'Less interest than anticipated': PROOF cancels NFT event
Kevin Rose, co-founder of non-fungible token collection (NFT) Moonbirds, has confirmed that his flagship "Test Conference" conference scheduled for May has been cancelled, citing "less interest than anticipated."
We made a difficult decision today, and I want to apologize to everyone who planned to make the trip. Full ETH refunds have been processed, hotels are refundable and contact us about flights. (details below) https://t.co/tV4ba85648
โ KฮVIN RโSE (,) (@kevinrose) February 20, 2023
The conference was first announced in early November. It was scheduled to run in May. 11 to May. 13 in Los Angeles.
However, Rose explained in a February 20 letter to ticket holders that the time was not "right" for the conference:
โAs you know, in the world of NFTs, timing is everything. And today, it's time for us to recognize that right now is not the right time for Conference TEST."
Rose explained that he and his PROOF team considered alternatives, such as opting for a new location in Los Angeles, where it was to be held, a smaller venue, reducing the scope of the event, and lowering ticket prices.
But ultimately, it was best to cancel the entire event, he said.
โAfter several weeks of sales data, speaking with potential sponsors, and speaking with members of the community, it is clear that there is much less interest than anticipated for an event like this at this time.โ
Rose confirmed that Ether (ETH) refunds are being processed right now and that PROOF has a claims page for people to submit non-refundable flight cancellations.
The event was to feature Michael "Beeple" Winkelmann, the artist behind the famous NFT that sold for $69 million in March 2021 โ Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow of yuga laboratories and NFT entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, among others.
The announcement comes despite the The NFT market has skyrocketed in recent months, with the month of January in particular seeing an eight-month high in monthly NFT trading volumes above $1 billion.
Artist Paid $150,000 for Ordinals Bitcoin Wizard Meme
The appearance of NFT-like โordinalsโ in Bitcoin over the past month has brought a number of meme images to the net of late, including a famous Bitcoin wizard meme that first appeared on the Bitcoin subreddit in 2013.
Thanks to Ordinals, the artist of said meme, known as โMavensbotโ, has just received 6 Bitcoin (BTC), worth $150,000 at current prices for his iconic work.
This was made possible after blockchain research analyst Udi Wertheimer and the meme-inspired Bitcoin community Taproot Wizard inscribed the wizard meme on Bitcoin to not only "celebrate the 10th anniversary of his art" but also to earn some money for the creator of the meme. โMavensbotโ, according to Wertheimer:
Short story on how we got NFT mfers to support a historic bitcoin artist with $150,000 via flash payouts, and how the bitcoin maxis HATE us for it.
(I know it's a long tweet but it's a good story)
Mavensbot (at the top of the screenshot below) is the creator of the famous 2013... https://t.co/kPd9IlCaWs pic.twitter.com/wGTegIiDM4
โ Udi Wertheimerโโ๏ธ (@udiWertheimer) February 21, 2023
In the first three hours alone, 6 Bitcoin (BTC) were sent from "NFT enjoyers" to Mavensbot via the Lightning network.
โSeeing this made me very happy. The NFT community that I admire, that uses the bitcoin asset and the lightning network that I believe in, to support an artist whose work means a lot to me.โ
โYou love watching it,โ he added.
Taproot Wizards is part of a movement that wants to "make Bitcoin magical again" with magical Internet JPEGs forever inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain.
However, Wertheimer highlighted that not everyone agrees with the entire Ordinals concept, particularly โBitcoin maximalists.โ
But Wertheimer doubled down, urging Bitcoin maximalists not to take it all seriously:
โIt's time to return to the spirit of the bitcoin wizard of 2013. Joy, experimentation, innovation. Not taking ourselves so damn seriously all the time. HAVE FUN, for Satoshi's sake. I really believe that with ordinals we finally have a chance to do this.โ
Australian cocktail bar launches NFT membership program
Aussie cocktail and NFT connoisseurs have been given a new place in Sydney to hang out, one that allows holders of their non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to access extra bar privileges.
Sydney-based cocktail bar, Bar Lulu, opened on February 21 local time, along with an NFT Members Club Bar called Cryptolulu.
Based in Sydney and overlooking the city's harbour, customers will need to purchase the NFT Member Club Bar on the NFT OpenSea marketplace on the Ethereum network to access certain privileges.
There are three tokens that can be purchased: Jia Lulu, Joo Lulu, and Ryuu Lulu.
Each NFT represents a different tier for your membership that will unlock unique and incremental rewards, priorities, and benefits.
Token holders will be able to attend a variety of different Web3 networking events and educational sessions, will be granted access to exclusive private lounges and dinners, among other things.
Bar Lulu claims that the NFT membership program is the first in Australia.
The bar added that the launch comes after months of seeing how similar experiments carried out abroad in the hospitality sector.
Former Amazon exec launches Yelp-like platform to review NFTs
Former Amazon and Starbucks executive Ben Straley launched NFT startup "Thred," claiming to be the Yelp, Tripadvisor, or Zillow of the NFT industry.
NFT-focused startup "Thred" launched on February 16 and will serve to help users discover and review NFT collectibles, according to a report. report by TechCrunch.
Straley's move into the NFT space comes after 25 years in leadership roles in digital products and customer experience.
Thred's platform will combine automated machine learning and algorithms to classify NFTs on the Etherum and Polygon networks.
It will serve to help potential buyers better understand the importance of the collections and to help distinguish which NFTs are legitimate.
Other witty news
A month after the NFT-like "Ordinals" mania in Bitcoin, a the protocol fork has taken place to make ordinals possible on the Litecoin network. Australian software engineer Anthony Guerrera said it was "pretty simple" and that he was motivated to make the fork due to a 22 LTC reward.
Real Vision CEO and co-founder Raoul Pal also stated on February 20 that NFTs will act similar to high-end property in the traditional economy, and potentially outperform Ether (ETH) during bull markets.
The former JPMorgan executive explained that NFT collections like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have become status symbols, just like luxury cars and homes, and he expects that trend to continue.
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