Introducing CoinDesk’s Culture Week

You can measure cryptocurrency’s impact in money terms, and that’s certainly impressive.

With a market cap of $2.2 trillion, crypto is now an asset class to be reckoned with.

But you can also see the industry’s influence in more qualitative ways. 2021 was the year crypto became a mainstream cultural phenomenon as much as an interesting experiment in money.

Culture Week is part of CoinDesk’s Crypto 2022 series, which also includes Policy Week and Future of Money Week.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have brought in millions of new fans. People who didn’t care when crypto was just money care now it’s a Bored Ape avatar or Kobe Bryant Tribute Dunk.

For many people, NFTs are easier to grasp than Bitcoin or Ethereum. Their first taste of this industry is inherently cultural. These groups are going to build the creator economy, making jobs and new niches along the way.

All of which is a very different story than, say, new types of sovereign money (central bank digital currencies) or payments.

More subtly, crypto itself became culture in 2021. This industry’s ideas affected how people dress, speak and communicate online. Words and phrases like “gm,” “HODL,” “WAGMI” and “to the moon” became part of the lexicon.

Get the whole of CoinDesk’s Culture Week here.

In previous “theme weeks” at CoinDesk, we looked at the year ahead in policy and regulation and the future of money.

This week, to complete our “Crypto 2022″ series, we explore crypto’s widening effect on media and entertainment, and how it’s creating culture itself.

We survey the building blocks of this new creator economy, including NFTs. We look at DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) like Friends With Benefits. We take the temperature of the Wall Street Bets-level enthusiasm of creative communities like ConstitutionDAO. And, yes, we hurtle headlong into the metaverse.

We see how consumer brands are soaking up crypto culture, and how artists are making use of its tools and distribution.

We hope you enjoy the mix of features, opinion and research. Let us know what you think and what we missed. Stay tuned for continuing coverage Dec. 13-17.