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UNESCO adds Nice to World Heritage List

by: Cassandra Tanti
27/07/2021

The City of Nice has been added to the UN’s prestigious World Heritage List under the label of ‘Winter Resort Town of the Riviera’.
Meeting online in this year’s host city of Fuzhou, China, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee chose Nice on Tuesday 27th July together with a number of new sites for their cultural, historical or scientific significance.
The news came as a huge relief to Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, who says he has worked for more than a decade to restore the French Riviera’s largest city to its former glory and obtain World Heritage status.
“Since 2008, we have worked tirelessly to bring to life everything we had forgotten: the beauty of our facades, our buildings, our diverse places of worship, our gardens, our landscapes, our public spaces,” he told Nice Matin. “We have worked to give back to our city what had enabled it to seduce the most prestigious politicians, the most inventive business leaders, the most daring artists from all over for nearly two centuries.”


A World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as having special cultural or physical significance.
The city of Nice has a long history of tourism, both in summer and winter.
The natural environment and its mild Mediterranean climate came to the attention of the English upper classes in the second half of the 18th century, when an increasing number of aristocratic families took to spending their winters there. In 1931, the city’s main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais, was inaugurated by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, and was visited by the likes of Queen Victoria and her son Edward VII, who spent winters there, and Nice-born Henry Cavendish, who discovered hydrogen.
The city has also been a drawcard for notable painters including Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, and Niki de Saint Phalle. Their work is commemorated in many of the city’s museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse and Musée des Beaux-Arts.
Nice also has a rich architectural heritage. During the Savoyard period, several palaces and mansions were built, as well as churches in the Baroque style. During the Belle Époque, the city was enriched with numerous villas and hotels, including the famous Negresco Hotel.
Mayor Estrosi says the World Heritage classification has given him more confidence to push forward with having Nice chosen as the European Capital of Culture 2028.
 
 
 

“We’re looking for evolution, not revolution”

