VulCon3 Amazed all in New York
VulCon3 took place in New York City on 26th May 2023, and what an experience it was for all who attended! Following last year’s much lauded VulCon2 in Athens was always going to be a tough ask. Though where better than the tech and financial hub that is Manhattan to stage VulCon3 – The Elysium Chapters? Let’s take a bite sized look at the events of the day itself as VulCon3 amazed all in New York.
From 9am, the first (and some would argue most eager) of attendees had arrived and were heading into the Ziegfeld Ballroom. Guests meandered in, eager to meet old friends and making new connections over a delicious breakfast. An hour was allowed before guests were informed that the day’s main program was about to begin. Having taken their seats, the brilliant Anna Roisman took to the stage to entertain those watching on. She welcomed people to New York and the Ziegfeld and set a light-hearted tone as she announced CEO Jamie Thomson for his opening remarks. Jamie epitomized everything the Vulcan Forged community love and respect him for – larger than life, optimistic and straight talking, thanking attendees, covering where Vulcan Forged is today and building up towards the first speaker, Anthony Scaramucci.
Anthony Scaramucci
Anna Roisman returned to the stage to introduce the powerhouse that is Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony discussed why economic decentralization is inevitable. He also covered what he and Skybridge Capital saw in Vulcan Forged and why they wanted to get involved, explaining the five to ten year vision for Skybridge’s work with Vulcan Forged. Anthony first understood blockchain from the perspective of being a skeptical institutional investor, his opinion changing during his time in the United States government. There, discussions related to a digital US dollar opened his eyes to the potential of blockchain.
Finally, Anthony took questions from the audience covering previous poor regulation and what the future may hold for blockchain.
Kevin O’Leary
Kevin appeared in a virtual fireside chat, and was interviews by Anthony Scaramucci. The pair discussed how blockchain is a welcome upgrade to the archaic payment systems still in use. Next Kevin covered the FTX situation, regulation and the Web3 gaming space and demand for gaming. This included collaboration between gaming projects through tokenization and how this will work for investors. Finally, Kevin discussed how his he and his team reduce customer acquisition cost, which is always a major hurdle for any business.
Brian Evans
Anna Roisman next introduced Brian Evans, founder of BDE Ventures and Influencive. Brian is also a judge on TV show The Next Crypto Gem. Brian sat with Jamie Thomson and Anna for a fireside chat, where definitions of success were covered. Discussions ranged from having the ability to spot opportunities, being early when investing in projects and the spirit of the entrepreneur – how entrepreneurs are driven and to a degree obsessed with the success of their project. Brian talked about his career trajectory. This included musing with Jamie over their sleepless nights when setting up their projects. The evolution of gaming was a major topic. A takeaway from Brian; “more people play video games than watch TV”.
By now, hunger was setting in and so it was time for a lunch break. Attendees enjoyed some more fabulous catering from the Ziegfeld Ballroom and took the opportunity to network.
Ice-T
Following lunch, Anthony Scaramucci returned to talk to Ice-T. The famous artist discussed being on the cutting edge of tech, predicting technology like iTunes back in 1999 and being one of the earliest artists to embrace mp3 and digital music. Ice-T discussed his career path, from his time on the street to the music industry and more recently acting.
As a huge fan of video games, Ice-T shares his story of how he embraced gaming and how it helped him get away from his real life problems and was an aid to relaxation as well as him now launching his own video game.
Dionisis Kabiotis
Next up was Dionisis Kabiotis, the founder and CEO of MyHealthVerse, a project that has joined Elysium Blockchain. MyHealthVerse is the first NFT biomarkers marketplace. It is built to revolutionize how people think about NFTs and health related data by adding biomarkers to the blockchain industry. Dionisis covered how MyHealthVerse began and the role biobanks play in the study of genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors that contribute to health and disease. He also explained how biomarker NFTs work and what information they store when compared to biobank biomarkers. Dionisis covered the benefits of owning biomarker data as an NFT, including ownership and control and shared the MyHealthVerse roadmap.
Vulcan Fight League Panel
Following Dionisis was the Vulcan Fight League Panel, where Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson, Ryan ‘The Wizard’ Hall and Brandon ‘McNinja’ McCaghren joined CEO Jamie Thomson on stage to talk about their careers. Situations they have been involved in were discussed, gaming and, to the delight of the audience, the panel members taught Jamie some MMA moves!
