The permaweb is digital-native: a globally distributed, online-first community. This creates unique spaces to connect with people around the world, but digital communities can easily become echo chambers when shaped by engagement-driven social media algorithms. That’s where IRL matters.
Last week, Jorge (El Tio) from Bazar brought the permaweb to New York City, participating in three major Web3 events: Permissionless NYC, NFT.NYC, and PONY. Here’s what happened when the permaweb hit the Big Apple.
Jorge’s NYC road trip took him across three boroughs: Brooklyn on Tuesday, Manhattan on Wednesday and Thursday, and the Bronx on Friday. Record-high heat didn’t stop the community from showing out. Here are the highlights:
Builders came from around the world to attend Permissionless NYC and its accompanying hackathon at Industry City in Brooklyn. The event featured a wide range of satellite meetups and opportunities to connect across the Web3 space. While Arweave didn’t have an official booth, Jorge made sure the permaweb was represented, onboarding new users to Bazar, and introducing them to the permaweb.
The Arweave ecosystem showed up for NFT.NYC. Jorge joined the AR.IO team to present permaweb tech to the NFT community. The highlight: Bazar and AR.IO billboards lighting up Times Square.
Watch the billboard moment:
According to Jorge, turnout was smaller than in previous years, likely due to the broader downturn in the NFT market. But the lower attendance meant that the people who were there, were there for the tech. Many artists and builders were intrigued by permanent storage for NFTs.
A number of artists also expressed interest in better ways to monetize their work. Bazar’s UDL (Universal Data License) gives creators a way to attach licenses directly to their art and preserve it on Arweave, offering a path to monetization that bypasses Web2 platforms.
The UDL was released as a proof-of-concept in 2023 and continues to evolve. While Bazar currently supports publishing and discovery, the next step is adding an enforcement layer to ensure royalties and licensing terms are respected. This is key to building a resilient decentralized media ecosystem. Here's how the stack comes together:
Pigeons of New York (PONY) is a respected NYC-based NFT community known for its grassroots approach to building. At their Last Lap event, held at the legendary La Bodega in the Bronx, artists and builders gathered to perform, showcase, and connect in a setting that felt authentically NYC.
This was one of the most impactful events from the week to reach creators on the ground and introducing them to Arweave and the permaweb stack.
Jorge’s Goddesses atomic asset collection was displayed on the artist wall at NFT.NYC, marking the first time atomic assets were showcased at the event.
If you’re new to atomic assets: they’re like NFTs, but with greater security, composability, and censorship resistance. Each asset is a single transaction on Arweave containing the artwork, metadata, and licensing information, fully self-contained and permanent.
Arweave has historically taken a quiet approach to marketing, favoring protocol-level neutrality and leaving outreach to ecosystem partners and apps building on top. Bazar, as a permaweb app, didn’t do much marketing early on either, mainly because the platform wasn’t yet stable.
As an incubated project within Forward Research, the Bazar team has had the opportunity to experiment with the latest AO technologies. On one hand, this allows Bazar to be an early adopter of new infrastructure. On the other, it introduces challenges since bugs and breaking changes often emerge when updates are made. The team was cautious about promoting too early.
But as a platform for creators, Bazar needs to reach those creators, even if it’s still early. People who believe in the mission of the permaweb are often willing to experiment with emerging platforms. There’s never a perfect time to start marketing, but the key is to begin. Last week marked the beginning of a new phase for Bazar.
“As Bazar continues to grow and adapt the latest technologies built on Arweave, we need to do a better job meeting potential users where they are. IRL events like NFT.NYC, Permissionless, and PONY are key to achieving those goals.”
-Jorge (El Tio)
Unlike many vaporware Web3 projects, Arweave has real utility. The protocol just celebrated its seventh birthday, and its blockweave continues to grow daily. Many attendees were familiar with Arweave for storage but were surprised to learn about AO, HyperBEAM, AR.IO, and the broader application layer emerging on the permaweb.
Apps like ArDrive, showcased by the AR.IO team, offered an easy on-ramp to Arweave that felt instantly familiar to creators.
While Arweave is increasingly recognized in crypto circles, the idea of the permaweb as a living application layer, with DeFi, NFTs, and games, remains under the radar. There’s work to do, and the rest of the permaweb stack needs to be broken down and explained in more accessible ways.
The NYC circuit was a success. Artists, builders, and everyday users got to experience Bazar and the permaweb in person. These events showed the power of real-world connection.
Talking to the community face to face makes a difference. Online events like X Spaces, livestreams, Discord, and Telegram have their place, but the signal-to-noise ratio is often skewed. How many people actually engage with content compared to bots? How many watch an entire demo video or tune in to a full X Space?
That’s hard to quantify. But having the chance to talk with builders directly, hear their feedback, and ask questions is what builds a grassroots community.
Several artists offered thoughtful feedback on Bazar and the challenges of monetization in Web3. They’re hungry for alternatives to traditional platforms. After those conversations, Bazar is further focused on meeting those needs, with an enforcement layer for UDLs, audio-specific features, and deeper support for creative workflows.
These events made one thing clear: people know about Arweave, but they don’t yet know what lies below the surface. As a community, our job is to educate and show that the permaweb is more than just storage.
Follow Jorge on X to keep up with Bazar and the broader permaweb community. More IRL activations are on the horizon.
Join the Bazar Discord to learn more and connect with the permaweb creative community.
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Permaweb Journal is an onchain publication and knowledge hub exploring the future of the internet and digital society built on Arweave and AO.
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