Maybe it’s due to stereotypes, but I imagined people in the NFT scene to be pretty isolated from each other in real life.
There’s no doubt that the online NFT community in Malaysia has been going strong. After all, the NFT Malaysia Facebook page does have over 10K members. Yet, creators and collectors often seem shrouded by anonymity, so I assumed they wouldn’t like interacting outside of Discord or Twitter.
I could not have been more wrong. Turns out, these online communities translate into offline gatherings too.
Local NFT community gathers in physical meetup
An unusual crowd gathered at a cafe last Saturday to talk about all things NFTs.
The community gathering was hosted by Baby Boss, Gamer Punks, and Roach Punks, all local creators. On top of the free flow of food and drinks, giveaways and prizes were also included.
The founder of Gamer Punks tweeted that Baby Boss partially sponsored the event and provided giveaways, while Roach Punks partnered with the event venue, a cafe called The Merchant.
In fact, this partnership seems to have been going on for a while now. But the recent gathering seems to have had the largest turnout so far, at least according to a tweet.
Other than collectors, many PENTAS creators were also in attendance during this meetup, including the people behind Beardrops, PandaPunk, and more. Many participants decided to “doxx” themselves, meaning that they revealed their faces online for the first time.
Even Irsyad Saidin, the co-founder of PENTAS, tweeted live from the venue, capturing the crowd’s liveliness.
With so many people in attendance, this proves that the NFT community isn’t strictly an online community anymore. By creating connections and building trust offline, those who are interested in dabbling in the space but have been hesitant to do so might feel more emboldened to finally join.
Malaysia’s First NFT Conference?
Another group leveraging the growing NFT community in Malaysia is M1NTED, an NFT ConFest happening on June 4 and 5 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.
According to a press release, this ConFest (a combination of conference and festival) aims to help the public gain a better understanding of NFTs.
The event will be divided into two areas—conference and festival. The conference side will include panels on art, gaming, and music. Meanwhile, the festival side will feature activations, NFT showcases, and more.
M1NTED boasts that the two-day event will include “some of the region’s best minds, guild leaders, and industry luminaries”. However, the team hasn’t name-dropped anyone just yet.
The event is organised by The Livescape Group, a business and experience incubator based in Southeast Asia.
Artists interested in displaying their NFTs at the ConFest can sign up via a Google Form. Registration for the ConFest is set to open on May 1.
So far, M1NTED has already racked up over 11K followers on Twitter. We’ll have to wait until June to see if that number will translate into a high turnout.
NFTapir launches gallery
Local NFT marketplace NFTapir launched a metaverse gallery last Sunday. Powered by Spatial, the gallery features one artwork from each artist that has minted their art at least once.
Once you’re inside the gallery, you’ll be able to interact, chat, and talk to other visitors in real-time.
One of NFTapir’s distinctive features is its phygital system, whereby physical art is combined with digital spaces. This means the platform helps artists transform their artwork developed on physical mediums into NFTs.
This metaverse gallery is thus a continuation of its phygital movement. According to co-founder Zang Tan, the gallery was also created to “give artists a glimpse of how the metaverse experience is like”.
- If you’ve got something NFT-related to share that’s both exciting and locally-relevant, hit us up with your story at malaysia.team@vulcanpost.com.
- You can read more NFT content here.
Featured Image Credit: NFTapir / M1NTED / Gamer Punks
