06.09
A Tiny Pilot Session on New Economy―After nemcafe
Saturday, May 26, 2018, it was rainy in the morning, cloudy later, and then very fine. We had a one-day event in Fukuoka called nemcafe, which was driven by the NEM community.
We created a space under the theme “A Tiny Pilot Session on New Economy,” where you could enjoy various activities using XEM. You could buy and sell items; enjoy coffee, hot dogs, and gelato; operate machines; look at artworks; and see what promising developers were going to achieve in the future.
Our goal was to provide an opportunity which you could not have with payment in Japanese yen, where visitors could pay in XEM to “experience” what NEM ecosystem was like and build connections with new things and creative people through NEM. We only accepted XEM as a payment method at the main venue.
Now, I am going to review the event.
There are a message and summary from the organizer(@TrendStream) at the bottom, so please read them if you’d like.
nemcafe
The event consisted of two parts, and a ticket is needed for each part.
In the first part, we had a cafe, a market, a contest for applications built on top of NEM called “NEMCON!” and so on. More than 200 tickets were sold out in 30 hours.
In the second part, we had a party with NEMbers from all over Japan to show our gratitude. More than 100 tickets were sold out in two hours.
NEM Exhibition
Along the stairs leading to the entrance, we made a small exhibition which showed how NEM was born, the meaning of its logo, and the NEM’s network expanding to the whole world.
Reception
We gave visitors a denim tote bag, a leather coaster, a pamphlet, postcards, a sticker and a bottled water as a present.
We also give a string balloon to children and women.
The first 100 arrivals got an original nemcafe round fan. The fans were handed one by one by the man in a green shirt in the picture, who had distributed NEM round fans throughout Japan to increase awareness of NEM in 2017.
The Menu of nemcafe
We rented an espresso machine, and genuine coffee was made by Ninjya, who had previous experience as a barista. We left entirely to him all the display and equipment of the café, resulting in the fantastic café space.
We offered 11 kinds of drinks and desserts, including cafe latte, cappuccino, iced coffee, and affogato, each in 8.33XEM (about 2.3 USD).
Especially unique among the menu was a strawberry cappuccino. We used Amaou syrup and dried strawberries from UMEDAFARM, which grows and sells branded strawberries “Amaou” of Fukuoka Prefecture. UMEDAFARM also accepts NEM payment.
During a limited time, anyone who ordered a cup of coffee got a free gift such as a NEM earphone jack and Amaou Dorayaki (a pancake which consists of two small pancakes made from castella wrapped around a filling of sweet red bean paste and strawberry cream and jam). The café was lively throughout the day.
The café was decollated by “Pappy Balloon”, which deals in balloon gifts and “ayakokakoi FlowerDesign”, which offers custom-made flower gifts. The blackboard was designed by Abe-shi from Hakata style ramen shop “Keiji”, who also actively worked as a photographer in the event.
Elaborate Dishes
“n.quad”, a restaurant located near the main site, opened specially for our event as another venue and offered three kinds of special dishes in NEM payment.
A hot dog (plain or cheese sauce) with fine ingredients from Apparel shop “equal”, which usually accepts NEM payment in Hakata.
Amaou(branded strawberries) gelato offered in collaboration with Amaou farmer UMEDAFARM.
Foie gras wafers, oven-baked young corn, and beef cooked in red wine from n. quad.
nemcafe Organizer’s Booth
Capsule Toy Machine: Redistribution of Wealth
PoI (Proof of Importance), the consensus algorithm (the way to form a consensus to make sure there is no improper act in a transaction) behind NEM has a reward program through harvesting (the process where nodes calculate a block and integrate it into the blockchain).
In harvesting, it depends on luck how much you can earn, so we adopted it as a motif and provided a capsule toy for the first 100 arrivals, where you can get 20 to 70 XEM depending on the kind of magnetic badges put inside.
Even if you drew a blank, you could get potato chips at least. So, our system was better than that of harvesting in NEM, where sometimes you are not paid at all.