by: Cassandra Tanti
26/07/2021

During his recent trip to Monaco, we caught up with crypto titan Brock Pierce who gave us his expert insight into the future of Bitcoin, why it is great for clean energy, and how cryptocurrencies are changing the world, for the better.
While we were all trying to figure out dial-up internet in the early 2000s, Brock Pierce was building one of the world’s largest virtual-asset trading companies, Internet Gaming Entertainment, and employing hundreds of thousands of people to play videogames like World of Warcraft to win virtual prizes that he could sell for real money.
The American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former actor went on to fund dozens of crypto companies, including Mastercoin, Blockchain Capital and Tether, and was listed in Forbes’ first ever list of the richest people in cryptocurrency in 2018.
Monaco Life: It has been a crazy few months in the crypto world. How are you feeling about it all?
Brock Pierce: I am just generally grateful, I enjoy the ride – the highs, the lows, it’s all part of the adventure.
You are considered the Ambassador of Bitcoin. Why is that?
In 2013, 2014, and 2015 I spent a lot of time educating government on digital assets, then I stopped because I thought there were many others doing it. When I ran for president of the United States of America last year I was talking to a lot of legislators on a state and federal basis, and I learned in almost every one of those meetings that no one has talked to them about what is going on here. No one had bothered to meet them and explain anything. So, I have gotten back into the education of government and that’s not just been on a state and federal basis, but also international.
You recently led the first official delegation to El Salvador, which approved the adoption of Bitcoin as its legal currency. What does that mean for the country and others?
The main drivers for El Salvador are financial inclusion, because 70% of the population doesn’t have access to banking or financial tools. Around 4.5 billion people on the planet aren’t or are under-banked – that’s two-thirds of planet, particularly in the developing world. So, this open banking system can address that quickly.
The government in El Salvador is giving 30 dollars worth of Bitcoin to every citizen, so you are going to see the entire nation have a Bitcoin wallet in a matter of months. This is a very big deal. There is an enormous amount of interest amongst developing nations to potentially follow suit. What El Salvador is doing might create a chain reaction, and everyone is looking at what happens in El Salvador. If it all goes well, the dominos will fall. But it is already creating direct foreign investment in the country.
What other opportunities does this create?
There are a few of us that are looking to fund the building of the next power plants in El Salvador, geothermals, where we take a volcano and basically build a very advanced energy infrastructure to produce highly abundant, low-cost clean energy. That’s going to come from foreign investment, and our intention is to finance that.
These developing nations are starting to see the benefits of opening up to innovation; they’re saying “We want to be part of the future”, in the same way that Dubai and Singapore did 50 years ago. When you have visionary leadership and a government that wants to be part of the future, you attract intellectual capital and social capital, because the best and the brightest are looking to do things.
Generally, most governments are in the way of their own progress, and our hands are tied. But if we actually see a visionary leader who says “Build a future here”, there are a lot of us who know how to do it and want to do it.
It all sounds quite revolutionary…
We are not looking for revolution, we’re looking for evolution. It’s about creating a world where the old and the new win together. That’s where the public and private sectors start to work together harmoniously. The El Salvador government is not going away, it’s just figuring out how to serve the people more effectively. In the 21st century, we have a lot of challenges, but we have a lot of solutions as well, and innovation is the answer to most of our problems. 
But what about the fact that Bitcoin mining uses an enormous amount of energy?
Thank god for the energy problem. Seriously, Satoshi’s second gift is that we are going to create the world’s clean energy. (Editor’s note: Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the presumed person or persons who developed Bitcoin.) We are the reason it is going to happen; we are the primary driver. We used to light our lamps with whale blubber, so why did we upgrade our energy grid? Because we needed a lot of energy. It is the consumption that forces change. And it’s not just Bitcoin, it is all computing, all AI (artificial intelligence) – all advanced computing consumes a lot of energy.
So how do you feel about China pulling the plug on Bitcoin mining and trading in the country?
It is the best thing for the rest of the world. China had a leading advantage, now everyone’s got a shot. Because of China, everything has sped up. China is driving tens of billions of dollars into energy infrastructure immediately. Which is great.
Right now, Bitcoin miners are the primary drivers of upgrading America’s energy grid. That’s what we are doing in El Salvador, and the same thing is happening in the US. We are also going to be financing a lot of the fabs (semi-conductor fabrication plants), we’re the main driver of this and we move faster than anyone else.
And all this is happening right now.
What about the massive 55% correction that Bitcoin saw after it hit the all-time high of 64k in April?
What an incredible event that was – the fact that we had a 50% drop and the system didn’t break. Any other system that this has ever happened to has had to be bailed out by a government. It shows that this system can take that kind of plunge, and it won’t break. Sure, you saw a temporary loss in value on a balance sheet, but the system didn’t skip a beat.
But it showed how volatile Bitcoin is, and that’s why governments are now stepping in to warn investors…
Yes, and we want informed people. I will never give a speech encouraging anyone to invest in anything, I only encourage you to invest in yourself. If you haven’t brought Bitcoin, go buy $20 or $100 worth – something inconsequential. Assume that you are going to lose your first Bitcoin, so it is better to start small, and the earlier you start, in many ways the better off you are.
Think of it not as an investment, but that you are paying for your un-education. Then, through your own understanding and knowledge, you can make informed decisions for yourself. There is a learning curve, you learn through the process of doing.
Once you get comfortable and you understand what’s going on, take a look at your own portfolio and decide what’s right for you, taking into account how old you are and your income versus investable assets. You also have to consider what your level of conviction is. How much do you believe?
So, would your advice be to simply hodl? (Editors note: ‘hodl’ is ‘hold’ in the crypto world)
I do, I don’t trade. Markets go up and down, and unless you are a professional trader, I generally advise against it. I know so many people who sold Bitcoin when it was at $200 to buy in lower, and when Bitcoin went to $10,000, they sold wanting to buy back in at $5,000, but it just kept going up. So, unless you’re a trader, I would say in general “hold”. You can always take some portion if you want to learn how to trade, but don’t take the whole principal. Trading is a practice, and I don’t like the emotional rollercoaster. I am a builder, not a trader, and I support people building things.
Are we in a bear market, or are Bitcoin and alt coins going to skyrocket this year?
I am not sure whether we are in a bear market or not, there are so many compelling data sets right now that I think we can see a fairly rapid recovery. This may be a short-term down market, just look at the rate of institutional adoption, government adoption, what’s going on in China… it is probably just a really good buying opportunity, and I think there is a very good chance we will see a rapid recovery.
Where do you see the year 2021 ending out?
Higher than we are now.
Reaching 3X?
$100,000 Bitcoin next year? It is certainly possible. And when we get to $100,000 Bitcoin, about half or maybe a majority of all the world’s billionaires will have made their money from Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Think about that for a minute.
Well it is clear that crypto is making millionaires in an entirely new way…
Yes, it is democratised opportunity – opportunity that is available to everyone. The wealth is spread out all over the world, and because people didn’t make it over the course of generations or decades, a lot of them are more willing to invest in things that are needed in the world, to give it to charity. This is the greatest wealth transfer in the history of the world – we are putting money into the hands of younger people who are ready to do the work, at a time when god knows we need.
Will there be mass adoption of crypto assets in the years to come?
It is already happening. There are as many as 300 million people now – this is very real and we are currently in the full phase of adoption.
What about banks creating their own digital currencies? What role will they play in the future?
Government-issued currencies are not going away, it’s like what is happening in El Salvador. Think of it like this. You have your checking account, which is your government issued money that you pay bills with, etc, and you have your savings account – Bitcoin, an asset that is deflationary or appreciates in value over time. We are already used to this, except banks don’t pay you anything in your savings account, so we probably shouldn’t use banks for saving. They’re not very good at that.
Tell us something we don’t know that is going to useful in the future?
Stablecoin-based lending (Editors note: a stablecoin is a digital currency that is pegged to a “stable” reserve asset like the U.S. dollar) is paying out three to 10% interest. Now that is a proper savings account. Is it sustainable? Absolutely. Because as a lender, you are lending directly to a borrower; you are not paying for the retail bank space, the employees, the profit margins, the compliance, etc. The banks generate the same rates, they just keep the majority of it. Instead, you can have access to the full yield, the full potential of your money. It is a pretty amazing thing. Bitcoin aside, your digital dollar accounts are paying out three to 10%, and this is relevant to everyone. Again, go out and learn, because whether the Bitcoin thing appeals to you, whether you get it or not, this should appeal to anyone who has savings of any sort.
Do you think Monaco should capitalise on the crypto “evolution”?
I would hope that Prince Albert does what El Salvador did and makes Bitcoin legal tender in Monaco. If they did that, the Principality would be booming. You would have the biggest Chinese gamblers coming to the Casino. Monaco used to be a place that attracted tremendous wealth – it still does – but not like it used to because the world has changed. Monaco is so well situated, there is the brand of Monaco, banking licenses… there are so many things that Monaco could be doing to benefit greatly from all that’s happening.
 
