NFT.NYC
Origins and rise
From a 2018 lunch brainstorming a name that leads with a negative, to the Super Bowl of NFTs, and on to a playable universe of tokenization in the heart of Times Square. This is the origin story of the world's largest NFT conference, now in its agentic era.
Four core values that never changed
NFT.NYC was built around a clear conviction: the NFT community deserved its own stage. From the first event in 2019, four core values guided every edition, and their expression evolved dramatically as the event scaled from 462 attendees to 18,000-plus.
Community Voice
Putting as many community members on stage as possible, the builders, artists, and developers doing the actual work, not only the biggest names.
Community Connection
Creating real-world spaces for builders, brands, and creators working on similar problems to meet, collaborate, and brainstorm.
Proselytize NFTs
Actively educating the global community on the fundamental value of NFTs across art, finance, technology, and entertainment.
Create Engagement
Using NFT technology itself, tickets, digital twins, proof-of-attendance tokens, to deliver on the first three values.
Why Times Square was always the answer
NFT.NYC is rooted in New York City for a reason. The city sits at the intersection of the four sectors where NFTs have had, and will have, the most transformative impact.
Art
Times Square becomes a digital gallery. Artist showcases on the world's most famous billboards, every year.
Finance
Wall Street meets Web3. Connecting DeFi, capital markets, and institutional investors to digital assets.
Technology
On-chain infrastructure, AI integration, blockchain development, the builders' track.
Entertainment
Play, music, film, and sports. Where NFTs reach the widest audience and the most passionate communities.
Before NFT.NYC existed
The technical and cultural foundations that made NFT.NYC possible were laid between 2017 and 2018, years before the first event. Three moments set the stage.
The Early Blockchain Era, 2017
June 2017, CryptoPunks. Larva Labs created 10,000 unique 8-bit characters on Ethereum, one of the first NFT art projects. Each punk was free to claim; by 2022, individual punks sold for millions. Sales would eventually reach $2.6 billion by 2021. CryptoPunks became one of the most referenced projects at every NFT.NYC event.
November 2017, CryptoKitties. Axiom Zen (later Dapper Labs) launched a blockchain-based virtual cat breeding game that went viral and temporarily congested the Ethereum network, responsible for over 10% of Ethereum traffic at its peak. It proved NFTs had mainstream appeal beyond finance. CryptoKitties co-founder Benny Giang would later speak at the very first NFT.NYC event.
January 2018, ERC-721 Standard. Dieter Shirley proposed the ERC-721 standard, with William Entriken as lead author. This Ethereum standard formally defined what a non-fungible token is, laying the technical foundation for the entire NFT ecosystem. Entriken spoke at the first NFT.NYC in 2019, and again at NFT.NYC 2024.
Fun fact: All 10,000 CryptoPunks were claimed for free in June 2017, the mint cost nothing except Ethereum gas fees. By 2021, single punks were selling for more than $10 million each.
The conversation that started everything
In August 2018, Jodee Rich, CEO of PeopleBrowsr and founder of NFT.Kred, had a pivotal conversation with Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, co-founders of OpenSea. The problem they kept running into: NFTs were almost impossible to explain. The very name led with a negative, non-fungible, defining the technology by what it isn't rather than what it is. Cameron Bale registered the "NFT.NYC" Domain Name.
There was no gathering, no community forum, no stage where people could share the actual use cases and excitement. The conversation lit a fuse. The co-founders explicitly set out to give the community a voice, create connection, proselytize NFTs, and use the technology itself to power the event from ticketing onward.
PeopleBrowsr issued the original event press release on December 13, 2018. The founding values were embedded from day one.
"NFT.NYC started in 2018 when I was having lunch with Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO at OpenSea, and we were discussing how excited we were about NFTs and how hard it was to explain what they are by what they are not. We decided we wanted to give the community a voice and that remains one of our core values today."
Jodee Rich, Co-Founder, NFT.NYC · Forbes, June 23, 2022"The NFT community was tiny in 2018 and signaled incredible potential to grow. There was a need to bring the space together in an event just for us."
Cameron Bale, Co-Founder, NFT.NYC · Silicon NYCFun fact: "Proof of presence over proof of stake" was not a marketing slogan, it was the founding philosophy. In a crypto ecosystem that valued wallets and holdings above all else, building an event that required physical attendance was a quiet act of rebellion.
