I’m going to push back a bit on Diana’s “who cares” take.
As someone who works with creators and artists every day, the narrative battle matters. CES is where mainstream tech journalists go. It’s where the “future of technology” story gets written for the next year.
When CES coverage is wall-to-wall AI with zero mention of digital ownership, NFTs, or creator economies - that shapes public perception. It affects funding, it affects talent recruitment, it affects whether my artists’ family members think they’re working on something legitimate or “that scam stuff.”
What I was hoping to see at CES 2026:
- Dynamic NFTs tied to consumer products (we’ve been building this!)
- Digital collectibles integrated into entertainment announcements
- Creator economy discussions in the content/media tracks
- Any acknowledgment that digital ownership matters
Instead we got AI this, AI that. Meanwhile NFT Paris just got cancelled. Major Web3 events are getting shelved. The market downturn is real and visibility matters during these times.
I agree that ETHDenver and Token2049 are our events. But we can’t only talk to ourselves forever. Consumer adoption requires reaching people where they are - and CES reaches a lot of them.
@crypto_chris - did you see any consumer-facing NFT or digital ownership discussions at all? Even small ones?