 Okay, welcome back everyone to theCUBE's live coverage in Monaco. I'm John Furrier, host of theCUBE. Monaco Crypto Summit is the event, and it's a big conversation later at the Yacht Club with Prince Albert and everyone else will be there and it'll be quite the scene. And Rachel Wolfson is here, she's with Cointelegraph there, the media partner of the event, the official media partner of the Monaco Crypto Summit. She's also emceeing the event on stage, presented by Digital Bits. Rachel, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me, John. So I know you're busy, thanks for taking the time because you got to jump back in and moderate and keep things on track. This is an inaugural event. So Digital Bits has exploded on the scene. I just saw a thing on YouTube news around this soccer player in Rome, has Digital Bits logo on the jersey, the big to do because everyone's popular and they've got a couple teams. So real world kind of assets coming together. What's going on in the event that you're emceeing? What's the focus? What's the agenda? What's some of the conversations like? Yeah, definitely. Well, it's a great event. It's my first time here in Monaco and I'm loving it. And I think that Monaco is really becoming the next crypto hotspot. Definitely in terms of metaverse and Web3 innovation, I think that we're gonna start seeing a lot of that here. That's what we're seeing today at the summit. So a lot of the presentations that we're seeing are really focused on Web3 and NFT platforms. So for instance, obviously what Digital Bits is doing. We watched a video before the break on ecosystem and the metaverse that people can join and be a part of in terms of real estate. But we're seeing a lot of innovation here today with that. I moderated a great panel with Brittany Kaiser, Lauren Bissell, Taras, linking on his last name. It was about blockchain and how governments are implementing blockchain. So that was also really interesting to hear about what the Ukrainian government is doing with blockchain. It's kind of a mix, but I'd say that the overall theme is Web3 and NFTs. Yeah, Brittany was mentioning how they're going to preserve buildings and artifacts so that in case they're looted or destroyed, they can preserve them. Right, I think it's called the Heritage Fund. And I just think it's such an interesting use case in terms of how governments are using blockchain because the best use for blockchain in my opinion is recording data and having that data be permanent. And so when we can have artifacts in Ukraine recorded on the blockchain, you know, by being scanned, it's really revolutionary. And I think that a lot of governments around the world are going to see that use case and say, oh wow, blockchain is a great technology for things like that. So Digital Bits had a press conference this morning. They talked about their exchange and some other things. Did you attend that press conference? Did you get briefed on that? I did not attend the press conference. I was prepping for my MC role. So they got this exchange thing and then there's real interest from Prince Albert's foundations to bring this into Monaco. So Monaco's got this vibe big time. Right, there's a vibe. What does it all mean and you're putting your reporting? What do you see happening? So I mean, I honestly haven't covered Monaco actually ever in my reporting and John, you know, I've been reporting since 2017. But the vibe that I'm getting just from this summit today is that Web 3 and NFTs are going to be huge here. I'm speaking, I haven't, you know, there's a panel coming up about crypto regulations. And so we're gonna talk a little bit about laws being passed here in Monaco in terms of metaverse and digital identity. So I think that there are a few laws around that here that they're looking at, the government here is looking at to kind of add clarity for those topics. We had a couple of guests on earlier. We're talking about the old days a couple of years ago. You mentioned 2017, so much has changed. Yes. You know, we had an up and down 2018 was a good year and then kind of that back end changed a little bit. Then NFTs brought it back up again. Been a great hype cycle, but also movement. What's your take on the real progress that's been made? If you look, zoom out and look at the landscape. What's happened? Right, I mean a little lot has happened. When I first entered the space, I initially came in, I was interested in enterprise blockchain and private networks being utilized by enterprises to record data. And then we saw public blockchains come in, like Ethereum and enterprises using them. And then we saw a mix. And now where I feel like we're just seeing public blockchains and there's really, but they're still our private blockchains. But today, I mean, we've gone from that in 2017 to right now, I think we're recently seeing a lot of these centralized exchanges kind of collapsing what we've seen with Celsius, for instance, and people moving their crypto to hardware wallets. I think that the space is really undergoing a lot of transformation. It's really revolutionary actually to see the hardware wallet market is growing rapidly. And I think that that's going to continue to grow. I think centralized exchanges are still going to exist in custody crypto for enterprises and institutions. And individuals as well. But we are seeing a shift from centralized exchanges to hardware wallets. NFTs, although the space is not as big as it was a year ago, it's still quite relevant. But I think with the way the market is looking today, we're only seeing the top projects kind of lead the way now versus all of the noise that we were seeing previously. So yeah, I think it's- So corrections