Blockchain: the next foundation of finance. ETH Global NYC, the trailer.
The opening cut from the ETH Global New York trip, and the clearest statement on the channel of what We Them Media is actually researching and why a camera was pointed at an Ethereum conference at all.
It opens on a stranger at a basketball game, mid-sentence, toasting “the people that love to be decentralized” and then dedicating it to his late Shih Tzu, Sugar Plum. The narration lets that sit and then says the quiet part: “Yeah, you have questions, right? Like, what did he just drink? Why is he honoring his late Shih Tzu at a basketball game? Who are the people even being decentralized? What does that mean? Well, that’s why I’m here. Let’s find out.”
Then New York, which he did not arrive at as a tourist. “I grew up a couple hours away, close enough that New York was never some distant idea. It was a city you took the bus to or train to.” What he notices is the layering: “That’s the thing about this city. It’s stacked. Old New York holding up the new one. And those new people have no idea what the old one even looked like.”
The mission statement arrives at the end, in his own words, and it is the reason this piece is worth publishing on its own rather than burying as an intro: “My name is Maceo Whatley and I’m the founder of We Them Media. Over the last five years, we’ve been researching how cryptocurrency and decentralized technology can empower everyday people around the world.”
And the specific reason for this trip: “To better understand and share with you all how Ethereum is working to show Wall Street it is ready to be the global settlement layer for financial systems.”
The interviews it sets up are published separately.