The Paris Blockchain Week attracted more than 10,000 participants who came to the Carrousel du Louvre from March 21st to 23rd. In that context, this Web3 gathering served as a major testament to the continuing vitality of Web3, even in the wake of dropping prices.
Here are the top NFTs trends seen in the event that you need to watch in 2023:
France Is A Major NFT Hub
Paris Blockchain Week confirmed that France is perfectly positioned in the Web3 space. French firms came in their numbers. SandBox, Ledger, and Sorare are the most famous among them, and they reviewed their last initiatives. On that occasion, Sorare NBA got the PBW price for the Web3 brand initiative of the year. After baseball and football, the NFT card game now benefits from the license of the prestigious American basketball league.
Ternoa is another notable French start-up that was outstanding at Caroussel du Louvre. At the Paris Blockchain Week, co-founder of Ternoa blockchain, Mickael Canu, announced the release of the Time Guardian app. It lets users develop “Time Capsules” – NFTs that work as both a receptacle and transmitter for the data.
The app provides secure storage of personal information for an indefinite period, letting users control their data’s transmission and privacy.
This promising start-up Bubblemaps launched a year ago a tool that assists in visualizing data on-chain, in gamified and simple ways. Anybody can visualize which particular wallet holds one specific NFT, and to which wallets it is linked. It is thus possible to review and analyze the nature of the transaction between various wallets.
Bubblemaps CEO Nicolas Vaiman said:
“Now I can analyze and tell with a certain amount of certitude what that cluster of transactions is, to what it corresponds.”
Luxury Brands Adopt Blockchain
LVMH stood out at the Paris Blockchain Week. The world’s biggest luxury group launched the Aura blockchain consortium in 2021, which includes OTB Group, Prada Group, and Cartier. It focuses mainly on promoting more sustainable trends within the fashion world and enabling members to upgrade their products’ traceability through blockchain technology.
Furthermore, the vice-chairman of Aura Blockchain Consortium and LVMH’s CIO, Frank Le Moal, explained on March 22 that:
“Digital passports backed by a blockchain are a way to provide better repair and care services to customers, and to develop a better one-to-one relationship with them.”
Some of the huge luxury brands like Group Kering (Gucci, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta…), and Givenchy were there as well, as a testimony of their repeated interest in the Web3 applications.
Metavr.s is also a great example of the way some of the start-ups leverage Web3 tools to create new products from the luxury and fashion sector. The firm helps brands to create memorable experiences in the metaverse.
During the Paris Blockchain Week, Metav.rs introduced a partnership with the 5-star luxury hostel Bristol. Additionally, the 11 first NFTs minted by these prestigious brands were put on auction in a reception in the lounges of the hostel. They are designed to offer their holders highly valuable utilities.
Web3 Entertainment Is Growing
Web3 firms have begun investing in the entertainment and sports sectors for some time now. Chiliz, the “blockchain of sports”, is among them. A month after launching the update of their blockchain, the – Chiliz Chain 2.0 – its CEO Alexandre Dreyfus unveiled his vision at the Paris Blockchain Week.
With its Layer-1 blockchain, Chiliz now wants to attract developers and start-ups to create utilities on their chains. Hence, according to Dreyfus:
“Chiliz’s ultimate goal is to create an ecosystem with fans of various sports teams and disciplines.”
Also in sports, the French F1 star Pierre Gasly gave a candid talk about its nonfungible token project. The star spoke about being the first F1 driver to do an NFT drop. He stated:
“Introducing the first NFT into the F1 world makes me proud. There are a lot of opportunities to develop and I look forward to it. This industry has similarities to the F1 world, fast-paced, innovative driven, and risk assessment is essential for success”.
In another category of entertainment, Groupe Partouche, a French firm that operates casinos, hotels, and many other leisure and entertainment facilities, and is one of the major casino operators in Europe, introduced an 8888 NFT collection known as ‘Joker’. Holders will gain access to different hotels and casinos of the group, including exclusive offers, and complimentary services.
Gaming And Metaverse Are Here For The Long Term
Paris Blockchain Week was mainly dominated by crypto firms. But major operators in the NFT sector joined the event as well. Yuga Labs, the giant of the NFT sector, recently appointed Michael Figge as CCO. In a conference, he mentioned how he reviewed the intense activity of the firm.
Yuga Labs helped organize the sale of the CryptoPunks Bitcoin Ordinals that made the headlines around two months ago. Recently, the firm launched the TwelveFold project. This time around, 288 successful bidders spent around $16.5 million worth of BTC for buying a limited series of 300 generative Ordinals NFT.
Moreover, Yuga’s metaverse project Otherside will be at the center of all attention in the coming days. The second live test known as ‘the second trip’ will attract the entire community.
The Hong Kong-based game software firm Animoca Brands was also among the entities that participated in the Paris Blockchain Week. While commenting on the recent debate about NFT developers’ royalties, its CEO Yat Sun highlighted that the entire sector could not work without it.
Rarible, the NFT marketplace launched by Alex Salnikov and Alexei Falin in 2020, has a similar opinion. Evgeniy Medvedev, head of partnerships at Rarible, explained:
“We decided not to follow everyone and stick with creators’ royalties. We are a community-centered marketplace and going to auction sales is not in our DNA”.
Eventually, Paris Blockchain Week showed that the French capital is a crucial hub for the Web3 ecosystem. Several companies present at the event are involved with NFTs in one way or the other. Brands also have a strong interest in NFTs as a CRM tool or a digital asset. Additionally, they see it as a way of offering their users a new kind of experience.
