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Today’s Guest: Brandon Tory

Co-Founder & CEO | Formless.xyz

Today’s guest is engineering & architecting the future of content distribution with Share, an EVM compatible protocol built by his company Formless, one of the few team selected for a16z’s inaugural Crypto Start Up School accelerator.

“Content is technology”. A bold statement, and one that’s quite fitting. With a background as a Senior Engineer at Google as well as being a recording artist himself, few people are as qualified as Brandon to build out a next generation primitive for empowering artists to release & monetize their works on their own terms.

In our conversation we unpack the history of music distribution as leverage for labels & PROs, how micropayments allow more artists to pursue their craft, partnering with industry veteran Dallas Austin, “unlearning” lessons from Google, authoring a coding book for kids, and much more.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

About Formless & Share

“Illuminating True Human Purpose Through Technology” is the mission statement of FORMLESS™, a creative technology lab headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We have domain expertise in Web3, AI, AR, embedded systems and media production.

SHARE is a decentralized protocol designed to empower creators with full control over how they distribute their content.

Try Share & Explore Formless

Share Protocol | Formless Site Formless.xyz | Formless Twitter: Formless_xyz

Connect with Brandon

Twitter: @BrandonTory

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Today’s Guest: Mark Henderson of Hiro Wallet

Wallet Product Lead, Hiro Systems

Today we’re joined by Mark Hendrickson, Product Lead at Hiro Systems & the primary driving force behind Hiro Wallet.

As the app ecosystem on Bitcoin continues to surge, Hiro Systems, the “Consensys” of Bitcoin, is building out key infrastructure for developers & users. Perhaps their most well known product is Hiro Wallet, the most popular wallet for apps built on Bitcoin.

Our conversation explores the Stacks ecosystem, Ordinals & Inscriptions, integrating Hiro Wallet with major marketplaces like Magic Eden & much more.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

⌛️ CHAPTERS

0:00 Disclaimer

2:07 Hiro Systems Overview

7:02 Building The Leading Bitcoin Wallet

9:18 Bitcoin As The Future of Web3

15:20 Magic Eden & Opensea Ordinal Support?

21:18 Lightning Network

22:57 Bitcoin Naming System

31:50 The Future of Hiro Systems Ecosystem

34:22 Contact Info & CTA

About Hiro Systems + Hiro Wallet

Hiro wallet is the most popular open source wallet for apps built on Bitcoin. Hiro Systems is an organization creating tools for developers to build this future with Stacks, the largest and fastest growing Web3 project on Bitcoin.

Explore Hiro & Stacks

Hiro Wallet Link | Hiro Site: Hiro.so | Twitter: @HiroWallet & @HiroSystems | Stacks Site: Stacks.co | Stacks Twitter: @Stacks

Connect with Mark

Twitter: @MarkyMark

Suggested Materials

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Today’s Guest: David McDonald of Altered State Machine

Co-Founder + CEO, Altered State Machine

David McDonald is CEO & Co-Founder of Altered State Machine, a blockchain-powered AI protocol pioneering the next era of artificial intelligence. They are building out a suite of games powered by AI Agents with partners such as FIFA & The Muhammed Ali Estate via Authentic Brands Group. Though gaming is a focus, it is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is possible with ASM's patented "Non Fungible Intelligence" technology & the broader compliment of tools available through the Futureverse ecosystem & the Root Network.

