New York City’s largest NFT-focused event is about three months out, as the the area’s biggest crypto show will begin some of its most intense marketing over the next two months. The show is expected to host one-thousand speakers and five-thousand attendees from over 60 countries. According to the NFT.NYC website, the amount of nations being showcased via ticket holders and speakers is up 50% from 2021’s show. 

At the 99 day mark for last year’s event, 600 attendees from 30 countries were already registered, according to the NFT.NYC website. The latest registration numbers for this year’s event claim to have 3500 attendees from 64 countries. 

We’re excited to put as many speakers on stage as possible,” said Michael Battaglia, Event Coordinator of NFT.NYC. [We’re excited] to provide a forum for the NFT community to share their ideas.”

The event has gained some serious traction since its inception in 2019. At this stage in 2019, NFT.NYC had no registrations. In 2020, the event had 9 registrations 99 days out. 

With all the big names and brands sponsoring the event, NFT.NYC has become an animal of its own on the crypto event scene. As Miami spews with blockchain gatherings, places like Austin and Los Angeles are trying to host similar events. None have branded themselves with an entire city with the amount of success NFT.NYC has. Coinbase called NFT.NYC “the Superbowl of NFTs”.

The event also tops the list in cost for both attendees and sponsors. A general admission ticket is $599 for 2022’s event, with a VIP ticket topping out at $1,400. Sponsorships for the event range from itemized sponsorships in the $2,000 range, all the way up to a $100k VIP platinum sponsorship package. According to the NFT.NYC team, they expect all of their sponsorships to completely sell out throughout the event. 

NFT.NYC will take place June 20-23 at multiple venues across Times Square. 

RE/MAX Broker Chris Durrant has used social media to promote his real estate brand with NFTs

Chad Durrant, a Real Estate broker in Washington state, has taken the headwind of digital assets into his own job’s marketing strategies. In the cutthroat business of real estate, Durrant is attempting to separate himself from the pack by offering those who work with him complementary NFTs as a token of his gratitude.

Durrant placed ads on Instagram that can be seen across the country. The NFTs being gifted are 1155’s on the polygon blockchain.

According to Durrant, the impact digital assets have on the real estate market are not going unnoticed. In a recent conference in Las Vegas, RE/MAX brokers were put through a class about the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in regards to the real estate industry.

For the most part [the class] was a high level overview of what crypto exactly is,” said Durrant. “After returning from the conference, I realized that most people don’t know what crypto is and have no idea where to start.”

I have a knowledge of NFTs and I know how to create and distribute them, so I thought it would be a fun way for people to get their foot in the door and have a positive experience in this space,” he said when asked about the origins of his marketing campaign. “The digital world isn’t for everyone, and you really need to do your research before buying into projects or into digital currencies. I want to offer a safe, trusted and free way for my clients to own a NFT.”

Durrant spoke highly about the potential of blockchain technology in his industry on a fundamental basis. According to him, this type of tech will serve as the groundwork to the future of record keeping in real estate transactions. “Soon, I believe that NFT’s and the blockchain will start to be a common way for real estate transactions to be recorded,” said Durrant. “NFT’s will be the evolution of a deed of trust.”

“From what I do know about it, they talk about it in passing but this year has been the first that it’s been brought up in their meetings” said Durrant, when asked about if crypto even comes up in conversation either in or out of the office by his coworkers. “There is one [coworker] who buys crypto based on recommendations from his son, and he turned $250 into $10,000 on an NFT of an Ape on the Solana blockchain,” he said. “However, if you asked him to explain what his NFT did and why it was valuable, he wouldn’t have been able to answer you.”

Although the interest is there, the knowledge isn’t when it comes to crypto’s current function in the mortgage world’s water cooler chats. “I’m the only one out of my office that can speak to crypto at a proficient level. At the RE/MAX conference there was a good group of us that are proficient in the area.”

Durrant doesn’t believe that crypto will replace fiat currency, but has confidence they can work hand in hand both in and out of his industry. “I believe that in today’s age, people are scared of anything new or scared of things they don’t know anything about.” Right now, not many people know anything about NFT’s, mining and blockchain. If you ask them about Bitcoin, they’ll probably regret that they didn’t buy into it ten years ago.”

Not only does Durrant believe that knowledge in this space will give him a competitive edge, he also believes that by establishing himself as a crypto-native real estate go-to, he can give himself a tremendous advantage against his competition.

“I believe that in the near future the real estate industry will work alongside crypto. I believe that the real estate brokers that buy into now will end up ahead of those who don’t, and that’s why I want to be the first person running a promotion of this kind.”

Yan Zhao, President, NYDIG

As digital assets and traditional finance continue on path towards mutual integration, many companies from across the financial landscape have begun setting up the infrastructure to help large scale financial institutions offer crypto-enthused financial products and services. As a bitcoin and digital assets company that offers technology and financial services for institutional investors, NYDIG is a major player in the widespread incorporation of crypto-infused banking. 

The company is in the process of launching its Bitcoin savings plan, a B2B financial product that would allow individuals to directly invest in digital assets via their already existing mobile banking apps. Yan Zhao, President of NYDIG, spoke with deCashed at the New York Stock Exchange last week about this new product, cryptocurrency’s role in the future of consumer banking, and how the notion of widespread use of digital assets at a consumer level is much closer than it may appear. 