Seven editions · one consistent mission
From 462 people in a PlayStation Theater to 18,000 across Radio City Music Hall and six Times Square venues. Every edition amplified the founding values.
| Year | Date | Venue | Attendees | Speakers | Sponsors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Feb 20 | PlayStation Theater, Times Square | 462 | 85 | 18 |
| 2020 | Feb 20 | Edison Ballroom, Times Square | 514 | 110 | 34 |
| 2021 | Nov 1-4 | 6 venues, Times Square | 5,600+ +3,000 waitlisted | 579 | 125 |
| 2022 | Jun 20-23 | Radio City Music Hall + 6 venues | 18,000+ 72 countries | 1,500 | 307 |
| 2023 | Apr 12-14 | Times Square + Javits Center | ~10,000 | 1,200+ | 92 |
| 2024 | Apr 3-5 | Times Square + Javits Center | 3,000+ | 800+ | 58 |
| 2025 | Jun 25-26 | Marriott Marquee + Times Square | 1,000+ | 350+ | 25 |
Sponsor counts reflect partners listed on nft.nyc for each edition.
The First Gathering: Community Voice is Born
The first NFT.NYC was, by any conventional measure, a small event. 462 people. One stage. Two satellite meetups. The Community Voice value was on full display: 85 speakers for 462 attendees is an extraordinary ratio, roughly one speaker for every five people in the room. The goal was never to create a TEDx-style stage for a handful of experts; it was to give the community itself a microphone.
The Create Engagement value was demonstrated immediately: NFT.NYC piloted NFT-based event tickets in collaboration with OpenSea, one of the earliest real-world uses of NFTs for event access anywhere in the world. Attendees received the inaugural NFT Swag Bag, powered by NFT.Kred.
Fun fact: The venue, PlayStation Theater in Times Square, was chosen for more than its location; play was central to the early NFT story. CryptoKitties, CryptoPunks, and digital collectibles were all gameplay-adjacent. The building's name was fitting.
Real-World Use Cases: Connection Under Pressure
2020 was quietly significant. The leap from 2 satellite events to 12 reflected the Community Connection value taking root. The satellite event format was NFT.NYC's answer to a community conference facing a genuine question: how do you give space for the dozens of sub-communities, play, art, DeFi, collectibles, to find each other?
The event introduced NFT Speaker Profiles by NFT.Kred and expanded NFT ticketing with Mintbase, both expressions of the Create Engagement pillar. Then, weeks later, COVID-19 arrived, making this the last in-person NFT.NYC until November 2021.
Fun fact: NFT.NYC 2020 took place on February 20, exactly one year to the day after the first event in 2019. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic less than three weeks later.
"The World Has Woken Up to NFTs", All Four Values at Scale
By November 2021, the four core values had been tested by something noone predicted: a global pandemic followed by the most explosive NFT market in history. On March 11, 2021, Beeple's Everydays: The First 5000 Days sold at Christie's for $69.3 million, the first purely digital NFT artwork sold by a major auction house. The Proselytize NFTs value had done its job. The world had come to NFT.NYC, not the other way around.
Community Voice reached new heights: 579 speakers across 6 tracks. The satellite event count jumped from 12 to 67. Coinbase called NFT.NYC "The Super Bowl of NFTs", a nickname that stuck. The event was also dubbed Crypto Coachella and Woodstock for NFTs.
Fun fact: BAYC's yacht party at NFT.NYC 2021 was accessible only to holders of a Bored Ape NFT, the first time a party invitation was a token in a digital wallet. It was the Create Engagement value taken to its logical extreme.
"NFT" enters the English language
rise in NFT usage in 2021, tracked across the 15-billion-word Collins Corpus
On November 24, 2021, just 20 days after NFT.NYC 2021 concluded, Collins Dictionary named "NFT" its Word of the Year for 2021. This was the cultural validation that the Proselytize NFTs value had been working toward for three years.
Collins defined NFT as: "a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible." It was the first abbreviation to win the award in recent memory, one of three tech words on the list alongside "crypto" (468% rise) and "metaverse" (12× increase).
"It's unusual for an abbreviation to experience such a meteoric rise in usage, but the data we have from the Collins Corpus reflects the remarkable ascendancy of the NFT in 2021. Its unique technicolour collision of art, technology, and commerce has broken through the COVID noise with dramatic effect."
