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- 🇦🇪 Dubai 🇨🇦 Toronto 🇺🇸 Vegas, What do they all have in common?
🇦🇪 Dubai 🇨🇦 Toronto 🇺🇸 Vegas, What do they all have in common?
This May, New Friendship Tech has hosted amazing events in all 3!
Eric Spivak
June 03, 2025
DUBAI 2049 Recap
Fast Forward Future.
If you told me 10 years ago I’d be flying 16hrs straight to produce a 12hr program in a beautiful landscape i’ve never been to, working alongside people i’ve never met. Only after being picked up in a supercar, that we were gifted upon arrival and could use for the week with no strings attached. Plus staying in a top penthouse with a patio practically arms reach from The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I wouldn’t believe me either, buuut here we are.
From doing Press to Interviews, Keynotes and Fireside Chats, Moderating Panels and turning monologues to dialogue for our captive audiences by day. Only to later that evening transform the space into a memorable activation hosting incredible DJ’s from all across the globe for our immersive afterparties, all of which included complimentary food, drinks & entry. To say the least, last month was truly inspiring.
It was a beautiful sight once the dust settled and things were all said and done, hearing about all the new valuable connections made with a consistent emphasis on the diverse backgrounds and quality curation.
Most importantly to me was hearing people say they truly appreciated the event because they learned new things they had no prior knowledge of. Asking for my banking info post-event saying they want to donate to the cause or tip because they’d pay for what they got… Feeding that curiosity with passive discovery and intentional education is always one of the most important parts of New Friendship Tech. Our speakers came with brilliant insights and fresh perspectives that kept the crowd energized and locked in til the end.
I’d give more insight to the conference itself and how things looked, felt, and the value gained all around, but honestly I feel like our event was the perfect blend of what people like myself were looking for out there.
Not to mention, Solomun, Peggy. Gou and Rampa of Keinemusic absolutely spoiled us performing in Dubai the same week. So it was an amazing week overall. Big thank you to all of our attendees, supporters and sponsors, it truly means the world to me each and every time because without you, there’s no me. 🫰
ETH Toronto, Consensus and Futurist Recap
Oh Canada…
I swear this city really is doing its best to draw me in and keep me there. Between Electric Island, Consensus, Futurist, EthToronto and a Championship game happening all in the same week… This trip was absolutely phenomenal from the food, the people, the architecture, the weather. I think if the conference itself was just a little more spread out and leaning into more diverse topics and wasn’t missing the creator economy, I would’ve said this was a grand slam.
Sadly, I think once again the side events reigned supreme (ours being no exception). You get what you need, in less overwhelming or loud and distracting environments. Typically allowing you to reach your goals faster because you can hear yourself think (and speak). Not to mention, the food, drinks and atmosphere is better as well… If you know what to look for, you can’t go wrong with the satellite activations.
I will say the overall sentiment was that Crypto in Canada is hot, they just want more clarity on what the rules to the game are before playing full send, all in.
People in this city really went out of their way to roll out the red carpet for me, which I guess fresh off the Dubai trip, this was a nice surprise as well. Lots of immediate introductions and excitement for New Friendship Tech being in town. I can’t wait to go back and show more reciprocity and appreciation by producing more unique activations for the city.
Bitcoin2025 Conference
Viva Las Vegas
If you know me, you know I’ve always had a love / hate relationship with Vegas. The rich history from tv and film used to really romanticize and highlight this place like no other. For me personally, i’ve got great memories tied to countless poker and blackjack tournaments won, to catching world renown live performances then partying to sunrise. I feel like this city has always had an interesting identity. If these walls could talk, I can’t imagine the stories they’d tell.
This years Bitcoin Conference happening in Las Vegas is a pretty no-brainer decision, given the sheer amount of venues, hospitality and nightlife. The annual amount of conferences hosted here over the years mixed with the energy of temptation mixed with consumption. It’s an all-in, cash out or crash out environment for sure.
