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“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”The above quote is attributed to Aristotle. So, humans have been striving for excellence for over 2000 years. In a physical world, excellence can often be seen, quantified, measured or benchmarked. For example, the Mona Lisa is widely admired and considered excellent as a piece of art. The returns of a financial instrument over a period of time can be quantified, measured, and benchmarked to reach a conclusion on its excellence. However, as our lives move into the digital world, many aspects of it, may not be visible as a singular data point. An assessment on the excellence then is best recognized as a Proof of Excellence recorded with the right set of provenance on a blockchain and made publicly known.&nbsp;A digital Proof of Excellence is exactly what <a data-mce-href="datacurve.io" href="datacurve.io">The NFT Brewery</a> and the <a data-mce-href="iifx.org" href="iifx.org">Innovation Institute for Fan Experience</a> (IIFX) partnered up to create for the luminaries who were honored at the “Fancentric” conference and expo May 24-26 at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, NV.&nbsp;https://thenftbrewery.com/wp-content/uploads/1653/90/IIFX-NFTB-Metaverse.mov On Tuesday, May 24, IIFX hosted a Celebration Luncheon to induct three sports and entertainment industry leaders into the IIFX International Hall of Fame. The winners were selected for their lifetimes of distinguished meritorious service to the sports and entertainment industry and its fans. Criteria for induction into the International Hall of Fame include longevity to the industry, sustained performance and contributions, inspirational leadership, a FANCENTRIC focus, management, vision, and business ethics.The NFT Brewery captured their lifetime of excellence with unique Proof of Excellence NFTs recorded on the Polygon blockchain. Read on below to know more about the contributions of each of these awardees. (Text and image courtesy, IIFX)&nbsp;The 2022 International Hall of Fame inductees are:<a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/len-komoroski-2919563/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/len-komoroski-2919563/">LEN KOMOROSKI</a> – Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Cavaliers, <a data-mce-href="https://www.rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com/" href="https://www.rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com/">Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse</a> and Rock Entertainment Group. Len Komoroski’s career with the Cavaliers began in 2003 as President. Since then, Komoroski led his team to build an award-winning foundation, one well-positioned for continued growth and sustained success. Komoroski’s tenure included the acquisition of the Cleveland Monsters (AHL), the Cleveland Charge (NBA G League) and the Cavs Legion (NBA2K) franchises, with all three teams earning league-level awards for business operations. The Cavaliers were named a top five finalist for the prestigious Sports Business Journal (SBJ) “Sports Team of the Year” award three times. Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was named a finalist in the “Sports Facility of the Year” category in SBJ’s industry awards for 2020, the year after completing the venue’s massive, $185 million transformation. Komoroski’s leadership helped create the public/private partnership that made The transformation possible. This commercialization of a new or renovated venue is one of the most successful in NBA history.<a data-mce-href="http://iifx.org/russ-simons/" href="http://iifx.org/russ-simons/">RUSS SIMONS</a> – Chief Listening Officer &amp; Managing Partner at <a data-mce-href="https://www.venuesolutionsgroup.com/" href="https://www.venuesolutionsgroup.com/">Venue Solutions Group, LLC</a>. For more than 35 years, Russ Simons has been involved in nearly every facet of the sports and entertainment facility industry including design, construction, and management. Most recently, he served as the full-time venue operations representative for the Los Angeles Stadium &amp; Entertainment District (LASED), including <a data-mce-href="https://www.venuesolutionsgroup.com/" href="https://www.venuesolutionsgroup.com/">SoFi Stadium</a>. At Venue Solutions Group (VSG), Russ directs the firm’s safety, security, risk and crowd management operations. He works with operators at every level from college to every major professional league. Simons is a member of the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAVM) and has served on the Board of Directors and Life Safety Council. He is a founder and instructor of the IAVM’s Academy for Venue Safety and Security and is an instructor and former Chairman of the Board of Regents of IAVM’s Venue Management School at Oglebay. Simons currently serves as the chairman of the Department of Homeland Security Public Assembly Facility Sub-Sector for Commercial Facilities. Russ is a former volunteer firefighter, instructor at the Hartford County Fire Training Center, and an Emergency Medical Technician. Russ also serves as a IIFX Distinguished Fellow.<a data-mce-href="http://iifx.org/lee-zeidman/" href="http://iifx.org/lee-zeidman/">LEE ZEIDMAN</a> – President of <a data-mce-href="https://www.cryptoarena.com/" href="https://www.cryptoarena.com/">Crypto.com Arena</a>, Microsoft Theater, and <a data-mce-href="https://www.lalive.com/" href="https://www.lalive.com/">L.A. Live</a>. As President of Crypto.com Arena (formerly the STAPLES Center), Microsoft Theater, and L.A. LIVE, the sports, residential and entertainment district, Zeidman oversees the venues event operations, production, including guest services, booking, box office, event security, event staffing, guest relations, facility presentation, marketing, communications, hospitality and food and beverage services. Along with his hard-working team of employees, Zeidman also supervises Crypto.com Arena’s overall day-to-day support for its tenants, sponsors, clients, and partners including the Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Los Angeles Sparks franchises, hosting seven NBA Finals, two Stanley Cup Finals and five WNBA Finals in which the home teams won seven NBA Championships, two Stanley Cup Championships and three WNBA Championships. Zeidman and his team have successfully hosted an unprecedented schedule of events since October 1999, including multiple summer X Games competitions, 19 of the last 21 GRAMMY Awards, and more than 400 sold out concerts. Zeidman also helped develop and open The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and iconic AEG venues such as the O2 in London and the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin.In addition, IIFX and The NFT Brewery also honored winners of its four innovation awards: Technology Innovation Leader, Women Innovator Award, Venue Award, and Technology Award. The winners were selected for their innovative use of technology to enhance the fan experience throughout the sports and entertainment industry.TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION LEADER: Awarded to a person whose work is impacting the sports &amp; entertainment industry with positive change using technology.