a16z Live

NFT Virtual Summit (full audio)

Episode Summary

A virtual summit, hosted by a16z and the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research, with the best NFT builders and thinkers discussing the latest trends in NFTs, insights and use cases, social and monetization impacts, and the future of NFTs in the crypto market.

Episode Notes

For videos of the NFT Virtual Summit, visit a16z.com. 

Session 1: The Future of the Digital Ownership Economy with Dan Boneh (Stanford University) and Chris Dixon (a16z)

• What is an NFT? [3:01]
• Why are NFTs  so big right now? [7:04]
• The most exciting programmable ownership structures  [11:36]
• NFTs and composability: what can  you do with NFTs? [15:16]
• How would quantum impact the immutability of the blockchain ledger? [18:40]
• How important is decentralized permanent storage for NFTs... and when will we get there? [20:54]

Session 2: The New Creative Economy with Kayvon Tehranian (Foundation Labs)

• How Foundation Labs works with creatives [24:54]
• Digital Art NFTs: Nyan Cat, Ethiopian Artists Collective, Rafael Rozendaal, Aphex Twin, and Reuben Wu [28:08]
• The Edward Snowden NFT [33:45]
• Why is tracking provenance powerful for creatives? [36:34]
• Creators becoming collectors and crypto investors [39:00]
• Can you buy an NFT on one platform and sell on another and still track provenance? [41:31]

Session 3: NBA Top Shot and Other NFTs on the Flow Blockchain with Dan Boney (Stanford University) and Dieter Shirley (Dapper Labs)

• The Flow Blockchain from CryptoKitties to NBA Top Shot [45:18]
• What is NBA Top Shot, and what was the hardest part of building it [50:34]
• Building a successful user experience [52:55]
• Negotiating with the NBA [54:32]
• The biggest challenges for NFTs going mainstream [56:55]
• Why did they build their own blockchain? [1:01:23]
• Building ERC-721 and lessons learned on crypto standards [1:04:00]

Session 4: Going Beyond Collectibles and The Future of Tokens for Creators with Kevin Chou (Rally) and Chris Dixon (a16z)

• What are social tokens? (and how is Portugal. The Man. using them) [1:05:51]
• What are the roles of fungible and non-fungible tokens? [1:08:30]
• NFTs in gaming now and what's next [1:14:35]
• Pricing and price discovery for NFTs [1:17:39]
• Tips for launching a social token [1:19:06]
• How does Rally make money? [1:22:08]

Session 5: NFT Use Cases Today and Tomorrow with Devin Finzer (OpenSea) and Katie Haun (a16z)

• What does OpenSea do? [1:26:14]
• Why the sudden interest in NFTs? [1:28:35]
• What can and can't be turned into an NFT [1:30:13]
• How NFTs can interact with the physical world [1:32:33]
• Virtual lands and the metaverse economy [1:35:14]
• Virtual concerts and NFT tickets [1:40:44]
• Mixing and remixing NFTs [1:43:04]

Session 6: The Accidental Art DAO with pplpleasr (digital artist)

pplpleasr's NFT "Apes Together Strong" that was auctioned as part of The NFT Summit serves as the artwork for this podcast.