Portal X Livestreams Genesis Party Into Metaverse With NFT Oasis
Say hello to the art kids about to break, Grammy Award winners here to celebrate, and contortionists taking over the dance floor. This was THE EVENT of the season.
It might be the inaugural year of NFT.LA, but with a closing party like this, the Metaverse charts unmarked territory for social behavior IRL. Powered by the NFT Oasis Metaverse, the official afterparty hosted by Portal X featured a historic first: The first time a party was live streamed into the Metaverse in real time.
Over 2,000 VIPs in Los Angeles mingled with 1,800 Metaverse party-goers in VR across the globe, including one famous early adopter, Broadway veteran and American Idol Star Justin Guarini, who portaled into the party from the NFT Oasis Penthouse he recently purchased in their Metaverse. The scene was beamed onto a giant LED screen powered by 3500 Kelvin. NFT Oasis Worlds danced in the background, featuring a multititude of locations in their Metaverse: a designer London Penthouse inhabited by AR Zoo Animals powered by event sponsor Zoo Labs, an uncanny mapping of the LA Arts District, and a futuristic water oasis replete with wild flamingos. In front of the installation, party-goers flocked to take selfies. Meanwhile (and in real life) futuristic space-women, perhaps cast by Luc Besson himself, vogued in and out of frame and lured the crowd onto a dance floor that would put the even wildest night in Ibiza to shame. Rare for Los Angeles, indeed.
We’ve known for the past year that NFTs are having their moment. Ignited by Clubhouse a year ago, some wondered what would happen to NFTs and their lockdown-inspired ascent when people began to socialize again. With the past year of landmark gatherings, notably NFT NYC, it became clear that community engagement, the hallmark of a successful NFT project, was the driver.
But the quantum moment we saw this past weekend charts Web3 into the strataspherse. The scene: Academy LA. Just a few doors down, a mural of long-dead Hollywood immortals. Once upon a time, Los Angeles was run by starlets and their entourage. Now talent agencies, celebrities, and influencers flock to the parties of NFT.LA, and the Portal X NFT Oasis Afterparty was the apogee. Web 3 is officially driving LA nightlife.
Attending the party virtually, NFT Oasis Investor and the nation’s top life and business strategist, Tony Robbins, marked this moment in time, “Proximity is power,” he said, commenting on the power Metaverse activations serve to build lasting relationships. Mr. Robbins, and early investor in NFT Oasis and advisor to the company came as a guest of CEO Will O’Brien, “We’re at this inflection point in the industry now. This event brought together such positive energy of that growth mindset. The people who were there were there for the right reasons,” commented Mr. O’Brien, deftly alluding to new golden ratio of party dynamics. Parties of this nature are engineered with attendees who have growth mind-sets, interested in the spirit of collaboration. This important cultural shift is behind Crypto’s rabid adoption by the who’s who of culture. Whether it’s a lasting friendship or the start of an important business collaboration, Web3 is featuring unparalleled opportunity.
Portal X principals Dex and Aleks Lipovic first observed the phenomena when they threw the infamous Metahills Party last July at P Diddy’s mansion in Beverly Hills. All of a sudden tangential meetings on Clubhouse turned into lasting friendships and business deals. “I’ll say something about the culture that surrounds Web 3, NFTs, and the blockchain in general,” commented Dex Lipovic. “I’ve never seen a more welcoming and willing to help community, even in people that are technically competitors. But the first thing people ask here is, ‘how can we collaborate, how can we work together? So that’s what helped me buy into this entire thing very quickly.”
With NFT.NYC on the horizon, Portal X and NFT Oasis are busy planning. “I think there’s incredible pressure right now to outdo ourselves,” offered Dex. “We’re developing something really special for the future,” confirmed NFT Oasis CEO Will O’Brien. “The event had significant legs, and we’re looking forward to the future of collaboration.”