basically. Right, exactly, corrections. And I think it's necessary, right? It's very necessary. Yeah, it's interesting. You mentioned the big players. You got Bitcoin, Ethereum driving a lot. I remember interviewing the crypto kiddies when they first came out, it was kind of a first gen Ethereum and then just exploded from there. And I remember saying to myself, if the NFTs and the decentralized applications can have that scale, but then it felt like, okay, there was a lot of jockeying for under the covers, under the hood, so to speak. And now you got massive presence from all the VCs. And Jason Horowitz is like another crypto fund. I mean, you can't go a day without another big crypto fund from, you know, it's traditional venture capitalists. Meanwhile, you got investors who have made billions on crypto, they're investing. So you kind of got a diversity of investor base going on and different instruments. So the investor community is changing and evolving too. How do you see that evolving? Well, it's a really good point you mentioned. So Cointelegraph Research recently released a report showing that Web3 is the most sought after investment sector this year. So it was DeFi before and Web3 is now leading the way over DeFi. And so we're seeing a lot of these venture capitalist funds as you mentioned, create funds allocated just to Web3 growth. And that's exactly what we're seeing the vibe I'm getting from the Monaco Crypto Summit here today. This is all about Web3. It's all about NFTs, it's all about the metaverse. This is really revolutionary. So I think we're definitely going to see that trend kind of conquer all of these other sectors that we're seeing in blockchain right now. Has Web3 become the coin term for metaverse and NFTs? Or is that being globalized as all shifted decentralized? What's the read on it? It seems to be like kind of all inclusive, but it tends to be more like NFTs, the new thing and the young Gen Zs want something different than the millennials and the Xs and the boomers who screwed everything up for everybody. Yeah, no, I mean, it's a great question. So when I think of Web3, I categorize NFTs and the metaverse in there. Obviously it's just the new form of the internet. It's the way the internet is. They never fight fashion, as I always say, right? Yeah, right. It's just decentralization. The fact that we can live in these virtual worlds and own our own assets through NFTs, it's all decentralized and in my opinion, that all falls under the category of Web3. Well, you're doing a great job MCing. Great to have you on the queue. I'd like to ask you a personal question you don't mind. COVID's impacted us all with no events. When did you get back into the event circuit? What's on your calendar? What have you been up to? Yeah, so gosh, with COVID, I think when COVID, you know, when it was actually really happening. I still is happening, but when it was, you know. When it was shut down. Right, when we were shut down. There were virtual events. And then I think it was late last year or early this year when the event started happening again. So most recently, I was at NFT NYC. Before that, I was at Consensus, which was huge. The one in Austin or Miami? In Austin. That's right, Austin. Right, were you there? No, I missed it. It was a very high level, great, great event. Huge numbers I heard. Yes, massive turnout. Tons of speakers, that was, it was really informative. It's like a festival actually. It was, it was just like South by Southwest except for crypto and blockchain. And then coming up, gosh, there are a lot of events. There's, I'll be at an event in Miami. It's an NFT event. That's in a few months. I know that there's a summit happening, I think in Turkey that I may be at as well. You're on the road, you're traveling. You're doing a lot of hopping around. Yes, I am. And there's a lot of events happening in Europe. I'm US based, but I'm hoping to spend more time in Europe just so I can go to those events. But there's a lot happening. Cool, what's the most important story people should be paying attention to in your mind? Wow, that's a big question. It's a good question. I think most, the transition that we're seeing now. So in terms of prices, I think people need to focus less on the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum and more on innovation that's happening. So for instance, web three innovation, what we're seeing here today. This isn't, innovation isn't about prices, but it's more about like actually now is the time to build because the prices are a bit down. Yeah, I mean, as you know, these Lewis Hamilton's F1 driver had a quote, it takes a team, no matter who's in the driver's seat, it's a team, so community. Wayne Gretzky, skate where the puck is going to be, I think it's much more where I'm hearing now is seeing what you're saying is that don't try to count the price trade of Bitcoin. This is an evolution. Right. And the dots are connecting. Exactly, and like I said, now is the time to build what we're seeing with the project Brittany mentioned, putting the heritage on the blockchain from Ukraine. Like that's a great use case for what we're seeing now. I want to see more of those real world use cases. Well, Rachel, thanks for coming on theCUBE. I really appreciate it. Great to see you. Thanks, John. And thanks for coming out of your schedule. I know you're busy. Now you get some lunchtime now, get some break, get back on stage. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. All right, we're here at the Monaco Crypto Summit. Rachel's emceeing the event as part of the official media partner, CoinTelegraph. Rachel Wilson here on theCUBE. I'm John Furrier. More coverage coming after this short break.