

“Similarly to how Emirates Airlines established Dubai as a tourism and service hub, what will be the future Dubai-grown Web3 native success stories,” she said.

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While crypto regulations remain a hot topic of debate within the U.S, Bratcher shared that emerging crypto cities like Austin still lack the capital flow seen in cities like New York and San Francisco:

“Austin needs a continuation of the inflow of venture capitalists and capital from Silicon Valley in order to further establish itself as the epicenter for the Web3 digital asset ecosystem.”

Although this may be the case, Klein noted that the growing amount of crime and homelessness in San Francisco may be driving talent elsewhere. Yet, she believes that Edge and Node’s Web3 house may serve as a solution to this problem, stating, “We have many events and initiatives happening at the Edge and Node House of Web3 regarding how we can use Web3 tools to work toward solutions to help heal San Francisco.”

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Law Decoded: Crypto taxes and taxes on crypto, March 21–28.

Coin Telegraph
Law Decoded: Crypto taxes and taxes on crypto, March 21–28.
Austin

Some jurisdictions are introducing digital assets as tax payment options while others levy hefty taxes on crypto gains.

It was relatively quiet in the digital asset policy department last week, as regulators and lawmakers in most key jurisdictions retreated to their offices to do the necessary homework. In the U.S., federal agencies got on with the various reports that President Joe Biden’s recent executive orders directed them to produce. Over in the United Kingdom, both the central bank and the Financial Conduct Authority also dropped position papers on crypto-related issues. After thorough deliberation, Thailand’s financial authorities spoke out against using crypto as a means of payment, while rumors of potential legal tender adoption of crypto emerged and died in Honduras.

One theme that has been conspicuous throughout the week is the relationship between digital assets and taxation. Few would argue that cities and even states offering Bitcoin tax payment options to their constituents are doing the Lord’s work that is instrumental in widening the adoption of crypto. On the flip side, digital assets are subject to taxation themselves, a position that does not necessarily advance crypto’s legitimization. Contrary to what one might have thought, India’s approach demonstrated that it is possible to levy heavy taxes on cryptocurrency transactions while maintaining ambiguity around the asset class’s legal status.

Crypto city life

As bulky national legislatures and executive agencies take their time to come up with comprehensive crypto policies, city councils in the U.S. and beyond are filling the void. Austin, the capital of Texas, has taken a bullish stance on crypto as it passed two resolutions designed to facilitate blockchain-powered innovation. The word on the street is that the city could soon get its CityCoin, joining the likes of Miami and New York. The mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is pushing for allowing city residents to pay for municipal services in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Over in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro is poised to start accepting BTC payments for real estate taxes as early as 2023 — a fairly short timeline for a city that’s home to almost 7 million residents.

Taxes vs. digital assets

India has been moving fast on the path of introducing new taxation rules on cryptocurrency transactions. Despite some serious pushback from industry stakeholders — who voiced a wide range of reasons why imposing draconian taxes on crypto could be a suboptimal policy choice — the nation’s crypto community will face a 30% tax burden starting from April 1. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who introduced the framework, has previously spoken to the effect that levying a tax on something does not mean that this thing has a legal status. Essentially, one of the world’s major crypto markets is getting rules that treat digital assets similarly to gambling profits and lottery wins. The details on how the law will be enforced in relation to decentralized finance activity are so far scarce as well.

Not today, partisan politics

Enough has been said about how important it is to stop crypto from becoming an issue with firmly entrenched divides along party lines as they are drawn in the United States’ polarized political system. It has been going pretty well so far, with crypto allies found on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the aisle. An unlikely alliance between Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand, her Democrat peer, has further cemented the spirit of bipartisanship as the two revealed a joint effort to create a comprehensive bill that would categorize digital assets and draw clear boundaries of regulatory agencies’ mandates.

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Is Austin the next US crypto hub? Officials approve blockchain resolutions

Coin Telegraph
Is Austin the next US crypto hub? Officials approve blockchain resolutions
Austin

The City of Austin gears up to become America’s next crypto hot spot by passing two resolutions focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain innovation.

Innovative cities across America are racing to become the next hot spot for cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption. Miami was the first city to adopt its own part of CityCoins last year, allowing it to implement its own cryptocurrency called “MiamiCoin” to be used for civic engagement. 

New York City has also made a name for itself as a crypto-friendly city by implementing educational initiatives and with Mayor Eric Adams receiving his paycheck in Bitcoin (BTC) in January this year. 

Austin takes a strong stance 

Most recently, Austin — the state capital of Texas that goes by the slogan “Keep Austin Weird” — has taken a strong interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. While Texas’ desire to lead the way for crypto innovation was established about a year ago when Governor Greg Abbot tweeted that he is a “crypto law proposal supporter,” the city of Austin has taken additional measures to ensure the acceptance of cryptocurrency for city services.

On March 9, 2022, Austin city council member Mackenzie Kelly put forth a resolution to direct the Austin city manager to explore possible use cases of cryptocurrency to benefit Austin and its residents. The resolution specifically asks for the city manager to examine how the city could adopt Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for financial transactions.