The good thing about the conference this year is we’re finally getting away from the grey and into the green when it comes to operating within some guidelines, advisory and parameters of regulation. I’m a firm believer of everything in moderation, including moderation and the lack of safety, security and social responsibility in the crypto world is what really has this recurring stormy stigma floating around overhead. It’s frustrating, knowing that we’re literally at an arms race building the tools of tomorrow today. The lack of clarity and understanding has created massive walls of obstruction when it comes to adoption.
So the fact that you’ve got so many industry leaders in the same place at the same time, discussing policy, exploring possibility and truly considering the implications and impact that our decisions will have on the future of finance is extremely important. I’m here for it, doing interviews, speaking on panels.
All that said, we’ll see what the future has in store for us, i'd like to stay optimistic and positive, despite the idea of “Bitcoin” being owned by any individual entity or governing power being just a “little” cringe to me.
Big shoutout to everyone who made it out to our party here as well
https://lu.ma/x1dj1ba8
We’re now gearing up for:
Permissionless and NFTNYC2025
Where I’ll be Speaking, Moderating, DJ’ing and Hosting events all week. if you’re interested in supporting via Co-Host, Partnerships, Sponsoring and more. Please just respond to this message or hit me at [email protected] or on Telegram: @ericspivak
OPPORTUNITY ZONE:
(THE PROJECTS FEATURED ARE PROJECTS THAT I CO-SIGN,
FROM THE TEAMS INVOLVED AND THEIR KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND HISTORY. TO THE LONG TERM VALUE AND GROWTH POTENTIAL.
If you like what you’re reading about any of the companies below,
don’t hesitate to reach out for more information or warm introductions,
whether press, partnerships, investments, etc.
Early Access: BitcoinOS: $BOS Presale
BitcoinOS brings crypto back to Bitcoin with breakthrough ZK technology—delivering the first on-chain ZK verification for Bitcoin and bridgeless cross-chain token transfers. Deep integrations with Cardano and Arbitrum position BOS to anchor Bitcoin’s emerging multichain future. Be early to Bitcoin again.
Secure your spot in the private presale → origins.sovryn.app/bos
BitcoinOS: Bitcoin’s Final Upgrade
By fusing Bitcoin’s battle-tested security with lightning-fast, programmable smart contracts, BitcoinOS (BOS) leapfrogs every current Layer-1. For the first time, $2 trillion in dormant BTC liquidity can flow freely into DeFi—without compromising Bitcoin’s core principles.
Why Accumulate $BOS Now?
Stake & earn. Validate ZK proofs that connect Bitcoin to all chains and collect rewards every time a proof finalizes.
Own the OS of Bitcoin DeFi. $BOS coordinates the first permissionless operating system that spans every blockchain that’s connected to Bitcoin.
Capture cross-chain fees. Bridges, rollups, and swaps routed through BOS will pay network fees that flow back to holders.
Fuel every transaction. Use $BOS to pay for trustless bridges, rollups, chain-agnostic tokens, and other cross-chain operations.
Don’t Miss Bitcoin’s Next Chapter Just as ETFs opened Bitcoin to institutions, BOS unlocks Bitcoin for DeFi—releasing trillions in idle capital and giving early supporters the most favorable terms.
Ready to earn, govern, and grow alongside Bitcoin’s final upgrade?
Claim your allocation in the $BOS presale now.
Core Technology
BitSNARK – The first zero-knowledge proof system purpose-built for Bitcoin mainnet—without touching opcode.
Grail Bridge – Bitcoin’s first trustless bridge, requiring only one honest verifier.
zkVault – ZK-powered smart contracts secured by Bitcoin finality.
Unchained Tokens (successful mainnet demo) – Bridgeless, programmable assets that move natively between chains.
MerkleMesh (in development) – A unified scalability layer linking Bitcoin to every network.
Trusted by Industry Leaders
Cardano, Arbitrum, Merlin Chain, Sovryn, RiskZero, Emurgo, and more have already joined the BOS ecosystem.