“The genesis here is really there’s this whole trend about getting paid in Bitcoin,” said Zhao, when asked about the most immediate impact digital assets have in traditional finance. Discussing NYDIG’s ‘Bitcoin savings plan’, she spoke about the idea of not just getting paid in digital assets, but how companies like NYDIG are providing legacy banks the infrastructure to give their customers digital asset buying power via the bank’s own platform. 

“Let’s say five percent [of a paycheck] every month, allocate it to a bank account that is powered by [another fintech] with our front end, and every time that cash hits a bank account, it automatically converts it to Bitcoin,” said Zhao. “So you set it, forget it, and you never have to worry about it, and every month you accumulate a little bit more. We call it a savings plan because it is a savings plan. Save away for a rainy day in an asset class we believe in, in a way that is secure and easy to access.”

Zhao highlighted two key components to any successful financial product, simplicity and efficiency. She used these two principles in an explanation of why NYDIG’s Bitcoin savings plan is a no-brainer for banks looking to incorporate digital assets. “You don’t have to download a whole new app, you don’t have to upload your selfie, you don’t have to wait and transfer money back and forth, it’s all right there.”

When asked about how digital assets can be incorporated in traditional finance, Zhao spoke on how many institutions have already incorporated crypto-induced ideas via fintechs into their suite of potential products. 

“Fintech is all about making financial services safe and accessible in a safe and secure fashion, [accessible] for more and more people, all while making it easier, cheaper and faster,” Zhao said. “How we approach [ideas] from a digital asset perspective is we ask ourselves, ‘how do we give access to bitcoin and digital assets in ways that are faster, cheaper, more integrated with how people live their lives’?”

Inside all this innovation through implementation of new and improved financial products, Zhao is well aware of the government’s lack of regulation when it comes to crypto’s recognition as a legitimate part of the US economy. According to her, NYDIG is ready for the feds to step in to the space, as the company has been abiding by the laws in place outside of crypto as a basis for possible regulations that are to come. 

“People say crypto is so unregulated, and you know, that’s not actually true,” said Zhao. “There are financial services for things like ‘what is a security’, and ‘what products can you offer to retail consumers?’ Regulation is out there. Even though those regulations don’t literally say the word Bitcoin, we believe from the very beginning that you can analogize that if you’re offering a financial service, which Bitcoin is, it’s a financial product.”

Zhao embraced specific regulation on digital assets, and reiterated that regulation would not be detrimental to her company’s business model. “Of course, there could be regulations that come out that are going to be more specific and we welcome it, we think it’s going to be fantastic. In the meantime, we’ve really taken a practical approach to this and that’s how we’ve done things, so we feel very comfortable with that approach.”

With New York etched in the company’s acronym, Zhao spoke about the city’s future role as the financial hub of the world. When asked about being a New York-branded company in an industry that is currently playing tug-of-war with where its geographic focal point will be, Zhao believes that New York can outlast cities like Miami and Austin in the race for modern finance’s longterm landing spot. 

“I think innovation can happen in lots of different places all at once, and frankly we welcome innovation no matter where it is, so I think it’s better for the entire digital asset economy,” said Zhao. “As a proud New York company, right now it feels like digital assets and crypto are so much different than traditional financial services, I think that it’s because it’s still relatively new.”

Zhao gave a prediction on the future of both New York as a financial hub and the merging of crypto and banking in one swoop. “I expect traditional finance and crypto currency industries to exist harmoniously together, deeply integrated in a lot of ways, for example being able to buy bitcoin through your banking app,” Zhao continued.

“As long as financial services are a big part of the world,” I think New York is going to remain a big part of the financial world.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke about cryptocurrency regulations in a House Financial Services Committee meeting last week, giving credit to the Russia-Ukraine war as a highlight for the need of regulatory oversight in digital assets.

“[The Ukraine-Russia conflict] underscored the need for Congressional action on digital finance including cryptocurrencies,” Powell said. “We have this burgeoning industry which has many parts to it, and there isn’t in place the kind of regulatory framework that needs to be there.”

Powell spoke to the committee about potential detrimental uses of crypto. He referred to “malicious actors” and “terrorists” as some of those who use digital assets to commit crimes, on top of crypto’s potential to allow Russia to get out of the barrage of international sanctions but against their fiat currency, the Ruble.

“This will be something that we will invest a fair amount of time and expertise … to get it right,” Powell said, emphasizing that “we have not decided to do it.”

“We have this burgeoning industry which has many parts to it, and there isn’t in place the kind of regulatory framework that needs to be there,” said Powell. “It was probably no different with railroads or telephones or the internet, and ultimately what’s needed is a framework, and in particular ways to prevent these unbacked cryptocurrencies from serving as a vehicle for terrorist finance and just general criminal behavior.”

Cryptocurrency is one of the last resorts the Russian regime has left to save their economy. They have been cutoff from western markets and have been removed from SWIFT, the international payments system that facilitates cross border transactions.

Democratic Senators wrote on Wednesday to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in an effort to vocalize concerns that the use of cryptocurrencies could be a loophole around international monetary sanctions against Russia.

“These concerns have become even more urgent given the sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren alongside other democrats wrote in their letter to Yellen.

Rumors have swirled about the Biden administration announcing some type of government system when it comes to the regulation of digital assets. No such announcement has come about.