<a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennismwilliams/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennismwilliams/">DENNIS WILLIAMS</a> – Senior Vice President and General Manager at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fiserv Forum is the home arena of the 2021 NBA champs. It is also an icon of revitalization, serving as the catalyst for the Deer District’s renaissance, shaping the downtown Milwaukee area into today’s vibrant destination. Dennis Williams was mission-critical to the safe and healthy return of fans to the arena in February 2022. With the support of longtime partner Johnson Controls and its OpenBlue Healthy Buildings solutions suite, Williams met his goal of creating a smart fan experience that was thrilling and healthy, safe, and secure. Williams and Johnson Controls worked together to reach new heights with sustainability and building health, eventually earning the arena LEED Gold certification in 2022. William’s vision and expertise has created an environment where visitors feel safe coming to Fiserv Forum and the surrounding buildings in the Deer District. Thanks to William’s leadership and vision, Fiserv Forum is now better equipped to provide clean air through disinfection, improved ventilation and increased filtration.WOMEN INNOVATOR AWARD: Awarded to a person who is advancing opportunities and paving the way to success for women in the sports &amp; entertainment industry.<a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathycarter28/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathycarter28/">KATHY CARTER</a> – Chief Executive Officer at LA28, the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028. Carter’s demonstrated ability to forge strong partnerships between major sports, sponsors, and government stakeholders makes her the right person to lead Los Angeles’s $7 billion Olympic venture. Her organizational and marketing prowess enables Carter to create a grand partnership among the city’s stakeholders and deliver a memory-making Olympic experience for athletes, fans, and sponsors. Her goal is to set the standard for sustainable mega-events everywhere and make that knowledge universally accessible and applicable anywhere in the world. Before joining LA28, Carter was a founding member of Major League Soccer (MLS), spending a total of 20 years at MLS and Soccer United Marketing, including eight years as president. Previously she held positions with AEG in Los Angeles and served as manager of partnership marketing for the organizing committee behind the 1994 FIFA World Cup™.VENUE AWARD: Awarded to a venue that has deployed a cutting edge, innovative solution that increases and adds value to the fan experience.&nbsp; <a data-mce-href="https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/the-stadium/" href="https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/the-stadium/">TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM</a> – Located in London, England, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, is a multipurpose stadium with several cutting-edge innovations with the fan in mind. It has the world’s first dividing, retractable football pitch, which has a synthetic turf field underneath for <a data-mce-href="https://www.nfl.com/" href="https://www.nfl.com/">National Football League</a> (NFL) London Games, concerts, and other events. The stadium has four large LED screens and 1,800 video screens to ensure fans keep up with the action anywhere in the stadium. It is home to the world’s first stadium microbrewery, producing 1 million pints of craft beer a year and can deliver up to 10,000 pints a minute to serve its fans. It is the first cashless stadium in the United Kingdom. It offers even the most “connected” fans stadium-wide connectivity with more Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth beacons, and greater bandwidth than any stadiumTECHNOLOGY AWARD: Awarded for an innovative technology that sports&amp; entertainment venues can deploy to create an enjoyable fan experience grounded in safety, security, health, and/or service.<a data-mce-href="https://www.mashgin.com/" href="https://www.mashgin.com/">MASHGIN</a> – Mashgin is the world’s fastest self-checkout system powered by AI and computer vision. Sports &amp; entertainment fans demand instant gratification. <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpx9LZIku3o" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpx9LZIku3o">Mashgin’s Touch-less Checkout System</a> eliminates consumer frustration while increasing revenue with checkout that is 4X faster than cashiers and traditional points-of-sale. Mashgin’s touch-less technology provides a frictionless, fully automated, cashless, and touch-less fan experience. Mashgin is deployed in more than 700 locations that span major convenience store chains, Fortune 500 companies, and more than 20 iconic sports stadiums. Mashgin’s visual checkout system can recognize produce and prepared food by sight. Its AI and camera capabilities, known as computer vision, recognize multiple items at once without the need for barcodes, RFID, or other label ID methods. Fans simply place goods and items on the Mashgin kiosk’s tray and complete the transaction using the digital payment of their choice. Its software can be easily updated to adapt to new products and labeling systems without expensive hardware updates.&nbsp;