Offered Products
We sold various products at nemcafe booth. Some of those who could not attend the event consigned their goods and sent their payment address to us, and on behalf of them, we sold their goods such as NEM-motifed accessories, NEM cookies, handmade soap, tea, and T-shirts featuring cryptocurrency.
We laid in rice, miso, honey castella from shops which accept XEM in their regular business and sold them in XEM.
We also offered meal vouchers of “Yakiniku Tamura” and “Ramen Keiji”, which had already introduced NEM payment. To provide an opportunity to experience NEM payment for as many people as possible, we sold them almost at half the price of the purchase prices.
I hope there will be more and more occasions in various areas where we can pay in NEM, and that people all around the world will be happier with it.
In addition, visitors could grab a handful of confectionery at 7XEM (1.9USD), and buy specially designed thermos, a cryptocurrency board game “THE Cryptocurrency,” and handmade key chains by Nemugumaya.
Service for Visitors
We helped beginners who had not been able to install the wallet to install and configure it. A small amount of XEM was given to those who successfully installed it so that they could experience NEM payment right away without visiting an exchange. 10 visitors used the service.
We also opened an inquiry counter for those who wanted to introduce NEM payment, where they could get a “NEM PAYMENT ADOPTION GUIDE” created by volunteers. It is a really useful and comprehensive guide (for Japanese domestic market) which consists of 50 pages.
Most of those who picked up the guide seemed to want to know how to introduce the system, rather than to actually adopt it themselves. It seemed that they wanted to distribute the guide to their friend’s store and to promote the NEM ecosystem. So, the guides could connect people like the Bible has done. I heard that some of the visitors requested an adoption guide for EC sites, as well as ones for physical retail stores.
Shops Gathered from All Over Japan
In nemcafe, there were 11 shops of various kinds which gathered from all over Japan. Thanks to them, the market was bustling and crowded.
At “Candy Mechatronics” you could try operating a vending machine using NEM payment including mosaics. They also sold NEM candy and NEM tea.
“peach&c.r.e.a.m.” sold selected items which they had bought traveling around the world.
“&c(andc)”sold handmade leather goods from Tochigi Prefecture and pet supplies.
“UMEDAFARM” sold ripe Amaou jam and syrup, and dried strawberries.
“Lifoot” sold sneakers by BCN brand from Barcelona, Spain.
A new local specialty of Higashi-Shirakawa! “Sakura hum” sold Tsuchinoko (Japanese Cryptid) goods and addictive-free hum made by taking advantage of benefits of green tea.
“bello:MOS” sold handmade accessories.
NEMneko project conducted a fund-raising activity to protect stray cats and also sold NEMneko goods to donate the proceeds.
This time, they raised 5,000XEM in total, and it will be donated to Nekokodou, a cat welfare organization in Fukuoka after expenses are subtracted.
“Wankoubou” created and sold original Hasami Yaki products, which were mainly white porcelains, based on the concept of creating tableware which makes family tables happier.
Clothes featuring NEM were sold by “Senrigan’s chilled Chinese noodle is delicious! (crazy store name)”
“XEM-SEN + Local Products from Shizuoka Fair,” a collaborative project between finely selected local products of Shizuoka Prefecture and an EC site “XEM-SEN,” which accepts only NEM payment.
It was the first local products fair in Japan where all payments were made in XEM, or in Cryptocurrency. The fair was opened thanks to XEM-SEN, who willingly accepted our request. Among the products, Cream Bun Manju was so delicious that I was like “Woah!”
The Store Run by Kids Which Accepted NEM payment
Driven by “ITeens Lab.”, a programming school which has opened 11 branches in Fukuoka, a candy store was opened which was planned and run by kids. The store name was “we are Next Expected Moon,” which the kids named.
They prepared deliberately from the revenue and expenditure plan to selection of items. On the day of the event, they divided into two teams and took turns serving customers. Their service was in no way inferior to that of adults and livened up the event.
Developer Contest NEMCOM!
We held “NEMCOM”, a developer contest, under the theme of building applications which can make people want to use NEM. Among 14 entries, the top five applications in online voting were nominated to make a presentation at the event, and then we announced the final result. In addition to the Grand Prix, we offered the Tresto Prize and the nemcafe Prize as special prizes.
