Want to see an office where everyone is wearing Apple’s new Apple Vision Pro headset?

It can be seen at a gathering of developers focused on the Solana blockchain called mtnDAO in Salt Lake City, Utah.

They are nerdy and rich. This is the perfect demographic to try out a new device that costs more than $5,000 (approximately 750,000 yen, at an exchange rate of 150 yen to the dollar) including accessories.

More than 20 people who attended the month-long coworking event purchased Vision Pro. Every day, they wear sophisticated goggles and move back and forth between a digital reproduction of reality and a gigantic workspace visible only to them.

mtnDAO may offer a glimpse into the “age of spatial computing” advocated by Apple CEO Tim Cook, in which the real world is enhanced by digital goggles.

Everyone is using digital goggles to work, play, socialize, and even enjoy meals alongside each other while wearing their goggles. Cook announced Vision Pro in June 2023.

What’s most interesting is that it all happened organically. This is a working lab of the future that simply appeared spontaneously, without the help of influencers or corporate sponsors.

The people here don’t work for companies that develop VR technology. Almost all of them are freelance engineers working in the cryptocurrency industry. Every day, they work to develop products for the “future of finance” – a world made of crypto assets, NFTs, and the Solana blockchain.

Benefits of strong Solana

The reason why so many people in their 20s and 30s are able to purchase Vision Pro may be thanks to crypto assets, especially Solana.

Since October, Solana (SOL), the native token of the Solana blockchain, has risen more than 10x, marking its best performance in 2023. Many of the mtnDAO participants are Solana enthusiasts and have a lot of SOL.

And then there are airdrops (token distributions that blockchain projects use to incentivize early users). Over the past few months, a series of financial applications developed on Solana have created their own tokens and rewarded their power users with significant rewards.

Some Vision Pro buyers have reportedly received airdrops worth tens of thousands of dollars just by trading tokens on platforms like Jupiter.

“I know it’s a $5,000 impulse buy, but I just received a $5,000 airdrop,” said Solana contributor and mtnDAO, who is responsible for developer relations for the Monad blockchain. said ZenLlama, who is also a participant.

mass adoption

“We seriously think this is the area in the world where Vision Pro is the most concentrated,” says the former Netflix and Disney animator, who actually creates products for Vision Pro at mtnDAO. said MJ, one of the few headset owners.

Headset purchases are driven not only by curiosity but also by jealousy. Only a few people pre-ordered the Vision Pro. Most of the rest were purchased out of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). My friends at mtnDAO had a Vision Pro. So they, too, went to the Apple Store downtown and got their own.

As a result, coworking spaces are buzzing with people putting on headsets and staring at something new. Of course, the “ordinary people” around me are experiencing the same old, normal reality.

These two groups interact frequently. Ordinary people talk to headset wearers, and headset wearers talk to other headset wearers. The front of the headset displays a purplish digital eye that mimics a real eye. Even though they are typing on an actual keyboard, their real eyes are staring at an invisible screen.

“It’s time to get serious,” said Marbius, product manager for crypto fitness games. He says he spends the entire day wearing the Vision Pro. He has set up multiple desktops in VR, allowing a small amount of reality to pass through around them.

“I’m spending more time than I expected,” said Anders Jorgensen, head of growth at MarginFi, a crypto lending and borrowing protocol that is one of mtnDAO’s hosts.

He pre-ordered the Vision Pro several months ago and brought it into his office, where mtnDAO’s crypto workers gather, every weekday in February.

“Full immersion – no distractions” setting

Jorgensen enhances the noise canceling on his Airpod Pros and selects a “fully immersed setup – no distractions” setting on his Vision Pro. Instead of sitting in a bustling office, he types on his keyboard on top of a mountain or in a lunar landscape.

Jorgensen and TJ Littlejohn, another mtnDAO regular and former Apple employee who also pre-ordered the headset, gave the Vision Pro to many others who attended the coworking event. Looks like it gave me a reason to buy it.

When Mr. Littlejohn went to pick up his portion, two others who had gone to the Apple Store with him also bought their portions and returned. As a result, Vision Pro started selling well in this region. Rumor has it that mtnDAO was sold out at local Apple stores by mid-February.

Which reality?

mtnDAO’s Vision Pro owners are not all crypto developers. Two of them are developing programs for Vision Pro. Littlejohn and animator MJ were the first mtnDAO members to own a Vision Pro, sowing the seeds of FOMO that led to a purchasing boom.

“Right now, our collective passion is to find the amazing experiences we can create on Vision Pro,” said Littlejohn, who currently runs a VR gaming startup called Middle Curve with MJ. said.

Their short-term plans are to create spatial video games for the Vision Pro and leverage the technology for other applications in the professional field. For example, one idea is to create a character avatar that Vision Pro users can consult instead of a menu.

Littlejohn said he was surprised by how many mtnDAO participants purchased Vision Pros. It has been more popular than expected among professionals, with many people spending their entire day in mixed reality (MR).

Participants at the coworking space said there was something powerful about using Vision Pro in an office environment. You can switch between being immersed in work and having distractions all around you in seconds. Marbius said:

“I’m starting to think that this is the only place I can love.”

｜Translation and editing: Akiko Yamaguchi, Takayuki Masuda
｜Image: Mr. Littlejohn and Mr. MJ at work (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
｜Original text: Apple Vision Pros Are Practically Dress Code at This Crypto Hacker House