Our conversation explores ASM’s focus on gaming instead of productivity, ways to protect creators & artists from becoming obsolete in the AI era, why user data is the new oil, how the ASM protocol may be used by giants like Google & Amazon, the value of Gen1 Brains, and more.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

⌛️ CHAPTERS

0:00 Disclaimer

0:36 Intro

2:32 Auckland Mission Charity

3:55 An Overview of Altered State Machine

5:26 The Ethics of AI

8:48 Why Gaming Is AI's Killer Feature, Not Productivity

12:45 The "True" Cost of AI

17:33 "Opt In" Artists Royalty Systems

20:35 How Google, Amazon & Apple Can Leverage ASM Protocol

23:10 ASM As A Personalized Conduit To Any AI Tool

27:02 Genesis Brains Splicing Mechanics

32:14 The Value of Pre Trained AI Agents In Gaming

34:16 The Void Pool

40:07 Developer Kits & ASM Powered Hardware

46:03 Bridging To Root

47:14 Project Tempus & XR Developments

About Altered State Machine

Altered State Machine’s (ASM) decentralized protocol allows anyone to own, train and trade unique Artificial Intelligence via digital ASM Brains. ASM Brains can be used within avatars, games, worlds and other Metaverse applications ... powered by AI, owned by you and traded as an NFT.

Explore Altered State Machine

Site: www.alteredstatemachine.xyz | Twitter: @AltStateMachine | Opensea: Altered_State_Machine

Connect with David

Twitter: @dmcd_nz

Related ASM & Futureverse Content

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The NFT Apocalypse Is Coming… Most Won’t Survive. Are You Prepared For The Fallout?

What would you do If I told you that 90% of all NFTs will disappear in the next 4 years? I don't mean falling in popularity, but that the vast majority of NFTs, including the ones you may have paid THOUSANDS for, get wiped from existence?

You may be thinking to yourself - “But, but, it's the Blockchain Sae'Von - that's not possible! “

LMAO. Yea… we gotta talk about that.

⌛️ Keynote At A Glance

0:00 Intro

0:56 The NFT Apocalypse Explained

3:26 ClubNFT Explained

3:47 ClubNFT - Getting Started

4:10 How NFTs Are Stored

5:22 How To Backup Your NFTs

6:36 How To Handle "Worse Case Scenario" NFTs

7:14 Jason Bailey's Advice (ClubNFT CEO)

7:54 Final Thoughts

The NFT Apocalypse Explained

First things first, know that today’s keynote is not about problems, its about solutions.

Yes. It is quite likely that most NFT collections self-destruct over the next 4-5 years.

However…

If you follow this whole keynote from start to finish, I promise you’ll know exactly how to protect yourself (and those beloved JPEGS!) from oblivion. 

Before I walk you through all of that though, let’s establish some context about this whole issue.

I recently released a keynote video covering my predictions for the top Web3 trends to watch for in 2023. Within that keynote I predict the resurgence & renaissance of on-chain NFTs. This is all the context you need. (Excerpt below)

*Despite popular belief, most NFT collections aren’t actually stored on-chain, instead only storing partial data on-chain: typically the token ID and a URL that points to the token's metadata. Sometimes metadata is stored directly on chain, but that’s usually as far as it goes. *

Rare is the project storing EVERYTHING about the NFT, including the art, entirely on-chain. Why? Because it can get EXPENSIVE. 

So why does this matter? Because if something were to happen to the company behind a collection, a major exchange hosting a collection, or the pinning sites hosting the metadata, your NFT will be rendered useless & inaccessible. Instead of seeing your $250M ape on Opensea, you may find, well, nothing. 

When an NFT is fully on chain, it allows the token to be reconstructed in its entirety using both on and off-chain decompressors, directly from the data baked into the chain, ensuring the NFT persists in perpetuity alongside the network itself. 

All it takes is one metadata related fiasco & I’m confident will see a renaissance of fully on-chain projects w/ genuine persistence & immutability.

Hopefully you now appreciate the gravity of the situation here, but if not, I implore you to read “The NFT Apocalypse” the article that brought this whole situation to my attention. It explains in more detail exactly why most NFTs will break by 2027 & the nuances of on chain art, IPFS & server hosted tokens. If after reading this you’re still not convinced of the potential calamity ahead, ion got nothing for you homie!

Now enough about the PROBLEM, lets talk about the SOLUTION.

ClubNFT Explained

ClubNFT is a platform built to ensure your NFTs are safe & accessible even if the parent company behind or the marketplace hosting the collection were to fail or disappear. 