The Grand Prix was “RaccoonWallet”, a wallet application which completely supports NEM. It was also awarded the two special prizes. The app won all the three prizes and 7300USD worth of XEM and CMS:XEM altogether, and received a big applause from the audience.
You can see other entries here.
Art Exhibition
Under the theme of “Making the World Smaller with NEM,” we asked Puchikun to draw a picture and exhibited it on the display panel. The title was “New Economy Movement,” and its idea came from the new economy which the network of NEM is creating on the global scale. Noted places around Japan and the world were drawn, and NEM colors were used in the picture. If you have a postcard, please take a look at it.
In addition, 25 art panels were displayed around the painting. 15 of them had been awarded a Tresto Prize in MOSAIC 1 GP, a contest for artworks featuring mosaics.
We also projected a digital work “NEM TREE” on the wall, which reacted to transactions made at the venue. The concept is as follows.
“When a payment is made, an object appears on the root, goes through different lines, and then reaches NEM TREE while a NEM block is being created in a minute. The tree blooms when the block has been created. Then, the flowers fall to the ground, fertilize the soil, and return to NEM TREE again.”
nemcafe Night
We moved to the hotel “WITH THE STYLE FUKUOKA” and from 7 p.m. had a big party with about 170 people including staff and sellers.
NEMbers from every corner of Japan came together and enjoyed themselves, forgetting about the time, with the gorgeous buffet, all-you-can-drink beverages, and the bingo game with luxurious trophies (which was replaced in the middle with the rock-paper-scissors competition due to unexpected trouble).
Conclusion
Through holding the event, I realized again the importance of people involved.
There is more and more greed for short-term speculative profit in the cryptocurrency industry. I myself joined the crypto world merely to make a profit, and since then I have been maintaining that the cryptocurrency would definitely be the next trend. Since desire of human beings is limitless, I don’t mean to criticize it. Rather I think it is a natural course of things.
However, though you may think I’m exaggerating, cryptocurrency is not only a revolutionary technology but a culture itself. I would like you to have a strong interest in the cultural side of cryptocurrency, for it is we humans that can lead it in the right direction.
Once people appreciate its cultural value, the market price will live up to their expectation and become more steady and higher. So, in the crypto world, it is wasteful for those who hope to achieve mental and financial well-being, to be troubled with rumors watching charts and to waver hope and despair at ups and downs of the price.
New Economy Movement, the prototype of NEM, is the movement where the public community becomes distributed, then actively creates the new economy, and promotes its growth through the network of people and technologies. I feel the situation is steadily becoming a reality around NEM community.
As I mentioned at the beginning, we held nemcafe under the theme “A Tiny Pilot Session on New Eeconomy”. In the 138 square meters space, there were a number of NEM payments made by buying and selling goods, food, and drink while experiencing new technology and culture.
We paid some XEM to staff and sellers as in usual employment, since we needed them to create the event. No one joined nemcafe for money though. However, I thought that, if I didn’t do such things as an organizer, I could not grasp the essence in achieving the goal held in the theme.
All the proceeds from nemcafe will be used for coming NEM related activities. Among them is nemcafe visit service, which we announced at the after event. We will offer nemcafe original cups and bear the cost of drinks at meetups and events of NEM around the world.
I hope someone will run a NEM event which is more successful than nemcafe. I hope events which can give a boost to NEM will take place all around Japan however small they may be. I hope more and more merchants and online shops will adopt NEM payment. I hope tools to connect those elements will be created in a more meaningful way.
Through the event, I meant to send a message. If our event is helpful to other cryptocurrency communities, I want them to follow it as an example and achieve development of their economy, instead of desperately buying and selling coins in short periods.
Finally, looking only at deposits, there were 764 transactions from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. related to nemcafe, which amounted to 32,039.87XEM.
All of those things are the tracks of communication among people in the one-day tiny economy. They are not fictitious but what actually happened. Let’s connect them to the future.―Tresto