 

Henry Rodriguez Herrera exhibit at the YCM

by: monacoadmin
26/07/2021

The Yacht Club of Monaco is hosting the works of vibrant Colombian artist Henry Rodriguez Herrera at its gallery this month.
Henry Rodriguez Herrera gets inspiration for his bold, graphic pieces not only from his real-life experiences in his native Bogota, where colour and life abound, but also from yesteryear, where Greek myth and culture permeate his works.
He asks his audience to travel with him, to other places, to other times and invites them to be part of the stories he tells.
Now, he is telling his story with his exhibition ‘From Myth to Reality’ at the Yacht Club of Monaco Gallery until 15th August.
Herrera started his career at El Malpensante magazine in Bogota, honing his craft and making a name for himself, often getting commissions for large architectural projects in large American cities such as New York City and Philadelphia.
His interesting style, mixed with the use of recycled materials such as metal sheets, concrete slabs and old doors make him popular with the avant-garde, whilst his refined magazine work earns him kudos from the mainstream.
After meeting his wife, he made the decision to move to France where they set up their workshop and pop-up gallery La Galeria in Le Cannet.
For the Yacht Club exhibition, the paintings from his Argonautes series were selected. The works are meant to represent the current health crisis “where we were masked and where we lived in a world that was unknown to us. The huge objects hanging over the heads of the characters are now levitating, symbolising the disappearance of an evil that weighed so heavily on us.”
Female figures also dominate this series, with a colourful Persephone, goddess of spring and queen of the underworld offering hope of rejuvenation, and Penelope waiting for her Ulysses to join her on a speedboat.
To see the depth of Herrera’s works in person, visit the Showroom IQOS at the Yacht Club until 15th August.
 