“BitcoinOS is bringing crypto back to Bitcoin. This is what we’ve all been waiting for.”
— Charles Hoskinson, Co-founder of Ethereum & Founder of Cardano
https://blog.bitcoinos.build/blog/the-bos-freedom-campaign-win-your-path-to-a-second-passport
Early Access: BRICKKEN
BRICKKEN is an institutional-grade platform infrastructure for tokenization of financial instruments such as private equity, real estate, and debt. With $300M+ in tokenized assets across 16 countries and 100+ active clients, Brickken’s digital asset platform empowers companies and financial institutions to create, trade, and manage their assets and investors with full regulatory compliance.
NEW FRIENDSHIP TECH
Let’s Talk Sponsorships.
Having 15 Years of experience in Events, Nightlife and Luxury Hospitality dealing with Celebrities, Athletes, Musicians, Diplomats alongside Fortune 100-500 companies c-suites. I’ve seen my fair share of bullshit sponsorship decks in circulation. People really think they deserve something for nothing, and being in the trillion dollar crypto industry. I’ve seen some of the absolute worst bang for your buck with these offerings. $50-100k for literally a negative ROI while simultaneously creating lots of waste. Fly-By-Night agencies running the pockets dry as fast as a puncture in a tire or fuel tank. Leaving this most recent conference, I think about how many shirts, socks, totes, backpacks, notepads, pens and other things that’re just left behind or addtl. costs in shipping back to some storage unit bc nobody wants the promo merch. Instead of it going to a school or people in need.
With us, we become your liaison when we know your goals - creating introductions and interviews before, during and after with valuable prospects for new business. Consider us an extension of your team in the rooms we curate. A fractional cmo, biz dev or sales ambassador. Beyond that, we’re producing rich content that’s transcribed, distributed and syndicated across our media partners. All while providing guests with a unique and memorable experience, packaged and presented by us with you. No waste, no vanity metrics, just pure 1:1 results, or in our case 1:500, since we can account for everyone who’s in the rooms.
If you’d like to chat further about this, ping me on @ericspivak to discuss options or Insta, LinkedIn or X.com
• Denver | Complete
• Dubai | Complete
• Los Angeles | Complete
• Toronto | Complete
• Vegas (May) Complete
• New York (June)
• Cannes (July)
• Tokyo (Aug)
• Seoul (Sept)
• Singapore (Oct)
• London (Oct)
• Malta (Nov)
• Miami (Dec)
• Abu Dhabi (Dec)
Micro News you “might” care about — This is the end of my mailer.
Kickin’ and “Screamin’”: Anheuser-Busch and UFC boss Dana White launched Phorm Energy, a nonalcoholic energy drink with zero sugar, natural caffeination, and — you’ll either think this is cool or violently roll your eyes — a flavor called “Screamin’ Freedom.”
Stellantis named Antonio Filosa, former global head of Jeep, as its new CEO. Stellantis is the world’s fourth-largest automaker with brands including Jeep and Chrysler, but sales have been slumping — and then there’s that whole trade war situation to worry about.
Elf Cosmetics announced it will raise prices by $1 on Aug. 1, posting "not gonna lie, inflation and tariffs are hitting us hard” to Instagram. Though noting that retailers have the final say in price, Elf wrote that 75% of its products will still be under $10.
Pour one out for Pocket: The handy app for saving articles is shutting down on July 8. Pocket was acquired in 2017 by Mozilla, which said the way people consume online content has changed, and that it will channel resources “into projects that better match their browsing habits today.”
Good luck with that: 77% of Americans want tech companies to slow AI development down to make sure they get it right, per an Axios Harris poll, leaving just 23% rooting for what’s gonna actually happen.Pretty cool: Femtech startup Hormona raised $6.7m to expand its at-home hormone tests. This is somehow less exciting than the news Hormona generated last month: two SpaceX astronauts used their testing strips to see how women’s endocrine systems fare in space.