Kelly told Cointelegraph that her resolution directs the city manager to conduct a fact-finding study to determine what would be required for the city to accept Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency payments for city services:

“This is more of a feasibility study. We currently don’t have enough information as council members to know if we can accept crypto as payment for city services. We need to know more about this before we can decide. In doing so, there is security information we need to look at to see if this is even viable or if we can keep crypto on our books financially. We don’t know if we can bill it as an asset — that would prevent us from being able to accept crypto as payment. There’s also the financial stability of crypto as a whole, and if we can even accept it in that regard.”
Image from Austin city council meeting on March 24, 2022.  Source: Austintexas.gov

Although questions remain, Kelly mentioned that Austin has always been a forward-thinking and innovative city, noting that many cryptocurrency investors currently live and work in Austin. Kelly added that Austin Mayor Steve Adler is a co-sponsor of her resolution. Given this support, Kelly believes cryptocurrency payments will serve as a useful alternative to allow individuals the flexibility of paying for certain city services. She elaborated:

“If someone gets a speeding ticket, for example, and doesn’t have a bank account but has cryptocurrency, they could use crypto as payment. Or, if they wanted to pay their taxes or electric bills using Bitcoin or dedicate a park in their name using crypto. This is all part of the analysis for allowing the city of Austin to accept crypto payments.”

This could certainly make a huge impact, as recent data from Finder.com found that 8% of Texans already own Bitcoin and that adoption in the state could hit 14% by the end of the year. Austin, in particular, could benefit from crypto payments for city services, as Google data shows that Austin ranks at the number one city in Texas that searches for the keywords “Bitcoin” and “crypto.”

All things considered, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kelly’s resolution was approved during Austin’s city council meeting that took place on March 24. Now that the resolution has passed, Kelly explained that the next step for approval will occur in mid-June when the Austin city manager can determine if crypto can indeed be accepted as payment. This will be based on the city’s research regarding financial stability, security, equity and inclusion and consumer benefits or risks.

In addition to Kelly’s resolution, Adler’s resolution focusing on blockchain technology was also passed during Austin’s March 24, 2022 working session. During the meeting, city council member Sabino Renteria explained that Austin started exploring the use of blockchain four years ago to ensure that the city’s homeless population would have control of their personal records at all times. “The concept was what if we use blockchain technology to be able to give folks ownership and access to all of their records,” he remarked. Renteria added that he is “excited at the prospect of what blockchain can do.”

While both resolutions are innovative, some Austin city council members expressed concerns during the meeting. Councilmember Leslie Pool mentioned that her single biggest concern regarding blockchain implementation is its “lack of a central authority.” She added:

“It may be tamper evident and tamper resistant, but that is all that it is. It’s a digital ledger. So there may be some unique uses for this or for the city to promote its use, but at this point, given its relatively recent entry into data storage or other digital arenas, I’m really cautious relating to the city diving into adopting or using it. I very much want to hear from our financial office staff or experts on these technologies before taking decisions to adopt these items.”

Regarding the cryptocurrency resolution put forth, council member Pool added:

“I continue to believe crypto is too volatile, a form of currency to risk tax payer dollars or employee retirements. Crypto is unregulated. It's not just unregulated. It's also unprotected. There's an element for me of gaming involved here. THat leaves me really uneasy. Crypto as a form of payment or investment is inconsistent with the role of a municipality in safeguarding the community’s revenue.”

Austin pushes forward, despite concerns

Concerns aside, Austin residents remain positive regarding cryptocurrency and blockchain innovation within the city. For example, Jesse Paterson, chair of the education committee at ATX DAO — a chain-agnostic decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in Austin — told Cointelegraph that the organization aims to serve as a local resource to help educated city council members and residents on the implications of the recently passed resolutions:

“Some ATX DAO members were at city hall showing our support for the resolutions, yet we still lent some caution because we are still in the early days of crypto. Therefore, it takes time to understand the space before diving into projects.”

Ryan Harvey, ATX DAO community manager and long-time resident of Austin, added that, based on the wording of both council member Kelly’s crypto resolution and Mayor Adler’s blockchain resolution, it’s clear that these are still fact-finding missions. However, he noted this is a positive step in the right direction:

“New information is always a good thing. But, even beyond fact-finding, both resolutions show that Austin is open for business and encourages innovation, which is fantastic.”

During the March 24 council meeting, Harvey took a few minutes to share his thoughts with city council members. He stated that, “There are organizations here in town like ATX DAO — and I was excited to see DAOs mentioned in the resolution — that can be a point of reference.”

ATX DAO community manager, Ryan Harvey commenting at the March 24 city council meeting. Source: Austintexas.gov

In addition to efforts being made by ATX DAO, other Austinites are creating initiatives with crypto and Web3 elements to give back to the community. For example, City Magic is a project aiming to bring communities in Austin together through grants in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). 

City Magic founder Raffi Sapire told Cointelegraph that the project awards $1,000 grants to those in the Austin community who want to create a friendly space or event for neighbors or for civic engagement. “City Magic is for civically-minded people and for those who care about the community. It also helps build a bridge for people who may not have interacted with tokens before. Grants are NFTs, and the cost to join our committee is equal to one grant that will benefit civic engagement.”

