From “Black Twitter” to the oft-appropriated dance phenomenon started by black teens on TikTok; Black Digital Spaces are the lightning rods of the internet zeitgeist. It’s joyous energy, a simple vibe, or anger at injustice that connects those within these spaces to each other and the community across the world. It’s a process that is increasingly necessary during a pandemic marked early on by the fallout around George Floyd’s death. 

A commonly overlooked factor of Black Digital Spaces is the economic transformation within. The arrival of the metaverse supercharged the NFT market, which Black artists have used to save their livelihoods and thrive. Websites becoming more economically viable make it possible for small Black businesses to have a digital foothold. And networking movements like #BlackLinkedInIsThriving carve out part of Linkedin for Black professionals to advance and connect. Black Digital Spaces are amongst the most transformative phenomena for the Black community in our increasingly digitized world, and everyone should buy-in and rally to protect this advancement.

Cryptocurrency is the backbone of Web3 as the various network’s currencies decentralize and democratize ownership and development. NFTs, which are one-of-a-kind digital assets, surpassed $22 billion in the global market this year, according to data from DappRadar, a firm that tracks sales, easily eclipsing the $100 million market in 2020.