Welcome to this week's issue of the The Baking Sheet, your weekly newsletter for all the latest and greatest in the world of Tezos.

It's been a week since the Tezos NFT Summit in NY has taken place and we thought it would be a great time to reflect on the event and provide some insights from our experience. Let's not forget that Tezos is in the proposal phase for Nairobi and is tracking to enter Exploration phase in 6 days. Before we dive in, don't forget to check out The Tie livestream that hosted Arthur Breitman, Mason Edwards, and Roman Schnider.

Tezos NFT Summit 2023: 5 Key Takeaways

Stu Elmes reports, Tezos NFT Summit 2023 in New York City was an event focused on an area of significant (and important) growth in the Tezos ecosystem — you guessed it, Tezos NFTs. As it happens, I was in attendance throughout this impressive event, and I’d like to share a little bit about what the experience was like for those who couldn’t make the trip.

I’ve written before about the burgeoning digital art scene evolving in the Tezos space, as well the numerous Tezos NFT-powered games, projects, and philanthropic initiatives that have emerged here in the Tezos ecosystem in recent months, but this time, I was able to observe it in person.

I won’t bore you by recounting these again, but needless to say, Tezos NFTs and the projects, platforms, and marketplaces, they play a part in becoming important drivers of Tezos adoption and growth all across the globe.

With that in mind, the Tezos community came together for three amazing days this April in fabulous New York to take an in-depth look at the Tezos NFT landscape of 2023 and talk about where this is all headed in the days ahead.

Here are 5 things I took away from my time at Tezos NFT Summit 2023…

1) Enthusiasm Abounds

It has not been an ideal past 18 months in the blockchain and crypto space. Amid news of blockchain brands shuttering their US operations and the ongoing fallout from the FTX debacle, and legacy media gleefully reporting on every stumble the industry experiences, wavering enthusiasm for blockchain technology and cryptocurrency have become increasingly common.

For those building out practical real-world applications for NFTs here in the Tezos ecosystem, however, bullishness reigns. Spend 5 minutes talking to an artist who’s established themselves and built a career here in the Tezos space, and you’ll quickly see that enthusiasm for this technology and its game-changing promise is alive and well.

With 2 jam-packed days of speakers, panels, and events involving talented, forward-thinking people who believe Tezos can make the world a better place and are hard at work making sure that’s exactly what happens, I learned that the fire of positivity and hope for a better blockchain-driven future burns just as hotly in 2023 as it ever has.

2) The Tezos Art/NFT Community Is Flourishing

Victoria West’s TezArt Connect Meetup

NFT technology has opened some very important doors for an entire generation of digital artists already. What many in the digital art scene understand, however, is that we’ve really only scratched the surface of the NFT’s potential in the space.

And, with its famously low gas fees, industry-leading environmental footprint, outstanding marketplaces, and supportive while also welcoming community, Tezos has become a premiere NFT landing spot for digital artists in 2023.

From the crowds of eager young artists attending the Tezos NFT Summit in the hopes of having their portfolios reviewed by the panel of industry experts on hand at the event, to the collectors, artists, and enthusiasts who made their way to the gallery showings tied to it, it was easy to see that the digital arts scene is very much alive and well here in the Tezos ecosystem.

3) Big Things Are Happening

Oxhead Alpha

Tezos has had more than its fair share of fascinating and innovative use cases of late. Whether it’s California’s DMV streamlining car title/transfer processes via the Tezos blockchain (with a little help from the folks at Oxhead Alpha pictured above) or European governments using Tezos to increase transparency and trust in electoral processes, Tezos’ practical utility is beginning to yield impressive use case results. Although we are barely starting to scratch the surface, the future is extremely bright in terms of the utility that can be derived from using the Tezos blockchain.

4) Marketing matters

Marketing a blockchain in such a crowded marketplace with such established and recognized market leaders presents a fascinating and unique challenge for those broadcasting the message of the larger Tezos brand.

As the Tezos brand continues to grow and evolve organically and find its voice in the rapidly-shifting blockchain landscape, details matter. Putting on first-class events like the Tezos NFT Summit 2023 and inviting the world to see what this community and ecosystem are building can go a long way if such efforts are sustained.