Adler recently demonstrated his support for Sapire and other blockchain-focused Austin entrepreneurs and businesses in a tweet that read, “Austin is excited to support the businesses and innovations that will turn the promises of Web3, cryptocurrency, and blockchain technology into reality.”

Moreover, Austin may soon join the ranks of Miami and New York City by implementing its own CityCoin. A CityCoin community member spoke about how this may play out in a presentation conducted at ETH Austin, a two-day long event that took place during South By Southwest. The community member shared that CityCoins’ main goal is to work with the city of Austin to help officials like Mayor Adler and council member Kelly better understand how Austin’s own cryptocurrency can be successful. “We need to define this and make sure we do it right before we go about anything. Ideally, we’d like to have an announcement on this during Consensus 2022, set to happen on June 9.”

CityCoins community member presenting at ETH Austin. Photo Credit: Rachel Wolfson

When asked about a CityCoin being implemented in Austin, Kelly remarked, “I’m open to the idea, but my financial conclusion of that depends on my resolution passing and knowing that it’s feasible for the city of Austin to accept crypto as a whole.” 

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SXSW 2022 showcased immersive NFT experiences, lacking crypto and Bitcoin sessions

Coin Telegraph
SXSW 2022 showcased immersive NFT experiences, lacking crypto and Bitcoin sessions
Analysis

SXSW 2022 was overrun with NFTs and all things Web3 but had little focus on the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin ecosystem.

South by Southwest — commonly referred to as “South By” or “SXSW” — has returned to Austin, Texas this year to showcase the latest trends in interactive media, music, art, film and technology. While SXSW runs through March 20, 2022, the entertainment and technology festival kicked off its first weekend with a large focus on Web3 and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

NFT activations and panels

SXSW’s attendees’ interest in NFTs and the future of the internet was particularly evident at the venue hosted by Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL) — a business and creative unit formed by FOX Entertainment in 2021. On March 11, the first day of SXSW, a line consisting of hundreds of people wrapped around the streets of Fifth and Trinity in downtown Austin as SXSW badge holders anxiously awaited entrance to BCL’s interactive NFT venue that also showcased Web3-focused panels.

BLOCKCHAIN CREATIVE LABS AT SXSW: Atmosphere behind the scenes at the Blockchain Creative Labs House in downtown Austin, TX. © 2022 FOX Media LLC. Cr: Matt Lief Anderson for BCL

BCL CEO Scott Greenberg told Cointelegraph that the company was the exclusive blockchain sponsor of SXSW this year:

“SXSW is a place for independent musicians, filmmakers and content creators to come together to find a way to foster business entertainment innovation. Given this, Blockchain Creative Labs felt that SXSW was the perfect place to come and tell a story while serving as a center for activation.”

Indeed, BCL’s event space appeared to be one of the most widely attended SXSW spots, especially for those interested in nonfungible tokens. The venue, which was open through Sunday, March 13, included a gallery of NFTs created by leading content creators, exclusive NFT drops of music from official SXSW artists, NFTs from feature films premiering during the festival, along with a number of thought leadership sessions on Web3 development. “We had over 60 speakers and 40 panels on Web3, entertainment and how this provides new value to creators. SXSW 2022 was really about NFTs and the Metaverse, and our goal was to educate attendees. I think we achieved this,” said Greenberg.

Greenberg said that BCL’s SXSW activation space consisted of interactive rooms to provide attendees with hands-on educational experiences to learn about the decentralized internet, also known as “Web3.” For example, BCL allowed festival-goers to create proof-of-attendance-protocols (POAPs) to document their attendance at SXSW. BCL’s POAPs served as NFT badges given to attendees of both virtual and in-person events that took place during the first weekend of South By.

The venue also featured a “BCL_RecordBlocks” station, which enabled attendees to “listen and earn” music NFTs from over 30 musicians. “The concept here was to let attendees choose from over 100 songs to listen to. After listening, a QR-code would appear on the screen in front of them that could be scanned for a music NFT,” explained Greenberg. 

He said that the exhibit let attendees better understand how to obtain music NFTs while also enabling individuals to connect directly with the musicians featured. “In gaming, you have play-to-earn. This is listen-to-earn to show how we can connect artists and fans together using NFTs,” said Greenberg. Given that the Web3 space is still developing, BCL had staff members in white lab coats managing the exhibit to help onboard users to MetaMask, Coinbase or Rainbow wallets where they could then store their NFTs.

BLOCKCHAIN CREATIVE LABS AT SXSW: Atmosphere behind the scenes at the Blockchain Creative Labs House in downtown Austin, TX. © 2022 FOX Media LLC. Cr: Matt Lief Anderson for BCL

The BCL venue also featured an “SXSW x BCL NFT Ledger” room which showcased a visualization of all SXSW-related data being recorded in real-time. “This exhibit featured Polygon wallet addresses from people claiming our free NFTs like Record Blocks. Everything displayed comes from the BCL marketplace,” explained Greenberg. He said that data will be recorded during the entirety of SXSW and will then be minted into an NFT. Greenberg said:

“This serves as a time capsule of SXSW events. Data is updated on a regular basis to visually show how information is recorded on the Polygon blockchain. This is also an art exhibit, as we will mint this as a 1-on-1 NFT that we may eventually sell.”
BLOCKCHAIN CREATIVE LABS AT SXSW: Atmosphere behind the scenes at the Blockchain Creative Labs House in downtown Austin, TX. © 2022 FOX Media LLC. Cr: Matt Lief Anderson for BCL

NFTs main topic of discussion at “The AlgoRanch”

NFTs were also widely discussed at “The AlgoRanch,” a pop-up event hosted by Algorand, a blockchain network designed to solve security, scalability and decentralization issues. Algorand has also taken an interest in NFTs, specifically when it comes to ensuring sustainability since the network uses a Pure proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol.