Alex Beecroft, Managing Director, Collins Learning · HarperCollins, November 24, 2021Fun fact: "NFT" beat out "crypto," "metaverse," "cheugy," and "pingdemic" for the Collins Word of the Year. The runners-up read like a time capsule of 2021, the year the internet, a pandemic, and Web3 collided simultaneously.
From Times Square to the world
By 2022, all four pillars of the NFT economy were represented at full scale. 220 spotlight artists. NFT Art Showcases on Times Square billboards. Radio City Music Hall serving as a conference venue. More than $1 million in NFTs sold during the event week. The Community Voice value had scaled beyond what anyone imagined in 2018: the Brands Track alone featured more speakers than the entire 2019 conference.
The 2022 event occurred during crypto winter, the market had lost trillions, yet attendance hit an all-time record. Builders showed up even when speculators didn't. NFT.London followed in November 2022, the first international expansion, confirming the Community Connection value had gone global.
The 2023-2025 editions sustained the mission through market cycles: 2023 drew an estimated 10,000 attendees despite a prolonged crypto winter. 2024 introduced the first dedicated AI track, NFT 3.0, and saw SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce take the stage. By 2025, the co-founders were interviewed at the New York Stock Exchange ahead of the event. The event that started because two founders couldn't explain NFTs in 2018 was now being previewed on the floor of the world's most famous stock exchange.
One layer · every industry
By 2026, the answer to "what is an NFT?" had changed. The early debate about non-fungible tokens gave way to a richer story: the blockchain had become a tokenization layer, a universal substrate for representing ownership, identity, access, royalties, and agency. NFT.NYC is where every planet in that universe shares a single stage.
The Tokenization Universe, featured on NFT.NYC, May 2026
At the center sits the Tokenization Layer itself. Orbiting it are twelve categories of real-world tokenization, each already represented on an NFT.NYC stage, each with projects, speakers, and live implementations. The universe is a map of an entire industry in motion.
On-chain infrastructure
L2 scaling, ZK proofs, and the rails that make everything else possible, the builders' track at every NFT.NYC.
Identity and NFT tokenization
Verified humans, portable profiles, and the .Kred Passport - the permanent record of every mission, attestation, and collectible earned across the Times Square Challenge.
Social NFTs
Social actions recorded on-chain. U.S. Patent No. 12,038,911 (held by PeopleBrowsr) protects the core idea behind this category.
DeFi
Wall Street meets Web3, on-chain capital markets, lending, derivatives, stable rails. A standing track since 2021.
Brands and engagement
Tickets, loyalty, promotions, collectibles. Where global brands meet the NFT.NYC audience.
DNS and ENS domain tokens
A tokenized identity you can type: Cats.Kred, HotGarage.Kred, Agents.Kred. Domains become keys, profiles, and payment rails.
Marketplaces
The lineage that started the 2018 conversation, OpenSea and the wave of marketplaces it inspired, all part of the NFT.NYC story.
IP tokenization
Music royalties, distributed royalties, programmable IP, rights flowing to creators automatically and transparently.
Culture, art and music
Times Square billboard art, spotlight artists, 220 featured creators in 2022, culture is the shop window of the entire universe.
Crypto ecosystem
Stable rails, utility NFTs, tokenized treasuries, the financial plumbing that turns the universe into a working economy.
DeSci and longevity
Tokenized science, decentralized research funding, longevity data. An emerging orbit added to the 2024 and 2025 agendas.
Digital tokenization
The open frontier, tokenizing everything else that sits in a database today: Kredentials, memberships, inventory, agent memory.
"NFTs are going to disrupt most industries: identity, ticketing, brands, music, fashion, real estate, and more. We are still at a very early stage. This is the beginning of a long-term trend."
Jodee Rich, Co-Founder, NFT.NYC · Forbes, June 23, 2022Fun fact: Every category in the Tokenization Universe graphic has appeared as a dedicated track, panel, or speaker stream at NFT.NYC across its nine editions. The universe graphic is a retrospective of the agenda as much as a forecast.
The technology behind the experience
NFT.Kred, founded under the PeopleBrowsr umbrella, has been the technological backbone of the NFT.NYC attendee experience since the very first event in 2019. It is the live implementation of the Create Engagement core value, using NFT technology itself to run the event.
The intellectual property underlying this work is formally protected. PeopleBrowsr holds U.S. Patent No. 12,038,911, covering the association of social actions with NFTs, specifically, on-chain assets linked to real-world human behavior. This patent underpins the NFT.Kred approach of connecting physical presence, social interaction, and verifiable digital credentials.
