A taking of the cultural pulse of the crypto community from artists to comedians to meet ups and beyond.

It was a scorching hot night in Dubai. The large air coolers scattered around the rooftop restaurant did little to help but watching a soccer legend dribbling a ball, while dressed in an Arabian Kandoura, was quite worth it.

A small group of VIP investors, businessmen and crypto enthusiasts had come to the venue overlooking Burk Khalifa. While Metaterrace is not open to the public it operates on specific nights to cater for special metaverse-themed events.

The restaurant has a replica in the metaverse, which visitors can access through virtual reality headsets, allowing attendees in the real world and the virtual to interact seamlessly. 

For this night, the guest of honor was Dani Alves, the right back of Barcelona and the Brazilian national team. He sipped Red Bull, signed t-shirts, and took pictures with eager fans, his wrist adorned with a diamond watch designed by British jeweler Bakcres & Strauss. The 39-years-old maverick is the most decorated soccer player in history, with more than 40 trophies across 22 years.

As he approaches retirement, Alves has been giving more attention to his social media presence, focusing on his image as a businessman and influencer to more than 36 million Instagram followers. His latest endeavor: a collection of luxury watches commemorating his career, sold with accompanied non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Dubai was naturally the place of choice to launch a brand in which crypto and luxury intersect.

Alves took the stage in front of the audience and reflected on his career and humble beginnings. He recounted a famous incident in 2014 when a racist Villareal fan threw a banana at him during a match. Gracefully, Alves responded with humor, ate the banana, and thanked the fan.

“I grew up poor,” Alves said to the audience. “When someone gives you food, you say ‘thank you.’”

In action for Barcelona

Then it was time to showcase the watches.

There are 43 in the collection, ranging from $150,000 to $350,000. Each watch is accompanied by an NFT that works as proof of authenticity. The NFTs also give their holders privileges and utilities, from discounts at the Metaterarace bar to a 20 percent discount on the next purchase from Backers & Strauss.

Five of the watches are sold in fractionalized NFTs for $1000 each, which give buyers smaller discounts and modest perks.

The Metaterrace concept and the blockchain aspect of the marketing campaign are the work of ColossalBit, a Dubai-based Web3 consultancy.

“We are in a transition phase, like what happened in 2010 with Facebook,” said Christian Chalfoun, CTO of ColossalBit. “Brands are trying to be ahead of the game, or else they will be left out.”

Alves has already reserved his spot in the metaverse. He put on his VR headset, and a large screen showed his point of view to the audience. He smiled and looked genuinely happy, as he toured a virtual showroom, commemorating every trophy he ever won.