We’ve watched Tezos branding appear astride massive entities in the world of sports and entertainment over the past couple of years, and while such efforts may not yield immediate apparent results, they have a lasting brand recognition impact that should not be underestimated for the ongoing growth of the Tezos ecosystem. This is exactly how household brands are started. It takes times and persistence, which is what we’re seeing in the Tezos ecosystem, and sooner or later, it’s all going to bear fruit.

5) Tezos Knows How To Party

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted us all in a myriad of ways. In a space like that of Tezos, where remote work and collaboration with folks from all corners of the globe is par for the course, it’s easy to lose track of exactly who is who in this dynamic community.

With restrictions lifted and the world back to some semblance of “normal”, however, the chance to rub elbows with those we’ve known only by their avatars and webcams — in some cases for years — isn’t one that any of us will take for granted again.

The Tezos community painted the town red during Tezos NFT Summit 2023, and it felt great to do so. This may be a community that takes what it’s building seriously, but it’s also one that knows how to have a good time. If we can’t enjoy ourselves from time to time, then what’s the point?

I met a lot of very cool folks during my time at Tezos NFT Summit 2023, and I can’t wait to do it all again. The Tezos NFT Summit 2023, not only had the looks and feel of being world class, everything from top down was done in a world class professional manner. If this is where the intersection between art and blockchain meet, count me in! I can’t wait for the next in person Tezos related event, and I truly believe something special is happening right before our very own eyes.

Tezos Community Rewards Winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of the “Community Rewards Program” CRP for the month of March 2023!

For more details about the various categories please refer to the rewards page on the Tezos Commons website.

The Community Rewards Program is a Tezos Commons Foundation initiative aimed at fostering adoption and supporting the Tezos ecosystem. Every month up to 5000 tez are rewarded to those that stand out in merit and act in the interest of the Tezos ecosystem as a whole.

In an endeavor to make it easier for community members to nominate their favorite contributors to the ecosystem, the nomination form has been drastically streamlined. Now containing only three questions, submitting a nomination takes less than 30 seconds.

Don’t have 30 seconds? You can tag any discord message, Reddit post, or tweet with #TezosCRP; we will collect them as well!

Tezos Community Rewards Winners — March 2023

This Week in the Tezos Ecosystem

Tezos India and GoLive Games to Launch India's First NFT Cricket Game

Cricket enthusiasts in India have a reason to celebrate as Tezos India and GoLive Games, an esports game publishing company, are set to introduce a new NFT cricket game. Named 'Cricket Stars,' this game is touted as India's first-ever cricket strategy game in the blockchain domain. The multiplayer game will not require Pay-to-Play or Play-to-Earn models, leveraging non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to provide a fresh gaming experience.

Cricket Stars will enable its players to own Tezos wallets, which will facilitate trading their cards with fellow players through the in-game store, eliminating the need for any other cryptocurrency. The integration of blockchain technology within the gaming realm adds a new dimension to gameplay, promising a bright future for the industry.

Quotes originally from Entreprenuer.com

This Week in Tezos Development

Full CameLIGO version of the Checker library | Marigold

Marigold has announced the release of an updated and complete CameLIGO version of the Checker library. The Checker library can be used for creating tokenized synthetics, such as stablecoins. Interested users can explore tutorials and the package in the thread provided, while the library is available on their GitHub repository.

Nairobinet is Live! | Nomadic Labs

A first beta version of Octez v17.0, v17.0~beta1, is now available.

Unlike a release candidate, this beta version should not be expected to become v17.0. It contains the necessary features to participate in public test networks, notably the upcoming Nairobinet testnet.

Notably, v17.0~beta1 includes:

• The Nairobi protocol proposal itself and its associated executables.

• A new version (V9 1) of the protocol environment, which is the set of functions that protocols can call, used by Nairobi.

• Improvements to Smart Rollups executables and refinements to the Octez node logging infrastructure 1.

Further detail on these (and other) features will be provided with an upcoming release candidate announcement. A full Changelog and update instructions are available in the release page for version 17:

https://tezos.gitlab.io/releases/version-17.html 4

The Git tag for this release is v17.0-beta1 and the corresponding commit hash is 96c910ddf8351bb630bd633a13e8966df180145e.

Note that while we encourage the use of this beta version on testnets such as Nairobinet (and also Ghostnet and Mumbainet), we advise against deploying this version on Tezos Mainnet.

Now Streaming

Join us as we sit down and chat with Kevin Mehrabi of StableTech on all things Tezos and the DeFi ecosystem at large.

Now streaming on YouTube