South by Southwest, one of Austin’s biggest festivals featuring exhibits from tech industry leaders, movies, and music performances, kicked off its first weekend, and the topic for many seemed to be non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
From Friday through Sunday, companies from Doodles to luxury car maker Porsche offered NFT-themed exhibits to the thousands of attendees who showed up in person across Texas. Many panels and workshops featured discussions on creating and storing custom NFTs throughout the event, with companies like Blockchain Creative Labs providing an interactive experience in front of NFT galleries and other presentations.
Three members of the Cointelegraph team were present for many presentations at the event, including designing custom CryptoPunks at Ripple’s house on Rainey Street after enjoying a cryptocurrency-themed cocktail party. Fluf World, one of the festival’s biggest exhibits featuring immersive experiences with digital characters, attracted many attendees with its bunny avatars and panels on Web 3.0 and the metaverse.
Fluf World at SXSW pic.twitter.com/fqsgUeeVxy
— shinebright (@shine_bright434) March 14, 2022
Ben McKenzie, the actor known for his roles in television series such as Gotham and The OC, which has also spoken out against public figures endorsing cryptocurrencies, hosted a panel at SXSW with The New Republic staff writer Jacob Silverman and Vice Media’s Edward Ongweso. While McKenzie said the widespread use of crypto-related products like the festival appeared to be a marketing tool, Ongweso added that he saw a consistent theme in companies promoting NFTs:
“I was just expecting more interesting themes, demonstrations, attempts to show the actual use of value, something fascinating and interesting about it. Instead, a lot of the information is focused on a very limited experience that may captivate you, but without think hard about how this can actually do more than just make money for you, maybe if you’re lucky.”
Austin Mayor Steve Adler also spoke with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez in a discussion about how the two cities are managing changes in culture by attracting tech companies and a diverse set of people. Although Adler on Friday announced initiatives to study how Austin could adopt crypto-friendly policies and promote the benefits of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency was not the main topic of conversation, aside from mentioning the city’s recent partnership with CityCoins.
Founded in 1987, Austin’s SXSW festival drew more than 400,000 people in 2019 before being curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the capital of the largest state in the contiguous United States, Austin has become a hub for large tech companies – earning it the nickname “Silicon Hills” – which includes the headquarters of Tesla as well as regional offices of Facebook. and Google.
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