In order to demonstrate recent NFT innovation, Algorand featured a number of sessions during its SXSW pop-up focused on nonfungible token projects. For instance, Shrina Kurani — a Democrat running for Congress in California’s 41st District — appeared on a panel to shed insight on the launch of her NFT collection. Known as “Kurani for Congr3ss,” she explained that this is a collection of 230 NFTs designed to raise awareness for her campaign while highlighting climate-friendly solutions in the Web3 space.

In order to detail the importance of her NFT collection being carbon neutral, Kurani was on stage alongside Priya Samant, CEO of Abris — a sustainable NFT marketplace built on Alogrand that partnered with Kurani on this particular drop. “The main collection featured 230 NFTs that represent the 230 billion tons of carbon remain in the world‘s ‘carbon budget,’” explained Kurani.

Kurani further told Cointelegraph that she is the first-ever federal candidate to launch NFTs for a congressional campaign:

“We are leveraging NFTs as a way to support a campaign to make a real impact on the future. It’s important to be connected to both Web3 and the real world to bridge the gap between politics and crypto — NFTs are a way of doing this.”

Kurani added that NFTs allow congressional candidates to represent the American population, claiming that 3 out of 10 Americans under the age of 30 engage with cryptocurrency. “This is a way to get those individuals involved. We can also reach more people and educate the population on financial literacy. The main thesis of Web3 is about decentralization, consumer empowerment and ownership, which is why we are excited about NFTs,” she remarked.

In addition to Kurani’s NFT collection, the American Rapper Darryl McDaniels also known as “DMC,” announced the tokenization of his song Million Scars at Algorand’s SXSW pop-up event. For this launch, McDaniels used Stoi.org, a technology platform built on the Algorand blockchain that features a carbon-neutral footprint and low transaction costs. McDaniels told Cointelegraph that blockchain technology allows musicians to solve common problems in the music industry:

“Run DMC has always brought people together for the better. What I’m doing with Algorand will help us manifest solutions needed to put power back into the creator‘s hands. Everything in the music industry has been exploited and separated, and now we have solutions to make it inclusive for everyone involved.”

NFTs made a splash at Ripple

The Ripple House, hosted by fintech firm Ripple, also featured a variety of NFT projects to highlight the company’s new Creator Fund. Monica Long, general manager of RippleX — Ripple’s innovation arm — told Cointelegraph that the fund is a $250 million commitment to help creators with their NFT projects:

“While creators are starting to understand the benefits of NFTs, they typically don’t know how to go about developing these projects. They either lack funding or marketing and technical expertise, so we wanted to launch the Creator Fund to solve these three challenges. We’ve already had over 4,000 applications, most from independent creators looking to grow their audiences.”

According to Long, Ripple’s Creator Fund examines a variety of NFT use cases, but the company plans to focus primarily on sustainability, real estate, music and entertainment moving forward. Long added that developers can currently experiment with NFT functionality on the XRP Ledger using NFT-Devnet, a beta environment for developers to use XLS-20d — the native NFT standard RippleX is proposing.

“We are working on a new standard to make the NFT minting, management and burning experience more natively built into the protocol. Other chains have NFTs programmed through smart contracts, so a lot of these capabilities are now built into the XLS-20d standard,” said Long. The executive added that Ripple anticipates the standard to go up for mainnet amendment voting in early April.

In the meantime, some were already demonstrating how the XRP Ledger could be used for NFTs. Kaj Leroy, co-founder and CEO of Xpunks — an NFT project built on the XRP Ledger — gave a glimpse into the project by creating custom JPG avatars for attendees. Leroy told Cointelegraph that Xpunks is currently waiting for the XLS-20d standard to be released before minting the actual Xpunk NFTs. “These are just JPGs now, but once XLS-20d launches we will make a big collage of all these JPGs, mint it, then send it to everyone who came to our booth at SXSW.” 

Ripple House at SXSW 2022. Source: Ripple

Stellar hosted an NFT artist challenge

Stellar also jumped on the opportunity to showcase NFT development during SXSW this year. The open-source decentralized protocol hosted a 48-hour NFT hackathon during the first weekend of South By, bringi newcomers and experienced developers together to build a project on the Stellar network that incorporates nonfungible tokens.

According to the prompt, artists were instructed to create NFT artwork that “embodies the metaverse.” Stellar then sent XLM funds to users’ Litemint wallet addresses to cover the minting fees. Participants had the opportunity to win $1,500 worth of XLM prizes for participating in the challenge.

Fluf World highlighted a “Metaverse Manifesto”

Another major topic of conversation during SXSW this year was Web3 and the rise of the Metaverse. Some of the most in-depth conversations regarding metaverse development took place at Fluf World’s Fluf Haus.

