It is 2022, and the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City is only weeks away. For the first time, the festival will host a cryptocurrency sponsor, touted by the institution as an “exploration into new frontiers of artistic expression.” Among its many aims, the sponsoring OKX platform will “engag[e] and educat[e] creators and consumers alike about cryptocurrency and its developing ecosystems.”
“The Tribeca Film Festival is known by professionals and hobbyists alike. If you’re into the film movement, you know about Tribeca,” said Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, a US-based developer of ultra-high-performance trading and surveillance technology that powers global equities, derivatives, and digital asset exchanges. “This is yet another movement into the mainstream. Not just the mainstream of finance, but the mainstream of public consciousness,” said Gardner.
“Cryptocurrency is opening up new doors for artists to explore the boundaries of storytelling, and the Tribeca Festival is proud to be at the forefront of this evolution. The metaverse will alter the way creators and consumers approach creative expression,” said CEO Jane Rosenthal.
“When you consider that Tribeca’s previous sponsors included American Express, there’s a lot of symbolism in where this is headed. Moving from a pinnacle of traditional finance into a piece of the blockchain economy — that says a lot about where society is moving,” offered Gardner.
“When you consider Tribeca, you think art. Usually, when you talk about crypto or blockchain, one thinks tech. However, there’s a great deal of crossover. Development is an art. Building projects that have value… projects that are inspired. That is an art in-and-of itself,” said Gardner.
Modulus is known throughout the financial technology segment as a leader in the development of ultra-high frequency trading systems and blockchain technologies. Modulus has provided its exchange solution to some of the industry’s most profitable digital asset exchanges, including a well-known multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange. Over the past twenty years, the company has built technology for the world’s most notable institutions, with a client list which includes NASA, NASDAQ, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Barclays, Siemens, Shell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago.
“When you look at events like this, you want to bookmark them because it clearly is a paradigm shift. And, while some would have you believe that the recent momentary dip in the digital assets segment is the beginning of the end, the truth is that people, industry, and traditional finance all see the long-term impacts of digital assets. External economic concerns may be overshadowing that right now, but they cannot simply erase the case for blockchain technologies. There’s no turning back. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are here to stay,” said Gardner.