 
 

“We want the YCM marina to be an innovation laboratory”

by: Stephanie Horsman
23/07/2021

The Yacht Club of Monaco will host the first ever Monaco Smart Yachting and Marina Show in September with the goal of speeding up the transition to more environmentally-friendly yachting practices both in harbours and on the seas.

In the run-up to the Monaco Yacht Show, the inaugural Monaco Smart Yachting and Marina conference will be held on 20th September to introduce new ideas for building “virtuous” marinas and using sustainable and eco-compliant practices.

Organisers Monaco Marine Management say they aim to “present all the new solutions and innovative technologies in favour of the preservation of the environment in order to design more virtuous marinas,” including encouraging renewable energy usage and other means to help in ocean protection efforts.

It also puts a fine point on the direction the Principality is heading in terms of looking to be a leader in the new green yachting trend.

“Smart yachting is an axis of the future for Monaco,” says Frédéric Genta, Interministerial Delegate in charge of the Digital Transition in the Principality.

“It is a component full of potential for the transformation of our economy and our attractiveness.”

The Yacht Club of Monaco has been promoting sustainability for several years already, putting measures such as the SEA Index in place to assess the CO2 emissions of super-yachts since 2014.

“Many shipowners are very concerned about the future of yachting. This trend can only become a reality if the infrastructures that host them are adapted to this energy and ecological transition,” said Bernard d’Alessandri, Secretary General of the Yacht Club and President of Yachting Monaco. “Our desire is to be able to test these solutions within our YCM Marina, like an innovation laboratory.”

The meeting will bring together big companies such as IBM, Schneider Electric and Teledyne, with innovators, investors and promoters of the virtuous marina scene from around the globe who will share their experiences and talk about the development of eco-responsible, efficient and practical marinas, in addition to making them real places to live.

“For several years, we have been reflecting on the development of virtuous marinas,” explains José Marco Casellini, CEO of Monaco Marina Management. “Places of life, smart marinas, respectful of the environment, must encourage the emergence of new activities and services, like the smart cities of which they are inspired.”

Alongside the conference, an e-catalogue of 50 start-ups will be available from 28th July of which 15 will be chosen by a panel of jurists from the field to be awarded the chance to present their projects at the 2022 Monaco Ocean Week organised by the Prince Albert II Foundation.

“The major issues in the conservation of the marine environment are now clearly identified,” explains Olivier Wenden, Vice-President of the Foundation. “Supporting research and development of new sustainable solutions for more virtuous yachting is all the more essential to continue to enjoy the pleasures of the sea while providing responses adapted to the challenges of preservation.” 

 

 
Photo by Matthias Mullie on Unsplash
 
 
 

Aussie pub becomes vaccination centre for local employees

by: Cassandra Tanti
22/07/2021

An Australian pub in Nice has been transformed into a temporary vaccination centre, helping around 450 local hospitality staff to get the jab before France implements its mandatory health pass in bars and restaurants.
Situated in the heart of Vieux Nice on the Cours Saleya, Van Diemen’s is more accustomed to handing out pints of beer to sun-soaked tourists than vaccinations to hospitality staff. But that’s exactly what happened on Thursday when a team of doctors and nurses set up shop for a major two-day anti-Covid campaign.
“We are hoping to have 95% of all bar and restaurant staff in this area covered by the end of this vaccination drive,” Van Diemen’s proprietor Thady Nolan told Monaco Life.
The campaign is being led by the Nice City Council and officials were on site on Thursday to monitor its success.

From Wednesday 21st July, the so-called passe sanitaire – showing proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from Covid-19 – is needed to enter or work in most museums, theatres and cinemas. It will then be extended to restaurants, cafés and shopping centres in August, President Emmanuel Macron announced last week.
The initial health pass was implemented by decree, while lawmakers are set to vote on its extension to restaurants in the coming days.
By the end of this campaign in Nice, around 450 bar and restaurant staff in the immediate area are expected to be fully vaccinated.
But with a three-to-four-week gap between jabs, and around a week to access the health pass, vaccinated staff today will still not have a health pass by the initial August deadline.
“At best, they will have their health pass by mid-September,” acknowledges Thady Nolan. “If they implement this from August, bars and restaurants will have to close.”
Industry leaders have met with key ministers in France asking for a postponement of the extension until at least 15th September.