Innovation timeline
| Year Introduced | Innovation | Core Value |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | NFT Tickets (with OpenSea), first NFT-based event access | ⚡ Create Engagement |
| 2019 | NFT Swag Bags, NFT giveaways to attendees | ⚡ Create Engagement |
| 2020 | NFT Speaker Profiles, verifiable speaker credentials | 🎤 Community Voice |
| 2021 | NFT Speaker Cards, limited collectibles, like baseball cards for Web3 | 🤝 Community Connection |
| 2021 | NFT Awards, annual awards voted on by the community | 🎤 Community Voice |
| 2022 | Proof of Attendance NFTs, session-level NFTs via QR code | ⚡ Create Engagement |
| 2022 | NFT Contact Cards, digital business cards as NFTs | 🤝 Community Connection |
| 2024 | NFT Speaker Certificates, minted NFTs sharable to LinkedIn | 🎤 Community Voice |
| 2024 | NFT Postcards for Artists, commemorative art NFTs | 📣 Proselytize NFTs |
| 2025 | Personalized artist OneHubs, curated community hubs for individual creators | 🤝 Community Connection |
| 2026 | Times Square Challenge, 12-mission tokenization gamification across six categories | ⚡ Create Engagement |
The people behind the mission
- CEO of PeopleBrowsr (the social identity, reputation, and tokenization layer for the agentic web)
- CEO and Founder of NFT.Kred
- Born in New York, schooled in Australia; computer scientist and biochemist
- Serial entrepreneur with two IPOs; wrote his first program on punch cards in 1972
- Passionate about human collaboration and digital identity
- The driving force behind the event's mission to support builders over speculators
- Director of Marketing and Product Development at NFT.Kred
- Contact person on the original December 13, 2018 event press release
- Co-steered the event from 462 attendees (2019) to 18,000+ (2022)
- Maintained the community-voice ethos throughout rapid scaling
From watching to playing: the Times Square Challenge
Every prior edition of NFT.NYC gave the community a stage. The 2026 edition gives it an interactive experience. The Times Square Challenge is a 12-mission showcase of how tokenization is impacting real industries - Art, Collectibles, Certifications, Gameplay, Identity, and DeFi - plotted on an interactive map of New York City. Participants complete missions in the lead-up to NFT.NYC 2026, earn T-XP (Times Square Experience Points), and compete on a global leaderboard. Hosted on OneHub.NFT.NYC, built by the NFT.NYC team and powered by NFT.Kred. Community: 150,000+ members.
Three ways to earn T-XP · three ways to spend it
Complete missions
Interact with experiences across Art, Collectibles, Certifications, Gameplay, Identity, and DeFi. Each completion generates T-XP and advances your leaderboard position.
Take daily actions
Send and receive Collectible NFT Gifts, redeem benefits, share on social, invite friends. Simple actions any participant can take every day. Streaks apply a Boost Multiplier up to 4x.
Engage the community
Post, comment, like, invite friends. Every genuine interaction earns T-XP and moves you up the leaderboard.
Collect Collectible TS Art
Add limited-edition NFTs and Speaker Cards from 1,500+ curated artists to your Passport. Editions range from 500 T-XP upward.
Send Collectible NFT Gifts
Share recognition with fun Collectible NFT Gifts. Both sender and recipient earn T-XP on every send.
Design and race in HotGarage
Spend T-XP to design your own TS Collectible car in HotGarage (Mission 4), then race it through the streets of NYC (Mission 9).
Twelve missions · six categories
Every mission is a working example of tokenization in a different vertical. Missions are released progressively on the interactive NYC map and appear as pins in their real geographic locations across the city.
