Last week in Austin was nothing short of spectacular.
The number of attendees at Permissionless II was just right—enough to sense the collective's energy, truly connect with others, and perfect to feel bullish during winter.
Straight from the airport, I headed to the Austin Convention Center and immediately bumped into dear friends I hadn't seen in ages. I was already excited. I sensed the beginning of what could be a very special week.
Arriving at the Austin Convention Center
I typically skip most conference talks, preferring instead to hang out and chat with people at side events. But this time, I went to a few really good ones. After all, I hadn’t flown all my way from Buenos Aires only to rave at the Permissionless II Wrap Party but to check out the Onchain Music Revolution panel, too.
On the first day, I was blown away by a talk from Gitcoin’s co-founder, Kevin Owocki, on DAO coordination. It wasn't just about coordination but a visionary glimpse into how millions of interdependent DAOs could revolutionize public goods on a civilizational scale.
Following that, Li Jin, co-founder and partner at Variant Fund, along with Coopahtroopa, took the stage to delve into the creator economy and dropped a few gems during their conversation. Li Jin is simply a gigabrain, and I wonder why I haven’t read more of her writings before.
One of the things I like about bear markets is having plenty of time to think. So, I was happy to start the week with deep conversations and panels. Envisioning a set of possible futures in this hot summer in Austin, one of the most musical cities in the US.
Bankless Party and Boys Club Brunch
The first night was dinner with dear and new friends, just laughing and hanging out at the house. And then off to the Bankless party. Where I engaged in all kinds of meaningful conversations with super interesting people.
From how time travel can impact your fundraising in San Francisco and BASE’s interest in supporting onchain culture to the role of onchain music during this web3 cycle.
The Boys Club brunch was such a nice vibe. Bringing together different communities across web3 for conversations under the sun. I jammed on new mission driven stablecoins, and I ran into Marissa, a New Yorker cowgirl who is an AI expert.
She thought AIs being used for manipulation are way more likely to impact humanity than the possibility of a dystopian future of computer totality.
That conversation made me feel better, I guess. Even though AI manipulation sounds like a perfect control machine, at least we wouldn’t actually be ruled by computers.
Onchain Music Revolution
Back at the conference, I was ready for the Onchain Music Revolution panel, the first time I would see Coopahtroopa, Reo Cragun, and Daniel Allan talk live at a conference. I was pretty excited about it and took this photo in which Reo Cragun totally doesn’t look like a security guard.
I was aware that Coopahtroopa was articulate when speaking in public, but I was impressed by both Reo Cragun and Daniel Allan. Both were articulate and really low-key and talked honestly about their experience in onchain music.
Reo Cragun touched on how they built LNRZ as a cultural hub of creators. And their approach to creating frameworks that can help other artists grow. Even though there’s no one size fits all for music and artists, I’m always excited by creatives testing out their frameworks in public for others to see.
The thing that really blew my mind though was not their work so far, but the new LNRZ project he teased. Computer generated music 👀. As a collector and music nerd, I’m always looking for musical experiences that can only exist onchain.
I think that we will continue to see incredible music coming from the intersection with AI. And that the best projects will be the ones run by artists.
Daniel Allan talked about how he thinks that kids have driven culture for some time. “Sixteen years old on Soundcloud who don’t necessarily have money to spend, but they have their friends and people that they spend their time with, and they have a lot of time,” he said.
At times, he looked like a kid himself, smiling on stage, a bit shy, sharing that deep down, he’s always curating for that sixteen-year-old.
After the panel ended, I stayed outside talking to people about onchain music and had one of my girl fan moments of the week when I ran into the one and only Ladidai; not only has she been a key collaborator on 'The Eternal Garden' and 'ORIGINS' but she's also one of my web3 fashion icons.
The Last Day
Throughout the week, my excitement for BLOODY had been building. I had seen the red mask. I had seen the red boots. And I had even spoken to him a couple of times, even though he’s a silent man.
We discussed addiction, music, and self transformation over sushi somewhere in Austin. I got even more excited when I found out that INSTANTE, his first song, features Heybela, one of my favorite onchain artists. I received my 10 copies a few hours before the party and was ready to dance.
DeFi Kickback
After minting our first podcast on Optimism live with the Pods team at the convention center, I went to meet with some friends from the good old days. Hanging out with the DeFi Pulse guys filled my heart with joy.
We talked about psychick magic, time travel, and showed each other pics of our cats. The DeFi summer feels like it happened ages ago, and I always remember how vibrant, exciting, and intense it was.
That’s how Coopahtroopa and I met, actually. We were both hired by Cami Russo as two of the first 5 contributors at The Defiant. We ended up launching the DeFi Pulse Farmer newsletter at DeFi Pulse. I think it was the first of its kind.
I remember Coopahtroopa once included a song at the bottom of one of the editions, and I wasn’t on board, so we removed it. It’s amazing how everything is always connected somehow.
The Permissionless II Wrap Party
Everyone had already left the house for the party. I went back, took a shower, put some eyeliner and lipstick on, grabbed my studded wristbands, and was ready to dance.
As soon as I got to the venue, I started feeling that nostalgia of last day of conferences. There’s a special feeling in the air, and everyone’s excited and happy. It’s as if everyone knows that this might be the last night together in a while, so energies flow effortlessly.
The warm up by Night Cap and DLG. was a great introduction to what would come afterward.
I was happy to run into meme lord and community member VividFeverDreams to jam about onchain music at large while Daniel Allan was closing the night on a high note, playing one of his first more festival oriented sets.
With people vibing until the end, Daniel even debuted his new song Safe (with Madalen Duke & Tisoki). Something that I always appreciated as a music lover. Being there for something special.
But all this time, I had been waiting for the futuristic red demon BLOODY. Was it gonna be a crazy set? Was it gonna be dark, dense music? What energies would he conjure with that suit?
I was pleasantly surprised when he started the set with an intense bass driven track. The notes were so low that made me wanna dance, crawling on the floor.
There was a music lover crew dancing by the booth throughout the whole set, and BLOODY’s execution was flawless.
It also felt magical to run into Katie Garcia for the first time while grooving to the red demon's beats, especially after receiving a grant from Optimism for our Onchain Curator Program a few weeks ago.
It’s beautiful to experience how music can bring people together. And on this hot night in Austin, I was fortunate enough to dance with old and new friends from across the vast lands of web3.
As the final beats echoed into the night and the red lights dimmed, I felt the energy around me. In the heart of winter, we had danced, we had built, and we had envisioned a new set of possible futures enabled by web3.
- The Daniel Allan and BLOODY videos were minted using Onchain Magic. - Disclaimer: I’m a collector of Daniel Allan, Reo Cragun, LNRZ, BLOODY, Heybela, & TK.