A taking of the cultural pulse of the crypto community from artists to comedians to meet ups and beyond.

---

For a long while Borough High Street was the critical artery that connected London to the UK’s southern ports. The street served as a bustling market of commerce that, via the London Bridge, connected to neighboring Southwark.* Fast forward a thousand years and the Borough Market still stands, now a hulking green iron structure with trusses that crisscross 15 meters above myriad enterprises.

Last Sunday evening the London chapter of Friends with Benefits (FWB) gathered at a chic spot called Roast, which overlooks the historic market. Unlike the merchants of yore, FWB is a community that has grown with very little in-person interaction. Almost entirely via Discord, FWB has evolved from a social experiment to become the de facto digital commonwealth for cultural membership.

The night’s first 10 arrivals sat in the center of a bright open-aired atrium at a table covered by an immaculate white tablecloth. A bouquet of roasting pork belly and beef wellington, onion compote, and fennel, saffron, and rosemary wafted about them.

Despite being privy to the planning on Discord, it was difficult to know who’ would show up. Within the FWB community – and generally across the cryptoverse – identities or profile pictures tend to lean toward the memetic, which is part of the mystique but not very helpful for placing a face. So for the first half hour members exchanged pleasantries and tried to connect the dots as the group steadily grew to 17.

Though web3 isn’t often regarded as a conduit for IRL connection, FWB has made a point of prioritizing in-person meetups – on this night they even honored a centuries-old gathering custom. The Sunday Roast, believed to be an innovation of churchgoing Yorkshire families during the industrial revolution, is one of the UK’s most treasured traditions. If the meat was placed in the oven just prior to church, people realized, it would be juicy and ready to gather around by the time they returned.

For the hundreds of years that have followed, London’s bounty of pubs have served as bastions of the ritual, both safeguarding and developing the peasant cookery. Today the roast can even function as haute cuisine – as was this case at this joint on this Sunday night.

After ordering the delectable meats, the London FWB’s head of governance and ops asked for the party’s attention, “Welcome to the first FWB Sunday Roast!” At each seat he’d placed a sealed envelope with an ice-breaker question – both crypto-related and not, like "what altcoin are you most bullish about" and "what's your claim to fame?" – and the group was to go around the table, introduce themselves, and share a response.

The intros were not filled with the vapid “to the moon” rhetoric. Rather they were thoughtful lenses into a group of people eager to gather on behalf of a society-bettering philosophy – not unlike the churchgoers of roasts past.

Individual web3 identities ranged from pundit to inquirer, and with newfound familiarity, the group launched into rich conversations about music, the creation of an artist middle class, and the notion of digital authenticity – a particularly messy issue that web2 social platforms have turned into a cultural plight.

"The best thing about web3 is that it's aware of all the pastiches it's embracing," said one member. "Somehow me having a pink dog with a bucket hat as my profile picture feels more authentic than a posed-for profile picture."

Roast in London

Indeed, on the Instagrams of the world the "reality" we see is only curated artifice. With web3, decentralized reputation can be built without the trappings of physical appearance. But while that playful spirit web3 culture champions offers a greater sense of freedom and anonymity, there remains a kind of invincible dread in digital obscurity.

Essential to the greater adoption of web3 will be the communion of its ideals with the physical world. We need the roasts! We need to better connect our digital and IRL selves. Because for all the access digital platforms afford, the ultimate effect is a reduction of human interaction to the clicking of buttons.

It was encouraging then to see only one phone come out the entire meal. A group of web3 devotees who met online had come together and invoked the enduring purpose of the age-old roast: to gather. And while inclusion and access are still issues -- the group had just one woman, and FWB’s entry price can be prohibitive – the fact that the FWB’s future is in its own hands is cause for optimism. With capable stewards and a devoted community, good ideas can live for centuries.

* This story was corrected on Feb. 2, 2022 to remove an incorrect description of the market’s location.

MacEagon Voyce has written for Vice, Nerdist and several other publications. As a member of Friends With Benefits he owns FWB tokens which can rise and fall in value. He lives in London with his wife.