🎨 The Art of Showing up is The Most Valuable Art.

I’m gonna try to keep this as succinct and value filled as possible. This isn’t one of those meetings that could’ve been an email, that could’ve been a text or voice note.

First, I wanna give a HUGE thank you to all of our sponsors, speakers, and attendees to our New Friendship Tech Summit @ EthDenver with Ferrari. Not only was the production out of this world & some of the highest quality sound & lighting in town, but the genuine conversations, diverse panels and high level networking opportunities really wrapped everything up to make for a really well-rounded experience, despite whichever time you arrived. The post-event feedback from everyone was also really amazing, apparently a fair share of deals got made from our Founder Meet Funder Mixer, Brunch & Happy Hour sections. Some people got interviews lined up with Joba.Networks job fair. We locked in an Official Partnership with Genzio Media, some artists mentioned they got commissioned after and I got repeatedly reminded why I continue to build out this series and the value it brings to not only the web3, crypto & blockchain space but any city we pop-up at worldwide.

It was also great seeing other peers thriving too like my friend Arthur who produces Nolcha Events, Paul Hemming of Temple Nightclub/Mirus Gallery & David Cash of Cashlabs to name a few… Also loved the fact that for the first time since my near fatal car accident in 2016 and recovery in 2018, I was able to snowboard again, which I’ve not Skated, Surfed or Snowboarded since.

A Recap of the panels & event will be posted soon across our socials and NewFriendshipTech.com/ alongside our interviews from Genzio.

If you’re interested in getting involved or partnering on a future NFTech Series, this is where you can catch us next. We’re currently Programming and taking Sponsorships, Co-Hosts and Partnerships for Dubai Token2049, Consensus Toronto & NFTNYC.

Tentative Schedule til end of 2025.
🇨🇦 Toronto 🇦🇪 Dubai 🇯🇵 Tokyo 🇸🇬 Singapore 🇰🇷 Seoul
🇺🇸 Los Angeles | New York | Miami | San Francisco

We’ll also have a presence at Paris Blockchain Week and looking for brands that want to be featured during a very special 4/20 party in LA.

Hit me directly (responding to this email) or at [email protected] for more.

In other news, upon returning to LA from Denver, I got the opportunity to speak at USCMarshall's VanEck Southern California Blockchain Conference this past week which has now hosted over 2000+ attendees. Every year I get a few of these speaking engagements at top colleges and universities and it always means the world to me because I love mentoring kids, educating students, parents and faculty. It’s extremely humbling to be given the opportunity and allows me to provide value and shed light on bright minds that are interested and invested in shaping the future.

Lastly I just want to remind you all, there has NEVER been a better moment to pay attention to what’s happening in the emerging tech and innovation space than now. We’re finally discovering the importance at the intersection of Blockchain and AI, having more and more conversations around Privacy, Data, Identity, Ownership, Safety, Security, Transparency and Authentication. It is actively impacting, affecting and altering our lives, whether that’s in subtle ways like food safety or more loud ones like the adoption of digital passports in Europe.

Think beyond the text prompts and generative art, there’s definitely a lot more happening under the hood and to be a part of the conversation, I encourage you all to check out some of these global conferences, summits and meetups.

Every Friday in Koreatown (LA) we do Crypto Fridays at Cafe Bleu. I also host New Friendship Tech events adjacent to leading conferences globally, with everything free entry, drinks & food. We also have a live conversation called The Reset Sundays on Twitter with Dave (X.com/DCBK2LA) / X.com/EricSpivak at 4pm pst / 7pm est. It’s not a super heady space, and rather inclusive. Great place to discover new products, services, win our giveaways, learn and share your knowledge with a live audience.

Lastly, I do have a New Friendship Tech Telegram with over 650 members, where we also share opportunities, events, valuable info, referral links and more. Hit me back if you’d like an invite to it as well or me on IG or Twitter/X . Thanks for the continued support and looking forward to seeing you guys in the streets or on the stages.

Also as you know, i’m always open for new opportunities for Events, Marketing, Partnerships, Business Development, Advisory, Consulting, DJ’ing & Speaking. Would love to find some new projects to get involved with over the summer.

Golden Vault is a NEW company bringing a fresh take on alternative investments by giving you the chance to win real gold—an asset that has historically appreciated over time. This is their first gold giveaway, and they’re going big—a 1-kilo gold bar worth $100K is up for grabs.

To enter, simply purchase merch or rush entries from their website—every dollar spent earns you 10 entries. Plus, for the first 30 days, they’re also giving away a 1-ounce gold bar worth $3K every 10 days, and all you have to do to enter is register for free with your name, email, and phone number. 

We get it, this might sound too good to be true, but you can check out their website for legitimacy and official rules. Don’t miss out on a chance to own real gold!

SHOP TO ENTER 
For more info: Instagram | Tik Tok | Facebook | Website

Navigate Launches Groundbreaking Data Marketplace for AI Agents on BASE

Revolutionary platform rewards users with $NVG8 tokens for contributing data that fuels intelligent AI solutions.

Navigate announced the launch of its Data Marketplace for AI agents, built on the reliable and scalable BASE network. By pooling user-contributed data, the platform enables companies to license high-quality datasets to build smarter AI agents. In return, data contributors share in the platform’s success through $NVG8 tokens, ensuring that individual users benefit from the growing demand for AI-driven innovation.

