“Degens” And Sports Powers Debate Blockchain And Web3.

I met “degens” through online poker. Degen is short for “degenerate,” yet some younger gamers proudly wear it, jaded and sardonic from a lifetime of internet access. Degens was employed. They make sacrifices for the greater good. Players may take pride in their huge hands. Massive losses in broadcasting? Paying for community clout? That is what true degens do.

I spent late nights and early mornings grinding on micro-stakes tables, but my bankroll and skills were never deep enough to get me to degen rank. I thought I had abandoned them after logging out.

I then attended NFT Fest, where I met web3 degens and Australian business leaders.

NFT support was pledged by both parties. The practicality of industry leaders contrasts with the comedy of shitposting degens.

NFT projects are trusted by sports leaders.

For SmartCompany, I attended the NFT Fest lectures in St Kilda’s Alex Theatre on Thursday afternoon. Unlike other NFT tournaments around the world, the arena was packed. One person in the lobby was barefoot, so I took care not to trip. There were eight Samoyed dog paws at the movie door. The event was sponsored by Samoyedcoin, a “top community, dog money, and champion of the Solana ecosystem.”

In the foyer, Australia’s largest sporting codes debated web3 integrations while dogs and degens mixed. The Australian Open announced on Thursday that holders of the AO Art Ball NFT collection will receive a week-long double access to the event next year. The announcement benefited attendees who purchased 6776 NFTs in January. However, the discussion centered on how to engage non-technical followers who may be concerned about the recent failures of cryptocurrency players such as FTX.

Ridley Plummer, Tennis Australia’s senior manager of NFTs and Web3, stated that the organization is now attempting to target tennis enthusiasts who are not NFT lovers. Finding ways to expose NFTs to a following that is older and more feminine than most other codes remains a difficulty, according to him.

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He told the audience that he intended to recruit tennis fans. “I suppose we’re all aware of the difficulties in onboarding conventional fans into the web three space.” The use of “technology for good” by brands such as the Australian Open will help “quash some of those skepticisms that come with things like the FTX issue that’s been going on,” he added.

Plummer believes it is critical to winning over those cautious customers in order to keep the NFT initiative alive.

“We can’t afford to lose money on a project like this,” he said. So we must keep it going in order to benefit the consumer or holder in the end.”

Joan Norton, Cricket Australia’s commercial strategy manager, stressed how sports codes are attracted by the financial implications of NFTs but are concerned about their public perception. Cricket Australia has issued NFTs for use in the Cricrush game, however, the name NFT is not used in its marketing.

“One thing I will say, from a CA [social media] standpoint and what we’ve been putting out, is not to use NFT, but to speak about them as digital collectibles and attempted to kind of lure people into the program rather than NFTs,” she continued.

Cricket has arguably more reason to be disgusted by FTX’s high-profile demise than most other sports. When the cryptocurrency exchange FTX went bankrupt, Cricket Australia’s global governing body, the ICC, was forced to suspend FTX’s sponsorship of the recent T20 World Cup, which was held in Melbourne. The worldwide collaboration is now in tatters.

Before moderating a discussion, Greg Oakford, founder of NFT Fest, emphasized the importance of distinguishing the NFT ecosystem from the chaos in centralized blockchain operations such as FTX.

“It’s on each and every one of us here at NFT Fest, as pioneers in this area in this nascent technology, to truly convey in a clear, eloquent way, the distinction between what happened with FTX and what is happening in NFT land,” he told SmartCompany.

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“It’s just that it’s 100% brick by brick, block by block, showing people the difference between cryptocurrencies and digital assets.”

Crypto residents emphasize the importance of culture.

It wasn’t long before the degens arrived. Following the sports league discussion, Web3 stars Clouted and Boot took the stage to speak about new cultures created through Web3 communities. According to Clouted, who works with brands at West Coast NFTs, and Boot, a Pepe-poster and proponent of “post-ironic ironism,” the cultural connections formed through NFT in-groups are just as important as the financial value those projects bring.

They warn against measuring the worth of a collection primarily on its monetary value in a market where NFT prices have decreased.

Such an idea is unlikely to sit well with the industry heavyweights who spoke on the day, who would want to think that their big-budget NFT projects provide more than just a sense of unity among token holders. However, it appears that, for the time being, the sector requires its degens, its true keepers of the faith, while major brands find ways to win over ordinary people.

I left NFT Fest delighted with the numbers and enthusiasm of those in attendance. It must have triggered some underlying instinct in me as well. Soon, I was in the back room of the bowls club, surrounded by players clearly familiar with each other, whose trust and humor had undoubtedly been refined over years, and numerous chips traded back and forth.

My luck ran out early, as it often does, but it was a little setback that I could live with. As I drove home, I reflected on the players who remained at the table.

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