Alex Smeele, co-founder and CEO of Non-Fungible Labs and Metaverse environment Fluf World, told Cointelegraph that the company wanted to use SXSW as an opportunity to discuss plans for the launch of its “Metaverse Manifesto.”

Fluf World venue at SXSW 2022. SourceL Fluf World

While there are a number of different definitions for the Metaverse, Smeele explained that he believes it represents the future of the internet and how people will engage with it. As such, Smeele noted that the Metaverse requires standards that Web3 companies must address:

“The Metaverse Manifesto is a call to arms for industry leaders to address the wider issues we are facing. Everyone is charging headfirst into this space with big ideas, but there are still questions that need to be answered if we are going to drive things forward correctly. If we can bring the smartest people in the industry together to define these standards, it will save hassle moving forward.”

Smeele said that the sessions hosted at Fluf Haus focused on sustainability, inclusion, diversity and other topics shaping the Metaverse. “We had about seven ecosystem partners present to discuss these topics. Altered State Machine, Carbon Click, The Seekers, Silo team and a number of others came together to address important issues. Decentralization is about putting power back in the hands of individuals, but with great power comes great responsibility,” commented Smeele.

Alex Smeele, co-founder of Fluf World on a panel at Fluf Village during SXSW. Source: Fluf World 

Little attention for Bitcoin and crypto overall

Although it’s notable that NFTs and Web3 were major topics of discussion during SXSW 2022, cryptocurrency and Bitcoin (BTC) were largely left out of the conversation. Dan Held, growth lead at Kraken and a serial Bitcoin entrepreneur, highlighted this point in his recent recap of SXSW. In his post, Held noted:

“On Sunday morning at 10AM, I was the moderator of the ONLY Bitcoin panel at the conference called ‘Bitcoin DeFi’ where I chatted alongside Pomp, Alyse Kileen, and Tony Cai about the basics of Bitcoin, DeFi, and the intersection of the two. Pretty wild to think that we were the only Bitcoin talk!”

A few pop-up events during SXSW focused on the crypto ecosystem. The Grit Daily host featured a fireside chat on March 10 with Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius Network. Tal Bentov, vice president of lending at Celsius told Cointelegraph that she believes there was a genuine interest in crypto at SXSW, which is why it was important for Celsius to be one of the few crypto companies that showed up. 

So, there were very few official SXSW panels related to cryptocurrency. One of the panels that did discuss crypto in-depth was entitled Financial Surveillance in a Cashless Society. Sheila Warren, head of data, blockchain and digital assets at the World Economic Forum, was one of the panelists for this session. 

Warren told Cointelegraph that the discussion focused on policy and how regulators think about central bank digital currencies versus cryptocurrency. “We didn’t necessarily conclude anything specific, but the more we go digital, the more opportunities there are for tracking and tracing. There are ways to mitigate the ability for private and public sectors to track what you are up to online, though,” said Warren.

She added that an impressive number of SXSW attendees were present for this panel, demonstrating how important this topic is for many people, along with those who work in policymaking. Warren further remarked that while she thinks NFTs are the gateway into crypto, she hopes that South By attendees realize that a lot more is happening within the crypto ecosystem aside from NFTs:

“There is a lot going on in the ecosystem and, now, the industry is getting taken seriously by many different people all over the world. I’m happy to see this activity and that people are realizing it can be a fun technology, but it’s also serious and life-changing. I hope next year at SXSW we get more opportunities for discussion within the crypto world as a whole.”
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Kremlin Warns: Global Concerns Grow Over Dollar’s Political Use

NFT collections brought to life at SXSW: Doodles and FLUF World

Coin Telegraph
NFT collections brought to life at SXSW: Doodles and FLUF World
Austin

Interviews with the founding teams of Doodles and FLUF World NFT communities revealed how the digital and physical worlds can interact with each other.

Cointelegraph journalists at South by Southwest, or SXSW, in Austin, Texas reported that NFTs were everywhere this year, marking a new phenomenon for what began as a music festival in 1987. Since evolving into a film, tech and general culture gathering, and after a two-year hiatus, SXSW added blockchain programming to the mix with crypto-related panels, blockchain company sponsors and NFT community interactive experiences. 

Two NFT communities with the largest physical presences at SXSW were Doodles and FLUF World who ran immersive, multi-day and multi-sensory experiences. They built physical installations at which attendees would wait in long lines to enter and interact with these virtual communities in real life. Cointelegraph got to the bottom of how these digital collections came to life at SXSW.

Doodles is a collection of generative hand-drawn NFTs of skeletons, cats, aliens, apes and mascots. Doodle holders and curious passersby could enter a Doodle-themed structure to buy a drink at the bar, get Doodles painted on their nails, eat some noodles and display owned Doodle NFTs throughout the exhibit. If a t-shirt or sticker purchase was made at the Shopify-powered gift shop, customers entered a raffle to win a Doodle.

Cointelegraph spoke with the Doodles founding team about their mission at SXSW and the collection's roadmap. According to co-founder Jordan Castro, AKA Poopie, Doodles hopes to leverage its brand strength, reach and resources to help NFT owners with their own entrepreneurial efforts by monetizing their Doodles. 