Say it ain’t so: Southwest “Bags fly free” Airlines will start charging passengers $35+ for checked bags today after 50+ years of not doing that. The carrier’s proud differentiator was no match for this financial reality: other US airlines made $7.3B in baggage fees last year.
... and also CosMc’s: McDonald’s is shuttering all five of its alien-themed spin-off stores — which it launched in 2023 to target Gen Z and their love of specialty beverages — amid slumping sales. Love its churro cold brew? Some McDonald’s franchisees will be testing CosMc’s-inspired drinks this year.
… OK, why not one more? This time for Landa, a once-hot startup offering fractional real estate investments starting at $5. Users report a shuttered site, missing payments, locked funds, and evasive customer service. Oh, the lawsuits ahead.
KFC will invest $2B to open 500 new restaurants over the next five years amid heightened demand for chicken. The investment is expected to create 7k+ new jobs, including a new “guest experience lead role,” which we hope comes with a cool Col. Sanders uniform.Apple’s next update will reportedly be iOS 26, a leap from today’s iOS 18, to match the year. This means numbers will also match across devices — macOS 26, iPadOS 26, visionOS 26, etc. Samsung pulled a similar move in 2020 with its Galaxy S phones.
The New York Times made a multi-year AI deal with Amazon that will allow Amazon to use the paper’s content in its products and to train its AI models. It’s unclear how much Amazon paid, but the fact that it did is relevant considering NYT sued Microsoft and OpenAI for allegedly using its articles to train their AI.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is acquiring 23andMe (and your data, maybe?) for $256m through a bankruptcy auction. The DNA-testing company, which went public in 2021 and momentarily topped a $6B valuation, filed for bankruptcy in March.
Airbnbust: Spain’s Consumer Rights Ministry ordered Airbnb to block 65k+ listings that violated rules such as omitting a license number or failing to specify property owner details. This follows Barcelona’s decision to shutter its 10k short-term rental apartments by 2028 to protect the city’s housing supply.
Five people are suing Workday, claiming that the company’s job applicant screening tech uses algorithms that discriminate against individuals who are 40+. The plaintiffs said they submitted hundreds of applications, but were rejected every time — sometimes within just minutes or hours.
Ouch: Tesla began accepting Cybertruck trade-ins this week, but the vehicle has depreciated by 45% in a single year, compared to the average depreciation of ~30% in two. Not helping: Demand plummeted after early hype, and there have been eight recalls since it launched.
If you are receiving this message, you were likely in attendance to one of my events in the last couple years. Thanks for reading, attending, supporting, connecting and more. I sincerely appreciate you.
If you’re not interested in a message a month from me, feel free to unsubscribe.
Lastly, I’ve got massive announcements coming in the next blast toward the end of June. Alongside a very special free claim for a launch and rollout i’ll be doing in regards to New Friendship Tech. If you’re not familiar, i’m in the process of building this entity into the next SXSW meets ArtBasel meets TEDx & Masterclass, with a Web3 twist. In 2022 I redistributed $250,000 to the attendees of my event at The Ace Hotel & Theater in DTLA. It was a pilot test for something much much bigger in regards to turning social currency, into equity by way of participation. 3 Years later, I’ve found a pretty bulletproof way of using this vehicle to resolve some socioeconomic and geopolitical issues, alongside redistribute wealth & democratize information at scale (globally). As an artist, advocate and activist for a lot of things in life (women, youth, elderly, animals, disabled, eco/env) I’ve always thought a little differently about my impact, legacy, mission, vision and purpose. While on bedrest for 2 years after a near fatal car accident and 800k in medical surgery, I had even more time to ..stew in my thoughts. So i’ll just leave you with, it’s never too late to reinvent yourself and Mark my words, if you’re reading this - you’re at the forefront of a movement that’s actively working on making a better tomorrow, today.
For more on my background you can read the press section below
www.Eric-Spivak.com/
www.Urconduit.com/