Proof of Excellence

Blockchain images made to be NFT crypto artwork in museum

We are excited to announce our latest offering empowering primary creators – NFT Drops, aka Drops brewed exclusively for The NFT Brewery community. NFT drops have shown a lot of promise for a variety of applications, yet it has been very confusing for most brands and creators to enable NFTs for their audiences. NFT Drops by <a data-mce-href="https://datacurve.io" href="https://datacurve.io">The NFT Brewery</a> are experiences that brands and creators can curate as they embrace the third coming of the interconnected web or Web3. &nbsp;<figure id="figure-41hdkmhaallynlxoju" class=""><img id="41hdkmhaallynlxoju" src="https://cdn.durable.co/covers/7YxCQfF6BTrZ8XgjCjVz4duaVbHe7WXuhVte8s7xHLHLqQHhYZs8yylrIHguSttG.png" alt="person using MacBook" title="person using MacBook" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/covers/7YxCQfF6BTrZ8XgjCjVz4duaVbHe7WXuhVte8s7xHLHLqQHhYZs8yylrIHguSttG.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>First, it is important to understand the factors that are contributing to the emergence of NFTs and the digital economy that is being powered by them. At play here are generational changes. Specifically, the emergence of digital natives with GenZ, the demographic most comfortable with the blurring of physical and digital experiences.Advancements in tech have made it really easy to enjoy a streaming concert in surround sound blaring into one’s ears and in the comfort of one’s home or on the phone. As such, ginormous amounts of digital content is already being created and consumed. The physical and digital realities are the two skis on which we are navigating the slopes of life.NFTs are essentially the primitives of Web3, bringing together the creator, the owner and the provenance of digital assets. This makes NFTs a powerful tool. Previously it was not possible to express these relationships so concisely and elegantly.However, there are only about 30M people who have interacted with NFTs and only 1M do so with any regularity. There is work to be done to take these primitives mainstream and power more experiences in our interconnected world – whether it is gaming or brands looking for more engaging customer experience and monetization channels.With Drops, we are making it easy for businesses to start to familiarize themselves with the potential of NFTs as primitives as they channelize new growth and monetization opportunities.&nbsp;

