Avalanche Summit: Day Three & Four

Day three of the Avalanche Summit turned into a recovery day for me, as the Frens Party and travel exhaustion got the better of me and forced me to forego the activities of the day. The Husky team, not ones to take a day off, made their way through the Summit grounds and were greeted by scratchy voices, sunglasses, and the smiling faces of those who attended the previous night’s party.

Throughout the Summit, the Husky team kept the Avax Store running smoothly, making sure all Summit attendees had the chance to purchase exclusive Summit-themed apparel. We were proud to partner with the Ava Labs team to produce all merchandise available in the shop and thank them for the opportunity to display our high-quality designs and goods. We look forward to further cementing this relationship, and to all the excellent work we can achieve together.

Day four of the Summit had a light schedule of speakers, as most of the day was spent on meetings between developers and financiers to formulate and finish ideas and conversations mentioned only in passing during the preceding days. This was also true for the Husky team, deftly moving from one meeting to the next, making important connections necessary to achieve our vision for the Husky project. It brought me no small joy to explain the Husky eShop to all we met, and the potential it provides regarding the large-scale adoption of web3 and blockchain purchasing habits. We were even lucky enough to have a quick, friendly conversation with The Professor himself, Emin Gün Sirer, about everything we are working on at Husky.

The Avalanche Summit Hackathon kicked off today as well, going until Sunday, where teams of developers work to create web3 solutions across a variety of use cases for various prizes. The Husky dev team is participating, and we wish them the best of luck! Let's goooo!

Between meetings, I found some free time to walk around Poble Espanyol, and enjoyed taking a break from the hustle and grind to see some of the historic architecture.

As the day progressed, buzz was beginning to generate surrounding the cryptic news of an announcement at 5:30 that evening. We knew the announcement had something to do with music and web3, which naturally piqued the interest of the Husky team. We have always believed that web3 and NFT capabilities will offer musicians a new and better way to connect with their audiences and profit more from their work, and to hear that The Avalanche Foundation was making an announcement regarding the very same thing was exciting for us.

And we were not disappointed. The Avalanche Foundation, in partnership with Op3n, announced the launch of a culture catalyst initiative fund valued at 100-million dollars to directly benefit filmmakers, musicians, digital artists, and all manner of content creators looking to expand into NFT projects. At Husky, this was music to our ears, and we could not be happier to be developing on a network that shares the same artistic goals and values as ourselves.

Musician Grimes, who has launched successful a NFT collection of her own, also joined via live stream to discuss her plans to create children’s entertainment utilizing blockchain capabilities, all part of same initiative.

Once the announcements were finished, and the Avalanche-branded Formula E car was wheeled out of the Eco-Dome, the DJ at center stage took over and the Summit after-party was in full swing. Food and drinks were abundant, as were smiling faces. Reiterated in nearly every conversation in which I participated today was the notion that it was refreshing being in such a positive environment. There were no negative vibes, and projects that you may think would be in competition were rather working on building together through mutually beneficial collaboration. Despite the exhaustion of such a week taking its toll on many, there seemed to be nothing that could dampen the seriously positive outlook held by Summit attendees.

Just because the main portion of the Summit has concluded doesn’t mean there still isn’t work to be done. The Husky dev team will remain to compete in the Hackathon and the rest of the team will be here as well to continue their work making fruitful connections with ecosystem actors. For myself, I can’t wait to continue the interesting conversations had with many of the people I have been so lucky to meet this week; so long as my voice doesn’t go out before my return flight home on Sunday.

One of the final meetings of the day took place with Natalie and her furry friend long after the Summit grounds had closed, and we would be hard-pressed to find a better way to end the day.