Alex McConnell – Vendetta DAO
Introducing the Chalk River metaverse and Vendetta DAO’s range of wild west themed mini games was Alex McConnell, a long time Vulcan Forged OG. Alex and his team are building their fun and exciting ecosystem on the Elysium blockchain. All footage shared was in-game and Alex took the audience through what the team are building, including their kill to earn and risk to earn mechanisms. As Alex says, “Crypto has always been compared to the wild west and now we’re bringing that comparison to life”. His talk ended with some Vendetta apparel giveaways.
An afternoon break followed, as the audience were given the chance to stretch their legs and take in some refreshments, the afternoon’s talks the topic of conversation for many.
Brian Hazan – The HUSL
Following the break, Brian Hazan, co-founder and CEO of The HUSL took to the stage. Brian explained the ecosystem of The HUSL, a no-code platform built by creators for creators that offers more than many other metaverses, including mobile gaming, no-code shopify integration, an NFT music marketplace and giving their community a voice in making proposals and voting systems. Brian finished on the HUSLVERSE, The HUSL’s mobile games and their generative music composition system, using the power of ai alongside sample from music artists.
Jamie Thomson
To complete the speakers, Vulcan Forged CEO Jamie Thomson was reintroduced by Anna Roisman. If there was something Vulcan Forged supporters were expecting as VulCon3 amazed all in New York, it was Jamie’s announcements. The CEO had a lot to cover including some exclusive MetaScapes news, Vulcan Forged’s Metaverse as a Service (MaaS) platform. Jamie shared the Vulcan Forged company structure as it stands in 2023, with particular focus on Elysium. The blockchain’s speed, security and the many tools such as the DEX, launchpad and bridge that are available to projects coming to the platform were covered.
Next, Jamie discussed Vulcan Forged’s position in 2023. This included how Jamie realized that the way forward is sustainability and organic demand, how the transition of Web2 to Web3 should be subtle. Generally, people just want to play games. Jamie also explained how PYR is the gateway to the Vulcan Forged secondary token, LAVA, that powers the blockchain.
Evolution
Jamie discussed how Vulcan Forged are adapting and evolving based on what people want and wasn’t afraid to discuss the odd mis-step. Barriers to adoption were discussed, the removal of the need for multiple accounts, and the current transition to Elysium.
Jamie next discussed the position of the games. The coming of Berserk Season 4, “the Winds of War” and a before and after look at VulcanVerse were included. VulcanVerse visual updates impressed. Some big news was the arrival of MetaScapes version 2, the second build of Vulcan Forged’s highly anticipated metaverse building platform. A trailer of the cartoon world theme was shown, as Jamie announced that version 2 is now downloadable. This was followed by a further trailer detailing the AI possibilities as development of the system continues, with great reception from VulCon attendees, with the ability for players to monetize creativity.
Vulcan Fight League was touched on. This was followed by Vulcan Eleven, a fantasy sports app featuring cricket with soccer and more coming soon. A preview of Vulcan Forged’s new whitepaper was displayed on screen as Jamie ran through a TLDR. Elysium protocols were covered before moving onto the Frenzy pass, its uses and how you’ll need it to earn LAVA.
Announcements
Jamie next dropped a couple of big announcements. A partnership with Animoca Brands that sees VulcanVerse XP earning working within the Mocaverse system, bringing Animoca game players’ eyes to VulcanVerse and VulcanVerse players to Animoca Brands games was a big takeaway. Next, TopHash were welcomed as the latest Elysium Blockchain Cronus node holders. This was followed by disclosure of a partnership between Vulcan Forged and Make A Wish in Greece. Vulcan Forged are making donations to the charity that is close to Jamie’s heart. Following this, Jamie announced how Coorest are moving to Elysium blockchain and a partnership with Vulcan Forged and Decentraland which will see PYR and MANA coming to Elysium as a liquidity pool.
A HeXenagos trailer was shown as open beta for the strategic battler was announced for this summer. Finally, Jamie announced the Elysium hackathon. This comes with a $1,000,000 prize pool for people developing games and dApps on the blockchain, rewarding contributors. Finally, he touched on some more developments, including Ice-T NFTs and finished off with a cryptic message.
Following Jamie’s talk, attendees had just under an hour to do their own thing before the cocktail hour, evening meal and afterparty. The evenings events capped off a wonderful day in the big apple. It’s safe to say that VulCon3 amazed all in New York City.
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