"We are showing the world by example what we believe the future of brands to be; communities becoming stakeholders. It is our philosophy that communities will be the future flywheel of brand growth, and our approach is to foster successful, creative, technical and entrepreneurial talent from within our community."

Doodles launched in October 2021, and has since grown its Doodlebank, the community treasury, to a balance of over $3 million. Castro explained how Doodles holders can propose expansion initiatives, products, experiences or governance ideas in the Doodlebank Forum, and all Doodle holders get to vote on these proposals. Two of these proposals-turned-businesses were showcased at SXSW: Noodles and Coffeedoods. Noodles became an entirely new NFT collection and brand that grew to generate more than $550 thousand in sales and $500 thousand in royalties. 

Visitors at the activation lined up to get a taste, while those who needed a caffeine pick-me-up queued up at the coffee bar. Coffeedoods is a separate Web3 coffee distribution company founded by owners of Coffeehead Doodles, with a subscription NFT to receive monthly shipments of CoffeeDoods coffee. There are currently more than 5 thousand pre-sale customers, according to the company.

Future plans for the Doodles community include "continuing to bring Doodles into mainstream public consciousness" through additional IRL activations, said Castro. The team revealed that they will set up a permanent installation in a yet to be announced American city with support from local government and businesses.

Inside the Doodles installation.

Doodles also recently expanded their universe of "joy and rainbow puke" to include Space Doodles, which all Doodlers can claim for free in addition to an extended license NFT that grants them new commercialization rights into Doodle Toys. These toys or collectibles will target users with NFT figurines inspired by the original Doodles collection.

Related: Run-DMC‘s McDaniels at SXSW: Blockchain can take the power back for artists

The FLUF World pop-up village appeared a few blocks away from Doodles. FLUF World is a metaverse ecosystem of virtual land, music and games, known for its 3D rabbit avatar characters. FLUF developed the FLUF Haus arm of the company to create global IRL experiences, from Art Basel in Miami to the Super Bowl in Los Angeles and now to SXSW in Austin. The FLUF Haus SXSW edition blocked off an open area of bars, food trucks and three giant domes home to panel discussions, VR activities and artist workshops. In the evening, the NFT community could gather to enjoy DJ sets and musical performances.

According to Alex Smeele, co-founder and chief executive officer of Non-Fungible Labs and F World, SXSW offered the opportunity for industry leaders to connect in person and bring these traditionally online relationships into the real world.

"True power comes from how these digital and physical worlds intersect. NFT communities are a great way for people all around the world to come together around shared passions and form strong social bonds."

The FLUF team shared that part of the mission for being at SXSW was to advocate for an open metaverse and get the community to sign the Metaverse Manifesto. Smeele expressed that the crypto and NFT industries "can be very toxic and male-dominated for the most part," and that FLUF World intends to "weave ethics, diversity, and sustainability into the very fabric of our community" by helping to establish certain standards for Web3 companies.

Smeele added that FLUF aims to build a "scalable metaverse with play-to-earn mechanics, as well as invent new ways for content creators to engage with their fans." They partnered with the NFT collection Seekers, built by the Sylo Network that allows NFT owners to communicate their wallet address with any other wallet address, and with Altered State Machine, a protocol that enables AI ownership via NFTs. Together they set up an AR Snapchat experience for users to activate the FLUF World lens and enter the FLUF Dome via the app in order to enter for a chance to win FLUF characters or a Seeker NFT.

In addition to IRL events, the community has helped the New Zealand-based team to raise an estimated 2 million New Zealand dollars in support of sustainability initiatives, homelessness and Ukrainian refugees. Smeele described that their main focuses over the next quarter include collaborating with leading and up-and-coming music and visual artists, and launching their own token called Mycelium. Additionally, FLUF plans to bring further functionality to its metaverse-ready characters and introduce breeding for their rabbit avatars to reportedly allow people to join the community at a lower price point.

Related: Co-founders of UkraineDAO and Friends With Benefits DAO talk autonomous organizations at SXSW

Both of these communities took to the streets of Austin to showcase what their respective communities can expect from them: interaction, engagement and support to be their own creators. Another company, Blockchain Creative Labs, FOX Entertainment's NFT studio, also hosted its own Web3 discussions, events and giveaways at SXSW. Their main attraction included a Dolly Parton live performance on the blockchain on Friday evening and the launch of the Dollyverse, a NFT drop of Dolly's newest album.

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Kremlin Warns: Global Concerns Grow Over Dollar’s Political Use

Co-founders of UkraineDAO and Friends With Benefits DAO talk autonomous organizations at SXSW

Coin Telegraph
Co-founders of UkraineDAO and Friends With Benefits DAO talk autonomous organizations at SXSW
Austin

Panelists discuss whether DAOs can have enough legal power to replace not only corporate structures but to also challenge governance models.

Kimbal Musk, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Alex Zhang took to the SXSW stage on Monday to participate in the "Move Over NFTs. Here Come the DAOs" panel at Austin's Convention Center. Tolokonnikova is a former member of the Russian protest punk rock group Pussy Riot, and the co-founder of UnicornDAO and UkraineDAO. Zhang co-founded the social club, DAO Friends With Benefits, and serves as its mayor, while Musk cofounded the philanthropic Big Green DAO. Journalist Michael Casey moderated.