NFT Drops, Simplified

silhouette of man and woman standing on yellow and blue background

The <a data-mce-href="datacurve.io" href="datacurve.io">NFT Brewery</a> partnered with Checkout.com to create a one-of-a-kind NFT experience at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami. Alongside the conference, Checkout.com hosted <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/checkout_bitcoin2022-crypto-bitcoin-activity-6920376948464492544-hH0D/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/checkout_bitcoin2022-crypto-bitcoin-activity-6920376948464492544-hH0D/">its own private event</a> for its merchants and partners. To commemorate the Checkout.com Beach Party during Bitcoin 2022, the company created an NFT of the street art mural that was created on the beach. This mural was minted as an NFT by <a data-mce-href="datacurve.io" href="datacurve.io">The NFT Brewery</a>.&nbsp;<figure id="figure-busfyuhfgrlynm523x"><img id="busfyuhfgrlynm523x" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/aci5tLdLG7eNewsu50ax6Xh0dU96KeMT7PbfPYNfFf6Kt4wYSJgBfRPihBolGc9o.png" alt="person writing on dry-erase board" title="person writing on dry-erase board" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/aci5tLdLG7eNewsu50ax6Xh0dU96KeMT7PbfPYNfFf6Kt4wYSJgBfRPihBolGc9o.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>Commemorating the event, The NFT Brewery partnered with Checkout.com to create a limited edition NFT that was airdropped to select attendees of the conference. This was a fantastic way to memorialize the event. At the same time, the NFT experience provided a perfect opportunity for the brand to connect directly with its merchants, partners, and employees.The imagery for the NFT was a one-off mural commissioned by Checkout.com. The NFT Brewery minted the physical mural as a digital asset and memorialized it as a digital token on the Polygon blockchain. The NFT was minted as a limited edition ERC721 token and its ownership information was recorded as a Merkle root, for any future verification purpose and to ensuring that no new recipients can ever be added to this list. Some of the metadata designed was creative marketing as seen in the image below.<figure id="figure-q61ou0kckelynm67x2"><img id="q61ou0kckelynm67x2" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/5tSc38UbsPiJT1aw2zZUfcydIpmTU8sZFi6lRRjpeMSvzR9UBd98U952Zr1d9JWo.png" alt="black smartphone near person" title="black smartphone near person" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="3:2" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/5tSc38UbsPiJT1aw2zZUfcydIpmTU8sZFi6lRRjpeMSvzR9UBd98U952Zr1d9JWo.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: center center;"></figure>At Bitcoin 2022, Checkout.com also launched its <a data-mce-href="https://www.checkout.com/campaigns/demystifying-crypto?utm_campaign=gl_crypto_report&amp;utm_medium=press_release&amp;utm_source=oped" href="https://www.checkout.com/campaigns/demystifying-crypto?utm_campaign=gl_crypto_report&amp;utm_medium=press_release&amp;utm_source=oped">Demystifying Crypto: Shedding light on the adoption of digital currencies for payments in 2022 report</a>, pointing to increasingly positive trends in the adoption of and appetite for using digital currencies for eCommerce.

