NFC Summit Lisbon Founder on Evolving the Event and Weathering the Market

In a sea of copy-paste crypto conferences, NFC Summit Lisbon has carved out a loyal following, anchored by its art-first ethos, eclectic programming, and sun-soaked setting.

Founded as the Non-Fungible Conference, NFC has evolved into a European cultural touchpoint that kicks off summer with a vibrant celebration of digital art, community, and onchain creativity. Navigating a notoriously volatile market and relentless industry shifts, the organizers of NFC Lisbon have exhibited an impressive degree of resilience and adaptability.

Billed as a “web3 pop culture festival,” this year’s conference marks an ambitious evolution with eight events spanning three vibrant days (June 4-6) in sunny Lisbon — from immersive art installations and AI film awards to community-led stages such as MemeCon and Ordinals Lisbon. As in past years, the now-traditional beach party in Costa da Caparica returns to close out the conference, offering dance music and a final moment of seaside connection.

Now Media will return to the NFC Summit as an official media partner for the third consecutive year. After hosting Beeple’s marquee live Everyday event last year, our very own Matt Medved will host a main-stage programming block this year, including a fireside chat on Now Media’s forthcoming brand reset and panel discussions with leading figures such as Seedphrase, Mad Dog Jones, and Andrea Chiampo. Check out the full agenda here.

In the lead-up to this year’s summit, we sat down with NFC founder John Karp to discuss his vision, unpack the unique challenges of building a digital art conference during uncertain times, and get his insider perspective on what’s new — and unmissable — at NFC Summit Lisbon 2025.

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Now Media: You’ve seen the conference evolve significantly. What’s the current vision for NFC Lisbon?

John Karp: We started as a Non-Fungible Conference, to become basically NFC Summit, you know, and NFC was not only non-fungible, but became like “not a fucking conference.” The idea was to do crypto events but 100% focused on how blockchain impacts the cultural world. Last year, we started this concept of having a ticket that gives you access to several totally different branded events, like MemeCon and Ordinals Lisbon, with different communities taking the lead. This year, we continue that. With one ticket you have access to eight events, basically — eight different projects happening more or less at the same time, in the same area, all along the three days.

Digital art has always been central to NFC’s identity. How is that reflected this year?

We’ve always been very art-forward, and it’s hard to leave that. I would not say that we’re doubling down on art, but we’re still extremely focused on art and bringing new stuff to the art world. One of the eight events actually is “The Late Night Show,” starring Benny “Redbeard” Gross, who’s working like crazy on an eccentric late-night show with interviews, surprise comedies, and animations. Also, we’re bringing activation outside because it’s Lisbon, sunny, and people like to chill in the park. So we have four huge shipping containers turned into galleries — two curated by OpenSea, one by Tezos, one by art on Bitcoin. I think people will love that.

Can you highlight some standout programming or artists you’re particularly excited about?

In art, we have OSF and DeeKay coming back, artists like Seedphrase, Snowfro, Brian Brinkman, Emily Xie, Sasha Stiles, Mad Dog Jones, and more. I’m pretty excited because some are cooking really original shows. For example, Ender, a famous Portuguese artist, is creating an art-horror escape room. He says people will shit their pants, but we’ll see. We try to use our immersive room to create experiential things rather than usual panels. Artists who’ve been here before, like DeeKay, really utilize that space, creating something cool and interactive.

Given the market’s volatility and challenges this past year, what have been your biggest hurdles in organizing NFC Lisbon?

To be transparent, it was the hardest year to organize this event. These events are very expensive, and we always have the ambition to do better. Right after the last one ended successfully, we immediately started working on the next, investing resources, betting on 2025 being super crazy. December was exciting, but then Q1 and Q2 were really tough. We felt a lot of people giving up, entrepreneurs still waiting for momentum. We’ve run this event mostly under bear-market conditions, so we’ve learned to be resilient and adapt like crazy. This year required constant adaptation — it’s really entrepreneurship school.

“To be transparent, it was the hardest year to organize this event.”

JOHN KARP

How have these market conditions impacted sponsorship and marketing strategies? Those budgets are usually the first to get cut.

Exactly, that was really the challenge. Sponsorship and marketing must be locked down in advance, and market conditions hugely impact available budgets. Fortunately, time plays for you when you organize something like this. People know the event now, so even when brands are cutting budgets, there’s usually something left for us. We had to navigate carefully, but luckily we’ve become established enough to maintain a place in the community’s calendar.

Beyond art, what trends or themes is NFC Lisbon emphasizing this year?

We’re definitely touching on crypto trends like real-world assets and AI, but always with a cultural and retail angle. For example, our partner Part of Dream is tokenizing horses. They’ve owned 300 horses and have done this in the real world for years. Now they’re moving to blockchain to scale. We’re highlighting similar mature, retail-focused projects involving wine, gold, Pokémon cards, and more. We’re excited about showcasing real projects people can genuinely engage with.

Lastly, what makes NFC Lisbon uniquely positioned to continue thriving in this fast-changing landscape?

Our strength lies in maintaining a cultural focus and fostering real community engagement. We retain authenticity by involving grassroots organizers who care deeply about their communities, whether MemeCon or Ordinals Lisbon. Despite external volatility, we’ve become a resilient, adaptive presence in the crypto-cultural space, always prioritizing genuine human connection and creativity. That’s what continues to set us apart.