Vera, a new and fast-growing Silicon Valley startup that’s helping non-fungible token (NFT) creators, brands, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) unlock billions in untapped utilities and revenue potential, partnered with former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s GoldenDAO for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) advancement, to host NFTASIA in Miami on April 7, 2022.
Aligned with its mission to bridge access to information, resources, and capital for Web3 innovation between the East and West, NFTASIA was the only event during the Miami Blockchain week focused on uniting the influence, innovation and impact of the AAPI Web3 community. The satellite event in Miami acted as the soft launch for the main NFTASIA conference that is planned to happen in Singapore in January 2023.
The event attracted 272 invite-only VIPs (crypto whales, venture capital investors, high profile Web3 founders, and top media companies) and over 500 general admission attendees. Amongst the attendees, Andrew Yang, Asian American businessman and former United States presidential candidate, gave a speech on the vision behind his DAO, GoldenDAO; the role NFTASIA will play to unite the East and West; and the importance of unity between Asian Americans and Asians from Asia. He was joined by Samson Mow, founder and CEO of Pixelmatic and Michelle Phan, Entrepreneur and top YouTube personality with over 10 million social media followers.
“The COVID-19 global pandemic has created a chasm between the East and West due to travel restrictions, closed borders, and the inability to host events or conferences in Asia, and as a result, investments and innovation in the Web3 space has slowed,” explains Joshua Yap, Head of Events of Vera Studios and Executive Producer of NFTASIA. “NFTASIA aims to bridge that gap, increasing access to information, resources and capital for everyone, while increasing awareness and recognition for AAPI who are contributing to valuable Web3 technological breakthroughs.”
Denis Lam, Founder and CEO of Vera Labs, the firm behind Vera, had a brief conversation with Andrew Yang on the role Vera plays in the Web3 ecosystem and explained how Vera gives creators and GoldenDAO members true ownership of their assets. “If Bitcoin is the new digital currency for digital cash payments, then Vera is the new digital currency for digital NFT payments,” said Lam. “Vera in Latin means ‘true’ and our technology gives everyone true ownership of their NFTs by automating NFT financial services such as NFT rentals and mortgages without dependence on any middleman or intermediary.”
NFTASIA at Miami, a Bitcoin Miami 2022 side event, was co-hosted and supported by GoldenDAO, Krypital Group, CoinTelegraph China, ARPA, Wachsman Group and MAP Protocol. All these companies are founded or led by Asians or AAPI, embodying the spirit of NFTASIA.