Throughout the discussion, the panelists described their distinct and contrasting use cases behind their own decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, and came to the conclusion that ownership, transparency and localization are the main principles of a successful DAO.

A self-proclaimed anarchist, Tolokonnikova said that the reason she entered Web3 was "to find better tools for activism" and found that DAOs could provide a "better governance model than a national government." She stated that UkraineDAO was more than a $7 million fundraising effort that gathered people behind the image of the Ukrainian flag, and is a "big jump for crypto" that even Ethereum's founder Vitalik Buterin supported.

She added that UkraineDAO broke the perception of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) being "just cartoon images" to show how NFTs can solve local problems. In this case, it was able to "distribute money really quickly" to help provide medical aid to those affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Related: Cryptopedia: Learn the basics of DAOs and how they work

On the other hand, Zhang's Friends With Benefits, or FWB DAO, started as "an online accident" in 2020 and has grown into a community of people with "social and financial alignment." FWB is made up of 6,000 token holders, including some public figures and celebrities, who work together to launch Web3 products, including the recently announced FWB.Archive tool that archives digital events.

Musk chimed in to expand on the idea of a DAO as a community that "isn't regulated by America or by any country in the world" and enables its members to have ownership over the value of the organization's outcome. He said that Big Green DAO "really wanted to experiment with the governance system" of nonprofits by "giving power to a community" over its treasury and grant donation process.

Tolokonnikova added that bureaucracy is a big problem in nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, because there isn't that transparency around the treasury or fund distribution. DAOs not only avoid bureaucracy and promote transparency, she said, but they could offer a better governance model than nation-states around the world. The UkraineDAO co-founder, who was imprisoned for two years in Russia for hooliganism, offered her "best example" of a weird personal limitation: "A chocolate bar can move from one country to another with no problems, but I can't."  

Related: Russian protest group Pussy Riot seeks to tackle gender inequality in the NFT space

Musk then pondered the idea of legal protection. Since Big Green DAO is concerned with the liabilities of nonprofit organizations, he questioned whether Web3 businesses operating as DAOs have the potential to go against centralized governmental legal systems.

According to Zhang, "laws are working to catch up" and in the meantime "a lot of amazing DAO infrastructure is being built that wants to operate in the real world," which is important for a DAO like FWB, which hosts physical experiences. When Cointelegraph asked him to expand on this point, he said that he hopes DAOs will eventually replace LLCs or C Corporations and "that no one even says DAO anymore" but simply organization. Zhang also revealed that FWB is working to automize payroll and issue W-2 tax forms to its members who can choose to be paid in whichever currency they like.

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Kremlin Warns: Global Concerns Grow Over Dollar’s Political Use

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Event recap Austin’s SXSW 2022: NFTs everywhere

Coin Telegraph
Event recap Austin’s SXSW 2022: NFTs everywhere
Austin

Companies from Doodles to luxury car manufacturer Porsche offered NFT-themed entertainment to the thousands of attendees appearing in person in Texas over the weekend.

South by Southwest, one of Austin’s biggest festivals with exhibits from tech industry leaders, films and musical acts, kicked off its first weekend — and the theme for many seemed to be nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.

From Friday to Sunday, companies from Doodles to luxury car manufacturer Porsche offered NFT-themed exhibits to the thousands of attendees appearing in person in Texas. Many panels and workshops included discussions on how to create and store customized NFTs during the event, with firms like Blockchain Creative Labs offering an interactive experience across the street from NFT galleries and other meetups.

Blockchain Creative Labs exhibit at SXSW. Photo: Rachel Wolfson

Three Cointelegraph team members were present for many of the events on-site, including designing personalized CryptoPunks at Ripple’s house on Rainey Street after enjoying a crypto-themed cocktail. Fluf World, one of the largest exhibits at the festival, featured immersible experiences with digital characters and drew in many participants with its rabbit avatars and panels on Web3 and the metaverse.

Ben McKenzie, the actor known for his roles on TV shows including Gotham and The OC who has also spoken out against public figures endorsing crypto, hosted a panel at SXSW with The New Republic staff writer Jacob Silverman and Edward Ongweso of Vice Media. While McKenzie said the widespread use of crypto-related products at the festival seemed to be a marketing tool, Ongweso added that he saw a consistent theme to companies promoting NFTs:

“I just expected more interesting gimmicks, demonstrations, attempts to show the real use of value, something fascinating and interesting about it. Instead, a lot of it is really centered on a very narrow experience that will maybe woo you, but not much in thinking about how this can actually do anything other than make money for you, maybe if you’re lucky.”
Ben McKenzie, Jacob Silverman and Edward Ongweso speaking on crypto at SXSW

Austin Mayor Steve Adler also spoke alongside Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on how the two cities are handling the changes in culture by drawing in tech firms and a diverse array of people. Though Adler announced on Friday initiatives to study how Austin could adopt crypto-friendly policies and promote the benefits of blockchain technology, crypto wasn’t the main topic of conversation outside of mentioning the city’s recent partnership with CityCoins.

