A Taste of the Future: Finance 3.0 at SXSW

We’re easing into the events nice-and-slow, so here’s the schedule for the day:

• The Stellar NFT Hackathon begins at 2:30 pm CST sharp! This is a 48-hour long hackathon that will take place in-person and virtually, so join the Stellar Dev Discord channel for updates.
• As part of the hackathon, we will be hosting an NFT Workshop presented by Tyler van der Hoeven and Taylor McNeil from SDF’s Developer Relations Team. If you can’t make the workshop in person, fear not – it will also be livestreamed on YouTube and recorded for later viewing, so sign up!
• The first featured session of the Finance 3.0 summit is all about “Connecting Web3 With the Real World.” Get a sense of how a new, decentralized web infrastructure will intertwine with existing systems and data with Real Vision’s Ash Bennington and Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov.

We’ll be setting up shop at the Stellar Lounge, so swing by and say hi 👋 The Stellar Lounge is right across the hall from the Finance 3.0 summit in the JW Marriott Austin.

If you’re participating in the hackathon:

• You can work out of the Stellar Lounge – we have lots and lots of ☕
• The SDF DevRel team will be hosting office hours from 6-8 pm CST, so be sure to drop by the Stellar Lounge if you have any questions regarding your project. The Lounge will also be open overnight if you wish to continue working there.
  

Meanwhile, day 1 of Finance 3.0 begins! Listen in on fun sessions covering a host of topics, including:

• 2022: The Year of The DAO: One of the two sessions in SXSW’s entire agenda that touches upon DAOs in depth, this panel is sure to please if you are interested in new ways of financing projects and sharing value as a community.
• The Future for NFTs Beyond Art and Collectibles: NFT experts Willam Quigley (WAX), Marcus Bläsche (Rumble Kong League & the Sandbox), and Roshni Cox (Moons of Mars) discuss how NFTs might evolve beyond their most popular use cases.
• Are Synthetics a Fad or Breakthrough for Finance?: Cake DeFi’s Julian Hosp will present on how DeFi projects have built synthetic versions of popular equities, demonstrating how blockchain can create a financial system parallel to the traditional system, albeit with increased accessibility and in a trustless manner.
• Driving Innovation & Inclusion in Digital Assets: A topic near-and-dear to our heart, this session will be led by some of the most influential women leaders in the fintech, traditional finance, and media space as they discuss driving innovation and inclusion in their organizations, as well as the future of digital assets at a high level.
  

If you’re looking for a place to relax and meet new people, join our happy hour at the Stellar Lounge for the day!

Another day, more thought-provoking panels! Check out the sessions for Finance 3.0’s second day, which deep dive DeFi and NFTs:

• Bitcoin DeFi - The Latest Developments: Participating in this session dedicated to debunking misconceptions about DeFi are Tony Cai (Atomic Finance), Dan Held (Kraken), Alyse Killeen (Stillmark), and Anthony Pompliano (Pomp Investments) – a can’t-miss conversation.
• NFTs in Mktg: Fungibility in a Non-Fungible World: Trend or timeless? Panelists from the Estée Lauder Companies, Pepsico, and Medialink talk about engaging with customers through NFTs and the metaverse and how this has required a complete shift in thinking when it comes to marketing.
• Unlocking the Value in Digital Assets: Covering a unique topic, Mastercard’s Sherri Haymond and Bakkt’s Gavin Michael explore what fungibility can mean for customers beyond NFTs as they discuss “how untapped digital assets are waiting for consumers to uncover, redeem and spend.”
• Blockchain & NFTs: Environmental & Social Impact: Are blockchain/NFTs and sustainability mutually exclusive? What steps can blockchain take to reduce its carbon footprint? How can crypto be used for good? All these questions are on the table as panelists Paula Carnabuci, The Jiho (Jeff Zirlin), Bill Tai, and Shen Tong take the floor.
  

Submissions for the NFT Hackathon are due at 2:30 pm CST. Afterwards, the submissions will be reviewed by a judge panel, with the award ceremony taking place at 5 pm! We’ve got happy hour happening right before, so be sure to close out your time with us and celebrate all the participants 🥂