From a local pizza shop recently starting to accept Dogecoin to increasing fees for adding large images based on the elusive token, the growth of the cryptocurrency market this year is making headlines in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood.
The neighborhood, which also includes beach clubs that use heat from crypto-mining equipment to heat swimming pools and a fitness center where bitcoin prices are usually handwritten on the walls, has become something of a brick building. represents a market scene known for its blossoms and busts. After last year's massive crash, digital asset prices are starting to recover, as are Williamsburg artists, techies and small business owners who have a stake in the market.
"I'm just trying to prepare for the next bull season," said Erdem Tezeren, barista at Turkish coffee shop Lion's Milk and co-founder of Caffeinated Lions, the most connected digital asset subscription program. with artwork and collectibles available on the crypto blockchain. As the cryptocurrency industry slowly but surely recovers from last year's collapse, with optimism that U.S. regulators will eventually approve exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin directly, Tezeren and many others in Williamsburg are paying close attention to the outlook for the NFT market.
According to DappRadar, monthly NFT trading volume fell by 81% from January 2022 to July 2023. Things were better in October, with monthly volume up 32% from September, the first increase of the year. However, monthly flows of more than $405 million are just a fraction of industry highs, which reached $17 billion last year, according to DappRadar. But the recent additions are enough to revive the interest of collectors and artists in the neighborhood. For the past several months, Tezeren said, the Lion's Milk team has been working on launching NFT merchandise to promote the membership program and the bar itself, which is already known for the NFT gallery displayed on its walls. Lion's Milk, located at the corner of North 6th and Roebling streets, began selling Ape Water from Web3 Ape Beverages in October and plans to offer more IP Bored Ape Yacht Club products in the near future.
One of the store's founders, Yzer Saporto, started integrating NFTs into the bar 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 held an Apecoin Creators & Bored IP meeting, which brought together around 40 influencers and enthusiasts. Saporto described the event as "sold out" in line with the increase in attendance at Lion's Milk NFT events in recent months.
The most common display of digital art icons in Williamsburg is found a few blocks down Roebling Street: a giant NFT wall that spans the length of a three-story apartment building. This painting of over 130 NFT images is the work of graffiti artist Lorenzo Masno, who commissioned his first work two years ago. The wall became popular after Web3 instructors Mec Zilla and Bored Ape Yacht Club posted photos and videos online. Soon, Masna said, he received requests for additions from the likes of Matt Hall and John Watkinson, creators of the Crypto Punks NFT collection, and Nick Johnson, lead developer of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), the domain name system on the Ethereum blockchain. block chain. . . .
Masna revisited Williamsburg last month to paint a new mural in honor of its second anniversary. So far, he's earned commissions on more than ten new additions — and counting, leading him to plan to return to Williamsburg in the spring. “When the market price went up, I saw more interest in the wall,” Masna said. "Now someone asks me about commissions every few days." For the past two months, Masnah and the Lion's Milk team will serve as a gathering place for the NFT community looking at the wall on Grand Avenue, eager to buy a property full of digital and physical art, merchandise, and Web3 games. .
Even pre-NFT companies are interested in cryptocurrencies. 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 it decided to launch a blockchain-based loyalty program with NFT membership cards, which now has more than 277 active users. Pizza Hub co-founder Aaron McCann calls himself a "blockchain geek." Over the past two years, Williamsburg Pizza has sponsored events for crypto companies such as Chainlink, DotConnector, and Dart Studios. "We served pizza at some of these places because we wanted to know more about it," McCann said.
But despite what appears to be some initial movement in the NFT market, not everyone sees this momentum as sustainable. Sarah Gergelos, a researcher at DappRadar, attributed the increase in demand for NFTs to the rise in prices of Ether tokens and the holiday season. "NFTs are increasing as we get closer to Christmas," Gergelos said. “Retail buyers may want to buy them as gifts. "NFTs are generally considered a luxury if you have money to spend." Gergelos also noted the convictions of Binance Holdings Ltd. and former CEO Changpeng Zhao as evidence of ongoing anti-money laundering and US sanctions violations, as well as recent layoffs at NFT companies OpenSea and Yuga Labs. The web industry 3.
For better or worse, cryptocurrency enthusiasts are making their presence felt in Williamsburg, whether it's the bitcoin prices scrawled on the walls of Chalk Gyms or GHOST Williamsburg's personal training using xyz's Web3-friendly website. Even a bathroom in Williamsburg has been affected by the world of cryptocurrencies. Jason Goodman co-founded Bathhouse in 2019, and two years later, as a "fun side project," he decided to turn the pool into a pool with a Bitcoin mining rig. These spas reuse excess heat from Bitcoin mining, which uses powerful, power-hungry computers to generate revenue from verifying Bitcoin transactions. According to Goodman, Bathhouse produces less than a full bitcoin a year, or about $39,000 at current prices, with nine miners working 24/7. By the end of the year, the team plans to open a new location in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan. While Goodman said he's not mining bitcoin to get rich or attract cryptocurrency enthusiasts, he suggested Williamsburg residents might be interested.
"There can be a demographic overlap among people who live in Williamsburg: highly educated people and free thinkers in the creative industries," Goodman said. "It makes sense that people here are interested in crypto." "Silicon Valley is getting a little crowded," said Daniel Lynch, a former Brooklyn resident and head of institutional partnerships at MetaMask. "Williamsburg has a synthesis of, 'I want to build a program and I want it to be stable, but I don't have to wear a suit every day.' The revival of NFTs is high and growing, bitcoin was traded in Williamsburg 19 months ago and beyond, hopes grew that the clothes would be left in the closet.
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