So how exactly does this work? 

First, visit the site & create a new account with your preferred email. Then, provide the wallets you want to protect. This will begin the back up process. 

When you input an address, ClubNFT finds the available tokens, then it runs a quick assessment of the source contract. Once this is done, the dashboard provides you with a report detailing how the associated content is stored. Generally speaking, there are 3 possibilities. The content is held on a private server (40%), pinned to IPFS (50%), or is stored fully on-chain. (10%)

When you expand the view for each NFT, you’ll find a breakdown of how each element is handled, most showing some sort of mixture. 

Best case scenario, everything is on chain, but that’s only true about 10% of the time. Jason Bailey, ClubNFT’s CEO mentioned that out of 1,000 NFTs, he only had ONE collection be detected as on chain. 

https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x892848074ddea461a15f337250da3ce55580ca85/1025

According to the tool, even Cyberbrokers, one of the most well known “on-chain” projects incorporates “off-chain” elements. 

Realistically though, if the image or core “media” file is stored on IPFS, consider it a win, since this means the media can be backed up. 

Now, Let’s cover how to actually PROTECT your NFTs.

Backing Up Your NFTs

On average, you should be able to backup roughly 50% of your tokens. ClubNFT’s interface makes it clear which NFTs can be protected. For an individual breakdown of which ones are salvageable, click on “Yes” or "Partial” 

Once you’re ready, all you need to do is click “Download Wallet Backup”. The process may take a couple of hours depending on the size of your wallet, but once its done - just download the zip file & you’re all set!

I suggest you store one copy of the backup on an SSD or hard drive, and upload another copy to your preferred cloud storage provider. 

So, what about the rest of your NFTs? Is there any way to save them? 

If they’re on-chain, you’re good. If they’re on private servers… there’s not much you can do. Because the token is linked to a private server, it will appear “broken” if something ever happens to the company or marketplace that issued it. 

You can always pull the “right click save” move, that way at least you have SOME version of the image saved. Though its better than nothing, its not a real solution. 

I asked Jason for his advice during our recent conversation, here’s what he had to say about it. 

Once you’ve gone through this process once, ClubNFT will regularly scan your wallet for new NFTs. You’re given one free backup per wallet each month, so I suggest you set a reminder to do so. Consider it a part of your Operational Security. 

I also recommend you sign up to get notified about their upcoming pinning service. This will automatically create an additional backup of your NFTs stored on IPFS. Its more of a redundancy than a necessity, but one worth considering. 

Closing Thoughts

That’s all for this one. If you like to know more about the NFT Apocalypse or ClubNFT, be sure to catch my interview with their CEO Jason Bailey. 

If you just wish all your NFTs were on-chain by default, take a look at Bitcoin Ordinals & Inscriptions. I’ve got a full explainer & how to keynote that’ll have you up to speed in just 15 minutes. 

Stay blessed.

😲 Can you handle the truth?

Today’s Guest: Jason Bailey of ClubNFT & RightClickSave

Co-Founder + CEO, ClubNFT | Contributor, RightClickSave

Today we’re joined by Jason Bailey, one of the most prolific collectors & leaders in all of Web3. If you’re not already familiar with Jason or his company - you should be. Don’t wait too long though, or external circumstances may force your hand…

Our conversation explores the origins of ClubNFT, why most NFTs will self-destruct by 2027, how to protect yourself from such a black swan, the importance of supporting small artists & much more.

It also happens that this episode is releasing the day after Jason’s birthday - quite the synchronicity! 🥳 🎊 🎉

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

About Jason

Jason Bailey, AKA “Artnome”, hails from the era of “crypto art”, before NFTs were common parlance or OpenSea raised its sails. With an unique background blending art, engineering & software, Jason was in prime position to connect with the world of blockchain art, growing from a collector into an educator as one of the first to bring NFTs to mainstream audiences & institutions like Christie’s & Sotheby’s.