Since the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron, more than three million new appointments for vaccinations have been made in France.
Staff at Van Diemen’s who were initially reluctant to get the vaccine and are generally aged between 20 and 30 have also jumped on board if it means they are unable to work.
But business owners still don’t know what to do with staff who refuse to get vaccinated.
“It is not yet clear what happens if someone is not allowed to work because they don’t have a health pass,” says Thady Nolan, who employees 120 staff at five bars/restaurants in Nice and Cannes. “At the moment, if someone can’t come to work, they’re put on unpaid leave. After two months of not working, they can be fired. But again, we don’t know for sure what the circumstances are surrounding the health pass.”
Health pass to prevent further lockdowns
The Delta variant is behind France’s “fourth wave” of Covid-19, and the purpose of the health pass is to avoid a fourth nationwide lockdown, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Wednesday. He also revealed that 96% of the 18,000 new cases reported the previous day were among the unvaccinated.
According to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, two doses of Pfizer or AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine are nearly as effective against the highly transmissible Delta coronavirus variant as they are against the previously dominant Alpha variant. It confirms headline findings given by Public Health England in May about the efficacy of these vaccines based on real-world data.
Wednesday’s study found that two doses of Pfizer’s shot was 88% effective at preventing symptomatic disease from the Delta variant, compared to 93.7% against the Alpha variant, broadly the same as previously reported.
Two shots of AstraZeneca vaccine were 67% effective against the Delta variant, up from 60% originally reported, and 74.5% effective against the Alpha variant, compared to an original estimate of 66% effectiveness.
 
 
 
Photos provided by Van Diemen’s 
 
 
 

Legendary Jimmy’z is back

by: Stephanie Horsman
22/07/2021

Monaco’s fabled Jimmy’z Sporting Monte-Carlo nightclub is reopening with much ado, some huge name DJ’s, and all the glamour that it is famous for.
The doors of uber-cool Jimmy’z fly open late Thursday after a long hiatus brought on by the pandemic. To mark the occasion, they have announced some serious musical talent for the agenda this summer, including Martin Solveig, Kungs and Virgil Abloh.
The nightclub has been a Monaco staple since its inception in 1971, a collaboration between singer and nightclub impresaria Régine Zylberberg and Société des Bains de Mer (SBM). It continues to attract jetsetters, celebrities, sports icons and the fashion crowd to its privileged location at Le Sporting complex, offering nights filled with music played by the best DJs and cocktails most people would need to take out a loan to afford.

Photo © Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer

At this den of the super-rich and famous, anything went, and still goes, and the champagne flows along with the music well into the wee hours.
Jimmy’z had a facelift back in 2017, leaving many of the aspects of the old, including the dancefloor and the lush garden, while adding a floating summer bar and open-air tables to give the club a more spacious feel.
Over the years, the club has attracted names such as Robin Schulz, Michael Calfan, Lost Frequencies, Martin Solveig, Bob Sinclar, Mark Ronson, FatBoy Slim, Big Ali and Benny Benassi to the turntables, a roster that would have any nightclub owner drooling, but is business as usual at Jimmy’z.
DJ Bob Sinclair with Monegasque F1 driver Charles Leclerc at Jimmy’s in 2019 © Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer

This year’s international artists include the “King of Afro House” Black Coffee on 30th July. Next up will be Virgil Abloh on 13th August, followed by Kungs on the 20th and Martin Solveig on the 27th.
Thursdays will be dedicated to ‘Go Deep’, a go-to for house music with an innovative musical line-up, famous artists and up-and-coming talents. Fridays are Urban Jimmy’z with Hip-Hop sessions from DJ Ollie and Saturdays are the domain of ‘Pop Heart’ nights featuring a Pop Art ambiance with artists and/or their original works on display.
The reopening is an exciting event, but not a total free-for-all.
The club has introduced some rules to keep the clientele safe, including mandatory health pass with a valid QR code, mask-wearing whilst in queue and the need to make a reservation.
Jimmy’z will be open from Thursdays to Saturdays inclusive until the end of August, and Fridays and Saturdays until the end of September, from 11:30pm to dawn.
 
 
 
Top photo © Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer