Welcome to This Week in the Metaverse, where Fortune rounds up the most interesting news in the world of NFTs, culture, and the metaverse. Email marco.quiroz-gutierrez@fortune.com with tips.
The zaniness of crypto was on full display at NFT.NYC this week, but among the usual murmurs around PFPs some unique applications for the technology stood out. From recording your DNA on the blockchain to saving the bees, entrepreneurs are taking the technology and applying it to everyday uses, which, in my opinion, is what it was always meant for.
But what NFT.NYC also reminded me of is just how key NFTs are for empowering—and supporting—creatives.
One of the most interesting panels I attended was about putting books on the blockchain. Some writers are using NFTs to share revenue among everyone who works on a book, including illustrators, and those people can get their cut automatically through the blockchain.
Behind the scenes, a decentralized autonomous organization called PageDAO is bringing writers together and helping them mint their work as NFTs.
At another event…