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>> Welcome back everyone to theCUBE's extended coverage,
here at The Yacht Club,
here in Monaco with Prince Albert and theCUBE.
Great coverage, big gala event around Blockchain and Crypto.
We're here with Tali Friedman, Creative Director
at NFT BAZL.
Great to see you again.
>> Great to see you again.
Thank you so much for having me.
>> Interviewer: So what's going on? What are you doing here?
What's up?
>> So, I am here helping put together this incredible event,
helping to raise awareness, spread education
about all the amazing innovation that's happening
in the tech and the NFT space,
hoping to encourage mass adoption,
and bring more passionate and talented minds to the space,
and that is my main goal of everything that I do.
>> Well you can appreciate the agenda here.
All the influencers, top dogs, and financiers are here,
entrepreneurs.
But big metaverse vibe, obviously NFTs kind of bundled in
'cause NFTs are becoming quite part of everything.
>> Tali Friedman: Absolutely.
>> And as a creative director you got to love the creativity
coming out of the metaverse right now.
>> You know what, it kind of feels like anything is possible,
and as someone who has that ability to contribute
to a space and directly see the impact
that the work you have, you know, has as an outcome
on not just the industry, but the rest of the world,
and to have the ability to start creating a legacy
that other people will soon follow suit on
has been pretty incredible to experience, I must say.
>> You know, Tali, it's been a cultural movement as well.
A lot of the younger generation, a lot of Gen Z wants this.
I mean, I could see the end alignment, but certainly true.
I mean, you can see nobody wants the old way, inadequate,
antiquated ways of email and web surfing webpages.
>> Well, the- >> Social media.
>> The funny thing about the metaverse is
is that it's actually existed for quite some time.
I'd say the term has almost resurfaced in popularity
in association with the Blockchain.
So now when we think of the metaverse,
it's obviously associated
with Web3, cryptocurrency, NFTs,
but the original term was actually coined
in a 1980s novel.
It was a science fiction novel.
And it's funny to see how that term just
really encompasses everything that we've predicted.
And I have this thing with science fiction where
I think humanity almost reflects our fears,
but our hope simultaneously, when we talk about dystopia.
It's what we're seeing unravel before our eyes,
and what we predict,
and almost know will be the ultimate outcome
but because there's so much uncertainty,
what's that going to look like,
how's that going to affect our day-to-day lives?
And I think we're witnessing right now, you know,
all the incredible directions.
>> Tali, have you dabbled in some
of these metasphere environments, because this bar,
people are playing music, people are getting together
and it's quite the self-expression.
>> Absolutely. So I plan a lot
of events in the metaverse. I'm a metaverse event planner.
I helped build our NFT gallery
for NFT BAZL in the metaverse.
I think it's really interesting to bridge the gap
between physical and digital worlds.
And when we host a physical exhibition, simultaneously host
that metaverse exhibition
for people who aren't able to attend in real life.
>> Interviewer: How do they do that? Is it software?
>> So for the most part-
>> For an event, I mean.
>> Yeah, for an event, I work with Decentraland a lot.
I find it has the best user interface
for people who aren't so familiar with, you know,
setting up a wallet, getting onboarding
onto Web3, using cryptocurrency-
>> Good for newbies.
>> Exactly.
>> So I can't fly to the event
but I want to experience the event.
>> You type the web address into your browser
NFT.bazl.xyz.
You can walk around and explore,
create your own avatar, have fun.
It's gamified life.
>> What's the feedback been from some of the attendees?
What do they end up doing?
What's the pattern?
They end up like chatting
or mingling, or does it match
like life or they just kind of high fiving each other?
Is there a lot of chitter chatter?
Smack being talked around?
>> So I think the thing with the metaverse is that a lot
of people who are critical of the metaverse
are saying why would I replace a real life experience
with a digital one when I can talk
face to face like we're doing right now.
But I think the purpose isn't to replace
physical experiences, because there's nothing quite like
you know, having an in-person interaction.
But, it's about enhancing the digital experience.
>> Well, but you're here we're face to face.
Okay. We're having a first time experience together.
And it's lovely.
I have friends, you have friends
we have social graphs.
We have people who are instantly online.
Why can't there be a first class citizen
connection between our metaverse
and maybe a friend pops as a hologram right here
and wants to chime into the conversation?
>> Exactly, and you know -
>> Interviewer: That's not far away
>> It's happening right now.
And the beauty of metaverse events
and hosting metaverse conferences is an event
such as the one today requires so much coordination.
People flying in from all over the world, booking hotels,
changing time schedules, jet lag.
There's so much that goes into it.
When you can connect people
and have such a similar level of immersiveness,
and if not more immersiveness than you would in real life.
You have audience members who are able to actively engage
with what you're doing, ask questions live
without having to raise your hand,
and come up on stage and without the technical barriers of -
>> Interviewer: And being part of a group.
>> Tali Friedman: I mean, community is everything-
>> Interviewer: It's an organism, life is an organism,
it's connective tissue,
it's not a software mechanism.
>> Absolutely.
>> It's a group thing.
>> All right, so I got to ask you, what's the coolest thing
you're working on right now that you can share with folks.
>> I am so passionate
about what we're building out in NFT BAZL,
I could talk about it for hours
but, we really specialize in transforming luxury,
one of one physical assets into digital NFTs.
And I think it's a different approach
than most people take to Web3 in the NFT space.
Because when you think of NFTs
you think of, you know, generative drops, PFP projects.
But we're taking real world tangible value
and enhancing it through technology.
>> Awesome. Tali, thank you for coming on.
Dinners being served with the Prince.
Thank you for coming on the theCube.
I really appreciate your time.
>> Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
Thank you for having me.
>> Okay. We're here.
The extended edition of CUBE coverage late night.
Now the dinner with the gala event, theCUBE
and Prince Albert here in Monaco for an exciting evening.
I'm John Furrier with theCUBE.
Thanks for watching.
>> Thank you.
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