Related: Crypto City: Guide to Austin

Founded in 1987, Austin’s SXSW festival drew in more than 400,000 people in 2019 before scaling back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the capital of the largest state in the contiguous United States, Austin has become a hub of major tech companies — earning it the nickname “Silicon Hills” — including Tesla’s headquarters as well as the regional offices for Facebook and Google.

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Kremlin Warns: Global Concerns Grow Over Dollar’s Political Use

Austin mayor embraces Web3 tech and crypto payments

Coin Telegraph
Austin mayor embraces Web3 tech and crypto payments
Austin

The second fastest-growing city in Texas will begin exploring policy capabilities to accept Bitcoin as a payment option and integrate other Web3 applications to improve resident's lives.

Mayor Steve Adler of Austin, Texas, has fully embraced the discovery of what blockchain technology and crypto payments can bring to his city by proposing two new initiatives.

The first initiative aims to ensure that Texas’s fourth-largest city promotes the benefits of blockchain technologies and “promotes equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion” in the technological ecosystem. To that end, May Adler directed the City Manager to explore how the city can utilize Web3 and blockchain in 20 fields from smart contracts, supply chain management, and insurance to arts, media, fundraising, and identity verification.

“The City Manager is directed to ensure the City is helping to create an environment within city government and in the community generally that supports the creation and development of new technologies, including without limitation blockchain and other Web3 related technologies, protocols, and applications.”

Mayor Adler’s second initiative orders the City Manager to conduct a “fact-finding study” on how the city could adopt Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency-related policies. Through these efforts, Mayor Adler appears to want to find ways for Austin residents to legally pay their bills with crypto.

Under this initiative, the City Manager should find ways to allow “the acceptance of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as payment for municipal taxes, fees, and penalties” as the first set of policies to look into.

The success of the two initiatives will be based on the level of effect new applications have on the everyday lives of Austin residents. The proposals will be voted on by the city’s council on March 24.

Austin’s City Council has been considering blockchain technological integrations since at least 2020 when a proposal was made to use smart contracts for the MyPass identity verification protocol.

Austin is in league with Miami, New York City, and the state of Colorado in rapidly expanding exploration efforts and proposed implementation of policies related to cryptocurrency. Miami and New York have already launched their own city-wide coin projects through City Coin on the Stacks layer-1 blockchain, while Austin’s own program is still in development.

Related: The city of Lugano will accept Bitcoin, Tether and LVGA tokens as 'de facto' legal tender

Philadelphia has expressed interest in joining the City Coins program, while Colorado’s Governor Jared Polis said in a Feb. 15 interview that the state will accept crypto for “state tax-related purposes.” He later expects to accept crypto for a wider array of state government services.

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Kremlin Warns: Global Concerns Grow Over Dollar’s Political Use

NFT project blankets Texas capital city in pro-crypto billboards

Coin Telegraph
NFT project blankets Texas capital city in pro-crypto billboards
Austin

“Our goal is that this billboard campaign will plant the seeds of understanding that there’s actually something to crypto,” said Sam Feldman.

The founder of a website guiding readers through the digital asset market started a campaign in Austin to increase awareness of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph, marketcap.guide founder Sam Feldman said he had deployed more than 100 billboards around the Texas capital city since July, each sharing a different message on Bitcoin (BTC), nonfungible tokens, and other aspects of the crypto space. Though the ads are aimed at encouraging adoption, funding for many of them came from tokenizing drone photos of the billboards and selling the resultant NFT.

The project claims to have spent more than $624,000 on the existing billboards before fully launching sales of the NFTs on Solana (SOL). According to Feldman, he plans to use 70% of the revenue from sales — bids are as high as $450 at the time of publication — to fund future billboards, with the remainder going to his team.

“It’s not just that we’re selling people a picture of a billboard,” said Feldman. “We’re asking people to believe in this idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy of billboards around the world where the more people that believe in it, the more it happens and happens and the more awareness spreads.”

Austin is already home to a number of crypto and blockchain firms as well as tech companies like Tesla. With so many billboards placed around the city over the last seven months, many residents have taken notice, with mixed reactions.

“Nobody has to put up billboards saying ‘the stock market is real’ or ‘gold is real’ or ‘real estate is real’ because they’re, well, obviously real and have intrinsic value,” said Redditor jimatx. “If you have to buy billboards to convince people your asset is real then maybe it ain’t so real.”

Feldman said though one of the billboard companies initially asked for a disclaimer similar to that of a political ad, the path in posting the pro-crypto messages has largely been clear of regulatory and legal hurdles. The marketcap.guide team may be looking at Miami and Los Angeles for the next rollout of billboards depending on how the campaign works in Austin.

“Our goal is that this billboard campaign will plant the seeds of understanding that there’s actually something to crypto,” said Feldman. “These short messages [...] help people think in a not overly politicized, overly shill way.”

Source: Crypto is Real

Related: Crypto City: Guide to Austin

Austin has slowly become a hub for many crypto firms looking for friendly regulators and lawmakers. Texas Governor Greg Abbott previously hinted that he wanted the state to follow Wyoming’s example in passing more crypto-friendly legislation and become a “crypto leader” for BTC payments. Many crypto miners operating in Texas are temporarily powering down in response to a winter storm passing through the state this week.

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Kremlin Warns: Global Concerns Grow Over Dollar’s Political Use

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