“We created Navigate to solve the growing challenge of making everyday data truly valuable for those who generate it,” said Ali Husain, CEO of Navigate. “By bringing contributors and developers together on our platform, we’re building an ecosystem that not only powers the next wave of AI solutions but also rewards everyone involved.”

 Navigate’s marketplace supports both digital and physical data infrastructure, with users able to contribute either passively—via a browser extension—or actively—through structured annotation tasks in a gamified experience called Data Quest. 

 Over 180,000+ users and counting. Want to learn more?

Visit https://nvg8.xyz
Want to sign up? Here’s a referral: https://dataquest.nvg8.io//signup?ref=1706279


If you’d like to know more about any of our partners, from our Eth Denver event:

^{Ferrari ( https://ferrari.com/en-US )
NVG8 ( https://nvg8.io/ ) AI Data Marketplace
The GG Company( https://hiregg.com/ ) Growth & Guidance with Web3 & AI
Nillion ( https://nillion.com/ )
Nice Industries ( https://nice.industries/ )
Somnia Network ( https://somnia.network/ )
Space ID ( https://space.id/ )
Genzio Media ( https://www.genzio.co/ )
Space & Time ( https://spaceandtime.com/ )
Golteum RWA ( https://golteum.io/ )
Joba Network ( https://joba.network/ )
HSD Soundsystem ( https://hsdsoundsystems.com/ )
River Beats Productions ( https://www.rbtvproductions.com/ )
DotConnector ( https://www.dotconnector.xyz/ )
CrunchDAO ( https://www.crunchdao.com/ )
Urconduit ( https://urconduit.com/ABOUT )
0xLabs ( https://www.0xlabs.tech/ )}

Quick Hits

JetBlue will begin accepting Venmo as payment for flights. Cool, but it won't magically cure what's been a rocky year: The airline lost $172m in the first nine months of 2024 and had its Spirit Airlines merger blocked by a federal court.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has now sunk $750m into Nu Holdings, a Brazilian digital bank with its own cryptocurrency platform. It’s a big change in tune: Buffett denigrated digital currency as “rat poison” back in 2018.
MrBeast is now among the contenders for TikTok, which has until April to find a non-Chinese owner. MrBeast — TikTok’s third-most popular user — has joined an investor group led by Employer.com founder Jesse Tinsley in a serious bid to buy the platform.

Amazon is trying to compete with Shein and Temu by launching a new store that allows US customers to buy directly from China.

Speaking of Amazon, it became the fifth US company to hit a $2T valuation this week, joining Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Nvidia.

Google Translate added 110 new languages, including Cantonese and Punjabi, with the help of its PaLM 2 language model.

Uber will give ~175 people in select US and Canadian cities $1k to spend on Uber, public transit, and other modes of transit if they give up their car for five weeks.

Walgreens will soon shutter a “significant” number of its ~8.6k US locations. What exactly that means is anyone’s guess, but the ~25% of its stores that aren’t profitable probably don’t have the best vibes right about now.

The US Supreme Court delivered unwelcome news for one uberwealthy family: A court ruling scuttled a $6B settlement that would’ve protected the Sackler family, which runs Purdue Pharma, from any opioid crisis-related civil claims.

NBC will have sportscaster Al Michaels host daily recaps of the Paris Olympics on Peacock — kinda. The network is using AI to recreate Michaels’ voice and generate his narration of the 10-minute recaps.

Bag brand Baggu is facing backlash after customers discovered that a special-edition collaboration with the brand Collina Strada used Midjourney to create some of the colorful prints.

European gin brand Renais will expand into the US next month. The sustainable spirit is made with upcycled grapes, but that’s not its only magic: Harry Potter star Emma Watson is a co-founder.

A Google software engineer was charged with stealing AI trade secrets after uploading 500+ confidential files to his personal Cloud account and sharing them with two government-affiliated Chinese tech companies.

Not great: Americans lost a record $12.5B on online scams in 2023 — and that just covers the cases reported to the FBI. That’s $2B more than 2022’s total, with an increase in crypto investment schemes driving the jump.

New combo meal? Taco Bell and KFC, Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon… Applebee’s and IHOP? Maybe. Parent company Dine Brands Global said it’s considering the joint venture after closing 46 Applebee’s locations in 2023 and opening 33 new IHOPs.

Amazon Prime released a trailer for “Fallout,” the apocalyptic TV series based on the popular video game franchise, debuting in April.

Netflix picked up its third live sporting event; it’ll stream a boxing match between Mike Tyson and YouTuber Jake Paul on July 20.

Robinhood is teaming up with Klutch Sports Group — a firm led by Rich Paul, LeBron James’ agent. The partnership, which includes Paul joining Robinhood as a strategic advisor, comes as the financial company looks to enter the sports entertainment space.

What year is it? Abercrombie & Fitch reported a 16% bump in sales last year, after shifting its focus to serving women in their 20s and 30s. Its stock price is up ~400% over the last 12 months. Finally, their in-store models can afford to put on shirts.

Colossal Biosciences said it’s getting closer to resurrecting the woolly mammoth, successfully creating elephant stem cells that can be reprogrammed to make different cells.

The End.