(Bloomberg) -- From a local pizzeria that recently started accepting Dogecoin to increasing fees for adding large images based on non-flipperable tokens, this year's cryptocurrency coin boom is causing a stir in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. .
With a spa that uses heat from cryptocurrency mining rigs to heat swimming pools and a gym where the price of Bitcoin is regularly written on the wall, the area has become somewhat of a casual gym. An indicator of market sentiment, both in its reputation and in its failures.
After an epic decline last year, digital asset prices are rising again, as is the appetite for Williamsburg artists, techies and small business owners interested in the market.
“I'm trying to prepare for the next bull season,” said Erdem Tezeren, a barista at Lion's Milk Cafe in Turkey and co-founder of Caffeinated Lions, a membership program based on Fuzzy Signs, the most popular digital asset. . Works of art and collectibles stored in crypto locks.
As the cryptocurrency industry slowly but surely recovers from last year's crash, the outlook for the NFT market is especially bright amid optimism that U.S. regulators will ban exchange-traded funds that directly own bitcoin, Tesere and others in Williamsburg.
From January 2022 to July 2023, monthly NFT trading volume decreased by 81%, according to DappRadar. The situation improved in October, with monthly volumes up 32% from September, the first increase this year. However, monthly flows of more than $405 million represent just a fraction of the industry's high, which reached $17 billion last year, according to DappRadar. However, recent growth has been enough to revive collectors and artists in the area.
Read more: NFTs were once considered the next big thing, but they're now facing the 'worst of times'.
Tezeren said the Lion's Milk team has been working in recent months to introduce NFT products to promote the membership program and the cafe itself, which is already known for its NFT gallery displayed on its walls. Lion's Milk, located at the corner of North 6th and Roebling Streets, began selling Ape Water to Web3 Ape Beverages in October and plans to offer more Bored Ape Yacht Club IP products soon.
The store's co-founder Iser Saporta began integrating NFTs into the cafe in October 2021. Since then, the store has hosted events for Bored Ape and Moonbirds NFT holders, as well as Wagumi DAO members. At the end of September, Lion's Milk hosted an Apecoin Creators & Bored IP event that brought together around forty influencers and enthusiasts. Saporta described the event as a "sold-out crowd" given the growing number of people at NFT events held at Lion's Milk in recent months.
Williamsburg's most massive display of digital art icons is located a few blocks off Roebling Street: a giant wall of NFTs stretching the length of a three-story building. The more than 130 images on the NFT are the work of graffiti artist Lorenzo Masny, who was commissioned to complete his first piece two years ago.
Read More: $200,000 Pet-Rock NFT Shows Crypto Drop Due to FOMO
The wall became famous after Web3 teacher Mek Zillah and the Bored Ape Yacht Club shared photos and videos of it online. Shortly after, Masna revealed that he hosted Matt Hall and John Watkinson, founders of the Crypto Punks NFT collection, as well as Nick Johnson, one of the leading developers of Ethereum's domain naming system, Ethereum Name Service (ENS). Blockchain.
Masna returned to Williamsburg last month to paint new murals to celebrate his second anniversary. So far, he has received more than ten additional orders and continues to grow, with plans to return to Williamsburg this spring.
“As the market grows, I see more interest in the wall,” Masna said. “Now every two days I get asked about commissions.”
For the past two months, Masna and the Lion's Milk team have been mulling over purchasing a property on Grand Avenue that would serve as an NFT community hub filled with digital and physical art, merchandise and Web3. games. . . .
Read More: NFTs and the Boom and Bust of the 'Squeeze Monkey': QuickTake
Even pre-NFT companies are jumping on the crypto bandwagon. Founded in 2012, Williamsburg Pizza began accepting Dogecoin at its Williamsburg and East Village locations a few weeks ago. The move comes a month after the company decided to launch a blockchain-based loyalty program including an NFT membership card, which currently has over 277 active users.
Aaron McCann, co-founder of the pizzeria, calls himself a “blockchain enthusiast.” Over the past few years, Williamsburg Pizza has sponsored events for cryptocurrency companies such as Chainlink, DotConnector, and Dart Studios.
“We offer pizza in some of these circles because we like to learn about space,” McCann said.
While this appears to be a pre-bull period for the NFT market, not everyone sees the momentum continuing. Sarah Gergelas, a researcher at DappRadar, attributes the increased demand for NFTs to rising Ether token prices and the holiday season.
“As Christmas approaches, the number of NFTs is increasing,” Gergelas said. “Retail customers may want to buy it as a gift. NFTs are generally considered a luxury item if you have money to spend.
Gergelas also highlighted Binance Holdings Ltd's guilty plea. and former CEO Changpeng Zhao for violating US anti-money laundering sanctions, as well as the recent firings of NFT companies OpenSea and Yuga Labs as evidence of their ongoing problems. Web3 work.
Read more: Binance pleads guilty, loses CZ and pays fines to end legal woes
Fair or not, crypto enthusiasts are making their presence known in Williamsburg, whether it's the price of Bitcoin written on the wall of Chalk Gyms or the price of private training company GHOST Williamsburg using the Web3-friendly website xyz.
The Williamsburg spa is also part of the crypto world. Jason Goodman founded Bathhouse in 2019, and two years later decided to outfit pools with Bitcoin mining hardware as a “fun side project.” The spa reuses excess heat generated by Bitcoin mining and uses powerful computers that consume large amounts of electricity to generate revenue by validating Bitcoin transactions.
Bathhouse makes less than a full bitcoin a year, or about $39,000 at current prices, with nine mining rigs running 24/7, Goodman said. By the end of the year, the group plans to open a new site in the Flatiron district of Manhattan that will mine Bitcoin. Goodman said he didn't get into Bitcoin mining to get rich or to attract crypto enthusiasts, he just assumed Williamsburg residents would be interested.
“There is probably a demographic overlap between the people living in Williamsburg: well-educated people and free-thinking people in the creative industries,” Goodman said. “It makes sense that people here are interested in cryptocurrency.”
“Silicon Valley was a little crowded,” said Daniel Lynch, a former Brooklyn resident and managing director of institutional partnerships for MetaMask. "The challenge at Williamsburg is, 'I want to build a program and I want it to be sustainable, but I don't want to wear a suit every day.'
With Bitcoin trading near a 19-month high and NFTs showing signs of recovery, hopes are growing that these clothes will be hanging in closets in Williamsburg and beyond.
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