After a visceral lesson in the the permanence (or lack thereof) of NFTs, Jason cofounded ClubNFT as a way to protect collectors from losing their artwork in the event of an NFT Apocalypse.

About ClubNFT

ClubNFT is building the next generation of solutions to discover, protect, and share NFTs. Alongside Jason Bailey, leadership includes technical co-founder/CTO Chris King (prev. Google) & CFO/COO Danielle King (prev. MoMA).

About RightClickSave

RightClickSave is a ClubNFT publication that seeks to drive critical conversation about art on the blockchain.

Connect with Jason

Twitter: @ArtNome | LinkedIn

Sign Up For ClubNFT

Site: ClubNFT.com | Twitter: @Club_NFT

Subscribe To RightClickSave

Site: RightClickSave.com | Twitter: @RtClick_Save

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Bitcoin native NFTs may actually fix the most glaring issue with Bitcoin’s long term viability as a digitally native store of value.

NFTs on Bitcoin are a thing now. Technically, they’ve been a thing for a while, but a recent innovation called Ordinal Theory has kicked things into overdrive as more than 100,00 “Inscriptions”, the technical term for Bitcoin “NFTs” have been minted in the past 2 weeks alone.

Given how suddenly this trend exploded, I’m sure you have a ton of questions. 

What are Ordinals? What’s an Inscription? Are they better than Ethereum NFTs? Worse? How do you collect them? Create them? What does this mean for Bitcoin? Is this one massive scam in the making? 

Well, give me about 14 minutes, I’m going to answer all that for you & then some. By the end, you’ll know everything there is to know about Ordinals, Inscriptions & Bitcoin NFTs. 

There’s a lot to discuss so let’s jump right into it. 

Keynote At A Glance

0:00 INTRO

1:49 ORDINALS + INSCRIPTIONS 101

3:12 NOTABLE ORDINALS COLLECTIONS

4:02 INSCRIPTIONS V NFTS

5:28 INFRASTRUCTURE & SAFETY

7:58 ORDINAL WALLETS (THE BEST OPTIONS)

9:48 BUYING INSCRIPTIONS

11:17 CREATING INSCRIPTIONS (FAST & HIGH QUALITY!)

12:36 THE FUTURE OF ORDINALS

Ordinals Explained

Before diving into the exact steps involved in buying, collecting and minting your very own inscriptions, we need to clarify two technical difference between Ordinals & Inscriptions. 

Simply put, Ordinals are a method of tracking and transferring individual Satoshis, which are the smallest divisible unit of a Bitcoin. There are 100 million Satoshis in every Bitcoin, & given the total supply of Bitcoin is finite, so are the Satoshis, technically. 

Ordinals are called such because they’re tracked in sequential order based on the “First In, First Out” principle. There’s a numbering scheme that refers to the order in which the Satoshi was mined and a transfer scheme referring to when the Satoshi was first transacted, whether it be an input or an output.

Inscriptions Explained

With the base layer Ordinal tracking system in place, you can now attach content to each of these individual Satoshis - whether that be an image, account, token, a stable coin or anything else that can fit within the data contained within an individual block of a Bitcoin transaction.

This process of attaching data to Satoshis is known as an Inscription. 

So far there's been more than 100K inscriptions made on the Bitcoin Network, with notable collections including Ordinal Punks, Taproot Wizards, OrdRocks, & Astral Babes.

Just like the nft boom we saw on ethereum back in 2021 several of these inscriptions have already been sold for tens of thousands. In some instances selling for 6 & 7 figures.

So yes, it’s safe to say there is a ton of opportunity in these early days of ordinals and inscriptions. But before I show you how to set up your wallet, collect and mint inscriptions & engage in all manner of degenerate shenanigans, give me a few moments to cover some key details that will save you a TON of headache. After all, this sort of opportunity comes at a cost. 

Ordinals vs NFTs

The first thing to note is that inscriptions and Ordinals are fundamentally different from NFTs typically found on smart contract platforms like Ethereum, Polygon, Solana or Tezos.