A Unique NFT Experience

<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1" data-mce-style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="width: 50%;" data-mce-style="width: 50%;">What Are NFTsNon-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have taken the world by a storm. With over $25B in sales in 2022 alone, the phenomenon of NFTs is certainly intriguing.&nbsp;In the simplest of terms, NFTs are crypto assets that simultaneously represents the asset, the creator of the asset and the current and historical ownership information of the asset. In short, the asset and its provenance.&nbsp;</td><td style="width: 50%;" data-mce-style="width: 50%;"><figure id="figure-qglmuzb24jlxz776yg"><img id="qglmuzb24jlxz776yg" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/4vadwTm5qFLBtxUASM2mepm6czGLj7ayCF3NKyJPfygEOeObN5EWNC5vf1dpY1aW.png" alt="NFTs" title="NFTs" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: undefined undefined;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="" data-positionX="undefined" data-positionY="undefined" data-fullWidth="false"/></figure></td></tr></tbody></table>NFT assets can be both digital or physical. Digital assets are fairly straightforward, but creating NFTs of physical assets usually makes it a bit more complicated as physical assets require physical possession. More on that later.&nbsp;Digital assets are easier to create and digital artists have contributed immensely to the rise of the NFT art genre. The early adopters have also reaped massive rewards. Consider Beeple’s Everydays – The First 5000 Days NFT artwork <a data-mce-href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/11/22325054/beeple-christies-nft-sale-cost-everydays-69-million" href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/11/22325054/beeple-christies-nft-sale-cost-everydays-69-million">that sold for $69M</a>. Or The phenomenon of <a data-mce-href="https://opensea.io/collection/boredapeyachtclub" href="https://opensea.io/collection/boredapeyachtclub">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a> (BAYC) that has made millionaires out of the hundreds of collectors. &nbsp;Or the 10,000 unique collectible ‘punk’ characters “<a data-mce-href="https://cryptopunks.app/" href="https://cryptopunks.app/">CryptoPunks</a>” that inspired the NFT movement in the first place. &nbsp;The punks are always in high demand and have gained an almost cult like following amongst the crypto community.&nbsp;NFTs are unique in the way they represent provenance of the assets. Anyone can create any sort of digital (or physical) object and represent it as an NFT. For example, images, videos, files, 3D objects, AR/VR objects, in-game resources, pixels on a screen, etc. all can be tokenized. At its simplest, the tokenized asset is then represented by a tokenID on the blockchain it is registered on. In addition, the standards also allow creators to add any attributes that they want to associate with the asset. This forms the metadata of the asset and can be stored either on a centralized server such as an AWS server, or with decentralized protocols such as IPFS or Arweave, making the information permanent. Ideally, this metadata should not be modifiable, so as to preserve the integrity of the underlying asset.&nbsp;<h3>What are NFTs Useful for?&nbsp;</h3>NFTs are increasingly finding a large set of use cases to the extent that it is likely that the question be reframed as what are NFTs not useful for? To start, NFTs are a great way to include provenance – not only for art, but for any digital document, and create a digital trail of record. These are beneficial for record keeping as much as in a gaming environment. Then, there are luxury brands, sports, and other memorabilia, that can be digital first. As the Metaverse expands, digital twins of physical assets will be represented as NFTs. Token gated content, DeFi NFTs, and identity in the social community are all fair game.&nbsp;<h3>Brewing Your Own NFTs</h3>The process of creating NFTs may seem simple at first, but there are a lot of nuances that should be understood by the primary creators. The blockchain space is a one-directional street and once an asset has been created as an NFT, it is usually very hard to modify it. So, creators need to understand the lifecycle of the asset itself and program it accordingly. The NFT Brewery makes is easy for creators to think through the journey – providing creators with a simple template for creating their NFT assets.&nbsp;The NFT Brewery provides the expertise for companies to boldly embrace Web3 technology and adapt to the demands of a decentralized and globally distributed audience. The NFT Brewery model supports major blockchains such as Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, ImmutableX, Solana etc. We take care of the complexity of the blockchain networks, so that creators businesses and enterprises can focus on crafting unique experiences around these assets. &nbsp;Our APIs and SDKs abstract away the complexity of working with blockchain technology, and provide regular developers with the tools to incorporate Web3 and NFTs technology within their existing workflows.<h3>The Brewery Value</h3>Interoperability: Our tools automate, manage and integrate all the content and metadata that is attached to the NFT and defines its usage. The NFT Brewery supports all types of assets, such as audio, video, images, 3D, AR/VR content, etc. as well as dynamic NFTs where the content may change based on external factors such as price movements, seasonality or other relevant events, etc.Royalties: Primary creators can choose how to participate in secondary sales of their assets via embedding a royalty share on all trades that the asset may go through in the secondary markets.Marketplace: Finally, we provide our customers with a fully integrated white label marketplace for both primary and secondary sales, integrated into their platform, in order to retain users to create a community focused on the NFTs.

What Are NFTs and How Do They Work

DataCurve, Inc

DataCurve empowers businesses to turn their data into real-time actionable intelligence that drive deeper customer connections and more revenue. DataCurve focuses on sports & entertainment, retail brands, decarbonization, and smart cities as vertical industries. 

Ecosystem

Proof of Excellence

NFT Drops, Simplified

A Unique NFT Experience

What Are NFTs and How Do They Work