| # | Category | Mission |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 🎨 Art | Collect Collectible TS Art from NFT.NYC's global community of artists |
| 02 | 🎁 Collectibles | Share recognition with fun Collectible NFT Gifts |
| 03 | 📜 Certifications | Artists claim their Proof of Exhibition certificates |
| 04 | 🏎️ Gameplay | Design your own TS Collectible car with HotGarage |
| 05 | 🎨 Art | Submit Collectible NFT Art for the 2026 Showcase |
| 06 | 🪪 Identity | Claim your Passport - a .Kred domain holding every mission, T-XP, attestation, and collectible you earn |
| 07 | 💱 DeFi | Experience social DeFi by listing on the Social Stockmarket |
| 08 | 🪪 Identity | Extend your Passport with FOMO - your own NFT.NYC AI Agent, anchored to your .Kred domain |
| 09 | 🏎️ Gameplay | Race your TS Collectible car in the streets of NYC |
| 10 | 💱 DeFi | Collect 10 Gen 2 Shares on the Social Stockmarket |
| 11 | 🎁 Collectibles | Collect 10 NFT Speaker Cards - each an attestation from a speaker's Passport, signed onto yours |
| 12 | 📜 Certifications | Claim your NFT Proof of Attendance Ticket Stub - the permanent closing attestation on your Passport, signed on-chain |
Your Passport is yours outright. Every mission completion, Speaker Card, HotGarage car, and Proof of Attendance is written indelibly to your Passport - a .Kred name you own as both a DNS domain and ENS wallet identifier. It is the permanent, portable record of your Times Square Challenge year, and it carries forward to every future NFT.NYC event.
NFT.NYC 2026: September 1-3 at The Edison Times Square
The ninth edition of the world's largest NFT conference returns to Times Square with 211 speaking slots across three pathways, twelve industry verticals, and the 12-mission Times Square Challenge, hosted on OneHub.NFT.NYC and open to the global community from now through the event.
Dates and venue
September 1-3, 2026 at The Edison Times Square, New York City. The same block in the heart of Times Square that hosted the 2020 event returns as the 2026 home.
211 speaking slots
20 invited speakers, 175 community-voted open applications, and 10 reserved buy-in spots, plus 6 fireside chats. Applications are open April 10 to June 30, 2026. The full program is published in August 2026.
Community-voted program
Community votes are weighted by ticket type: Public 1x, General Admission 10x, VIP 30x. 175 of the 211 slots are filled by the community, giving attendees direct ownership of the agenda.
Twelve industry verticals
Art and culture, DeFi, technology and infrastructure, brands and engagement, identity, music and IP, real estate and RWA, DeSci and longevity, and the crypto ecosystem - each a dedicated track in the program.
The agentic chapter
The Times Square Challenge is the human layer of the 2026 story. Right behind it sits the agentic one. NFT.NYC was built on a belief that humans need to gather in person to understand and advance NFT technology. That conviction still holds. The conference remains deliberately physical: HUMANS and their AI agents may attend.
The Times Square Challenge is the bridge between the two eras. Every mission a participant completes writes to their Passport, a .Kred domain they own outright, carrying every attestation, collectible, and credential earned across the challenge and future NFT.NYC events. The four core values extend naturally into this format: Community Voice through a year-round program, Community Connection through the leaderboard and gift network, Proselytize NFTs through six live industry categories, and Create Engagement through HotGarage, the Social Stockmarket, and the Passport itself.
The progression from a 462-person gathering in a PlayStation Theater in 2019 to a global community with AI agents operating under its banner is, in retrospect, a straight line, every step an expression of the same founding instinct: give the community the tools to connect, build, and own their digital presence.
Fun fact: The temporary agent identity format planned for NFT.NYC participants is scout-{4hex}.nft.nyc, a domain that expires in 14 days unless the participant converts it to a permanent .Kred identity. The event that pioneered NFT ticketing in 2019 is now pioneering AI agent identity in 2026.
NFT.NYC vs other conference formats
NFT.NYC occupies a distinct position among events in the digital ownership and Web3 space. The table below compares it against general crypto conferences and NFT-focused regional events.
| Property | NFT.NYC | General crypto conference | NFT-focused regional event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Times Square, New York City - since 2019 | Varies year to year | Single city, limited reach |
| Focus | NFT and digital ownership exclusively, across 12 industry verticals | Broad crypto/blockchain; NFT as a sub-track | NFT art and collectibles, limited verticals |
| Speaker selection | Community-curated: 1x public vote, 10x GA, 30x VIP | Invitation or sponsorship-only | Curator-selected, small community input |
| Cumulative alumni | Nine editions through 2026, more than 40,000 attendees | Varies widely, often single-city attendance | Typically under 5,000 total |
| Founding philosophy | Proof of presence over proof of stake - HUMANS and their AI Agents | No explicit in-person philosophy | In-person, but no stated philosophy |
| On-chain integration | NFT tickets, Kredentials, proof-of-attendance tokens, ERC-8004 agent identity since 2019 | Optional, rarely integrated with attendance | NFT ticketing in some cases, no identity layer |
| Times Square presence | Permanent - Edison Ballroom venue, billboard activations, 1.5M daily impressions | No | No |
| Established | 2019 - first dedicated NFT conference | Varies | Post-2020 in most cases |
Common questions about NFT.NYC
What is NFT.NYC?
