NFT weekend conference in Miami features Wyclef Jean, big tech players

“Wyclef is coming! Wyclef is coming!” a lady in a blazer shouted. Her calls to the large crowd at Mana Wynwood Convention Center were loud enough to get people’s attention in South Beach.

Tech investor and music superstar Wyclef Jean wore a yellow hat and boots with jewels all over them, as he took the nearby stage to speak.

Somehow, the three-time Grammy winner’s presence fit right in with the tech investors, luxury cars and women walking around wearing bunny masks Friday on opening day of Miami NFT Week.

Through Sunday, Web3 entrepreneurs, investors and enthusiasts will converge in Wynwood for this futuristic extravaganza. The event is designed to educate people about the ways Web3 can be used for business and everyday life. It’s the latest incarnation of the internet, allowing participants to own and manipulate the World Wide Web for their own use.

The three-day agenda features 250 speakers and focuses on non-fungible tokens, decentralized finance, the metaverse, blockchain, and Web3. There’s plenty of time to network and people watch.

Among the scheduled speakers are Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Anthony Scaramucci, SkyBridge founder and former White House communications director for former President Donald J. Trump. Baron Davis, former NBA All-Star and Pac-10 Freshman of the Year basketball star now entrepreneur, and Anthony Di Iorio, co-founder of Ethereum, also will speak.

Locals featured include: Laura Rodriguez, co-founder of The Miami Ape LLC, a Web3 consulting and media company, and a Bored Ape Yacht Club Council Member; Michelle Abbs, co-founder of Web3 Equity; and Juliana Echavarria, president of Blockchain Club at Florida International University.

Miami NFT Week was started last year by Gianni D’ Alerta, Ted Lucas and Erik LaPaglia. D’ Alerta, a Miami native, has been interested in cryptocurrency since 2013.

In an interview with the Herald on Thursday, D’Alerta said people new to NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, and blockchain can benefit from this multiday conference. They can learn how NFTs can be useful for artists or folks in real estate, for example.

Non-fungible tokens are a range of items one owns that could be sold physically. But they are converted into digital products and so can be transferred more easily.

“NFTs are a good gateway to the rest of the blockchain ecosystem, the Web3 ecosystem,” especially for people not very technical or who don’t have a finance background, D’ Alerta said.

That is because when purchasing a piece of art as an NFT, you have to learn how to download a blockchain wallet and acquire some crypto. And you have to do the transaction on the blockchain to make the purchase.

“It’s a way for them to understand how it [blockchain, Web3] works, and it has the potential for some to be life-changing,” D’ Alerta said.

Venture Miami executive director Erick Gavin is a proponent of tech education and thinks that Web3 can support the arts, one of Miami’s biggest cultural assets. He sees community as the bedrock of Web3. On a panel Friday at the NFT conference about building cities in the metaverse, Gavin was enthusiastic about how tech can benefit the local arts community.

“Every single person here who is a creative, the promise of Web3 is that you’ll be able to own what you make,” he said. “That ability to retain ownership is what we’re trying to preserve. As a city, let’s make sure we’re creating spaces for that and that’s what we want the city to do. We don’t want to dictate what people make. Here in Wynwood, the graffiti that you see, we don’t dictate that.”

Gavin was in conversation with New Orleans marketing professionals Arthur Boisfontaine, a supporter of the NOLAverse, and Walt Leger, president of civic marketing organization New Orleans & Company. Like Miami, New Orleans is watching its tech sector grow. Boisfontaine and Leger agree Web3 is a core part of that growth.

Attendees like New York-based marketing executive Darren Wilen are exploring Web3 potential in great detail over the weekend.

“How do people make money?” Wilen asked a group in a large meeting space outside one of the stages. He has worked in marketing for three decades and his 81-year-old father, Richard, was with him to learn more about NFTs. Richard Wilen was instrumental in the creation of cable television.

As someone that pitched companies on the value of QR codes in 2008, Darren Wilen is familiar with seeing innovative concepts like NFTs in their infancy. He understands that while there can be bad actors in digital currency as was seen with the FTX implosion late in 2022, staying the course is important. He is hopeful that the value of NFTs to society can become more clear sooner than later.

Michael Butler writes about the residential and commercial real estate industry and trends in the local housing market. Just like Miami’s diverse population, Butler, a Temple University graduate, has both local roots and a Panamanian heritage.