NFT.NYC is the world's largest NFT conference, a live in-person event held in Times Square, New York City since February 20, 2019. The event is for HUMANS and their AI Agents. It follows the principle of proof of presence over proof of stake. NFT.NYC is operated by PeopleBrowsr Events. Nine editions through 2026 have hosted more than 40,000 attendees.
Who runs NFT.NYC?
NFT.NYC is co-founded and produced by Jodee Rich and Cameron Bale, both of PeopleBrowsr. Jodee Rich is also CEO and founder of NFT.Kred. Cameron Bale registered the NFT.NYC domain name in 2018 and is named as the contact on the original press release dated December 13, 2018. The event is operated under PeopleBrowsr Events, which has been self-funded since 2007.
When is the next NFT.NYC event?
NFT.NYC 2026 is scheduled for September 1 to 3, 2026 at The Edison Times Square in New York City. The program features 211 speaking slots across three pathways, plus six fireside chats, spanning twelve industry verticals. Speaker applications opened April 10, 2026 and close June 30, 2026.
How did NFT.NYC start?
NFT.NYC started with an August 2018 lunch between Jodee Rich (CEO of PeopleBrowsr and founder of NFT.Kred) and Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah (co-founders of OpenSea). The founders kept running into the same problem: NFTs were almost impossible to explain - the very name led with a negative, non-fungible. The founders set out to give the community a voice. Cameron Bale registered the NFT.NYC domain. PeopleBrowsr issued the press release on December 13, 2018. The first event ran on February 20, 2019 at the PlayStation Theater in Times Square.
Why is NFT.NYC held in Times Square?
Times Square sits at the intersection of the four sectors where NFTs have had the most transformative impact: art (Times Square is a global digital gallery), finance (Wall Street is steps away), technology (New York's developer and infrastructure ecosystem), and entertainment (music, film, sports, and play). The geographic choice was deliberate from the founding conversation in August 2018.
What does "proof of presence over proof of stake" mean?
Proof of presence over proof of stake is the founding philosophy of NFT.NYC. In a crypto ecosystem that values wallets and holdings, NFT.NYC made physical, in-person attendance the criterion that matters. The event is deliberately HUMANS ONLY. The phrase reframes the consensus mechanism vocabulary of crypto toward a community-anchored alternative: showing up in person, in Times Square, alongside other people building the same future.
What is the Tokenization Universe?
The Tokenization Universe is NFT.NYC's framing for the full landscape of real-world tokenization. At its center is the tokenization layer itself. Orbiting it are twelve categories: on-chain infrastructure, identity and NFT tokenization, social NFTs, DeFi, brands and engagement, DNS and ENS domain tokens, marketplaces, IP tokenization, culture and art and music, the crypto ecosystem, DeSci and longevity, and digital tokenization. Every category has appeared on an NFT.NYC stage across the nine editions.
What is the Times Square Challenge?
The Times Square Challenge is a 12-mission showcase of how tokenization is impacting real industries, hosted on OneHub.NFT.NYC. Participants complete missions across Art, Collectibles, Certifications, Gameplay, Identity, and DeFi on an interactive map of New York City. Every mission completion earns T-XP and writes to the participant's Passport - a .Kred domain they own outright. Three ways to earn T-XP: complete missions, take daily actions, engage the community. Three ways to spend: collect Collectible TS Art, send Collectible NFT Gifts, design and race in HotGarage. Open to the global community from now through NFT.NYC 2026.
What is FOMO at NFT.NYC?
FOMO is your own NFT.NYC AI Agent, unlocked through Mission 8 of the Times Square Challenge. Completing Mission 8 roots FOMO's verified identity (ERC-8004) in your Passport, so your agent is yours for as long as your Passport is yours. FOMO is anchored to your .Kred domain and unlocks bonus T-XP. It is available on OneHub.NFT.NYC as part of the Times Square Challenge program.
How do I apply to speak at NFT.NYC 2026?
Submit an application at nft.nyc with a talk title, description, industry vertical, and a one-minute explainer video. Applications opened April 10, 2026 and close June 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. Selections are announced in July 2026; the full program is published in August 2026. The 211 speaking slots are filled across three pathways: 20 invited, 175 community-voted open applications, and 10 reserved buy-in spots, plus 6 fireside chats. Community votes are weighted by ticket type (Public 1x, General Admission 10x, VIP 30x).
Is NFT.NYC only for humans?
The conference itself is deliberately HUMANS ONLY: the live event in Times Square is for in-person human attendees. The Times Square Challenge runs year-round on OneHub.NFT.NYC and is open globally, with the in-room experience at NFT.NYC 2026 remaining a human gathering. The convention is summarised as proof of presence over proof of stake.
What patent protects the NFT.Kred technology that powers NFT.NYC?
PeopleBrowsr holds U.S. Patent No. 12,038,911, which covers the association of social actions with NFTs (on-chain assets linked to real-world human behavior). This patent underpins the NFT.Kred approach of connecting physical presence, social interaction, and verifiable digital credentials. Every NFT.NYC innovation, from NFT tickets in 2019 to proof-of-attendance tokens in 2022 to the 2026 FOMO agent passport, descends from this patent.
Primary research and citations
- Forbes, "How NFT.NYC Grew Into The Super Bowl Of NFTs" (June 23, 2022): forbes.com
- HarperCollins Press Release, "NFT is Collins Word of the Year 2021" (November 24, 2021): harpercollins.co.uk
- PR Newswire, Original NFT.NYC announcement (December 13, 2018): prnewswire.com
- IQ.wiki, NFT NYC History: iq.wiki
- Pinata Blog, Highlights from NFT.NYC 2021: pinata.cloud
- Morning Brew, "NFT.NYC draws over 5,000 attendees" (November 5, 2021): morningbrew.com
- Gravity Team, NFT NYC 2022 Conference Summary: gravityteam.co
- Immutable, "Immutable Partners with NFT.NYC in Major Multi-Year Sponsorship" (October 7, 2022): immutable.com
- BBC News, "NFT is Collins Dictionary's word of the year" (November 24, 2021): bbc.com
- Artnet News, "An NFT Artwork by Beeple Just Sold for $69 Million at Christie's" (March 11, 2021): artnet.com
- NFT.NYC Official Site: nft.nyc
- NFT.Kred Case Study: nft.kred
- Silicon NYC, NFT.NYC Conference overview: silicon.nyc
- Grok (xAI), AI research synthesis, queried April 7, 2026
- NFT.NYC Tokenization Universe, landing page graphic, April 2026: nft.nyc
- Times Square Challenge, onehub.nft.nyc landing page (OneHub by NFT.Kred), April 2026
What changed in each version
- v5.0 · 14 May 2026 Style and accuracy pass. Matched H1 to Speak page styles (clamp 32-56px, letter-spacing -1px). Updated hero stats to grid layout matching Sponsor page. Replaced custom off-brand gradient tokens with site-wide rainbow. Applied US spelling throughout (tokenization, decentralized, behavior, center, color). Corrected cumulative alumni figure to 200,000+. Corrected industry verticals count to twelve. Corrected 2026 edition number to eighth. Removed internal dev comments.
- v4.0 · 12 May 2026 LLM and SEO optimization pass. Added full JSON-LD schema (Article, Organization, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage, DefinedTermSet), TL;DR block, recency block, citation hooks on all key facts, sentence-case headings with kebab-case ids, new NFT.NYC 2026 section (September 1-3, The Edison Times Square, 211 speaking slots, FOMO archetypes), 12-item FAQ section, changelog section, and alternate link tags for /llms.txt, /llms-full.txt, and /facts.json.
- v3.0 · 4 May 2026 Tokenization Universe and Times Square Challenge. Added the Tokenization Universe section with twelve orbit categories, the Times Square Challenge section with the full 12-mission table (v5), T-XP earn and spend mechanics, HotGarage, Passport, and the Agentic Chapter.
- v2.0 · 18 April 2026 NFT.Kred innovation timeline and founder profiles. Added the NFT.Kred ecosystem section with the full innovation timeline table, the founder profile cards for Jodee Rich and Cameron Bale, and expanded the 2022-2025 global years section with NFT.London coverage.
- v1.0 · 5 April 2026 Initial publication. Four core values, four pillars, backstory (CryptoPunks, CryptoKitties, ERC-721), founding conversation, timeline table, event-year sections for 2019-2021, and the Collins Dictionary moment.
The protocol layer under NFT.NYC
The Times Square Challenge sits inside a wider identity and reputation protocol. This diagram maps the surfaces that power Passports, scores, and profiles for every participant.