Fully On-Chain

One of the main distinctions is that every Bitcoin inscription is fully on-chain, quite the contrast to NFTs, which typically store content off-chain via IPFS. So far, most traditional NFT collectors haven’t realized how severe this issue is, but I’m confident this will change as more marketplaces fail & NFTs stop linking to their pinned content. Given that Bitcoin is the world's most powerful and resilient computing Network, inscriptions are far more durable and secure than nearly any other form of NFT existing on another network, even if they're the rare “fully on chain” variety.

Static v Dynamic NFTs

Of course, this brings its own set of trade-offs. Due to the composability of smart contract platforms like Ethereum, NFTs can be more dynamic & expressive, allowing for the aesthetics, functionality or utility to change over time. 

Inscriptions on the other hand, are much more difficult to update or change after they’ve been inscribed. If you want durability, they’re great - perhaps the best option available. If you want flexibility, you should look elsewhere. At least at this moment.

Security & Infrastructure

As it stands, security & infrastructure are still a bit lacking for the Ordinal ecosystem. This is largely due to the novelty of the ecosystem, but its also a consequence of Bitcoin’s fundamental architecture & the philosophy around its monetary premium. In a world with robust platforms like Ethereum, its no surprise there’s only a small group of developers building with Lightning or Stacks, the two most active application layers atop Bitcoin.

As I see it, here are the biggest hurdles & risks. 

Accidentally Spending Inscriptions

It’s incredibly easy to lose your Inscription. This is due to the fact that inscriptions are tied to Satoshis & because of how most Bitcoin wallets handle UTXOs by default - but that’s beyond the scope of this keynote. The main workaround has been making a dedicated wallet solely for receiving inscriptions. This is cumbersome at best, but there are some workaround solutions I’ll show you in just a second. 

Over The Counter Trading

There’s no real marketplace to safely trade or bid on inscriptions. At this moment 99% of trades happen OTC (Over the counter) which means you’ll probably have to hop in a discord, DM somebody your address, send some BTC to their address and then hope that they send you the inscription. So basically all of the things that people tell you not to do in a crypto Discord, is exactly what you have to do if you want to buy or sell most inscriptions.

Just like the wallet situation, there’s a workaround here I’ll teach you. 

Full Node To Inscribe

The last major UX hurdle is the process of actually creating an Inscription. In the world of NFTs we have beautiful tools like Manifold, Bueno, and Decent that make minting & maintaining a collection super simple. At the time of publication, no such tool exist for Ordinals. There has been enormous progress though.

 Just a week ago, you had to run a full Bitcoin node if you wanted to make an inscription. This is still the primary way large collections are being created, but there’s a steep learning curve & it requires you to have a whole hell of a lot of storage space.

But, as you may have guessed, ya boy got the workaround for you! ✊🏾 

So, how ‘bout we move from theory to practice, shall we?

Collecting & Creating Inscriptions

Ordinal Wallets

Before you can begin collecting Inscriptions you’ll need a wallet. 

At the time of publication, I suggest you use XVerse. Its basically a Bitcoin version of MetaMask. 

What’s great is that they automatically generate a dedicated Ordinals address for you when you set up your account.

1. Once you’ve set up the wallet (just like you would set up your Metamask), click the second tab - the 4 square icon. You’ll see your account name up top & just below, it will say “Number of Collectibles”

2. Click “Receive”. This will bring up two options - “Ordinals” & “Stacks NFT”. Select “Ordinals” by either copying the address or pulling up the QR code. When you’re ready to purchase or receive your ordinal, simply use this address.

Just a reminder, this address is ONLY for RECEIVING ordinals. If you try to do anything else using this address, you’re likely to run into some issues. 

Another option is Ordinals Wallet. Its a wallet purpose-created for Ordinals & Inscriptions, but at the time of publication, its only been live about 72 hours. So, feel free to play around, but know its not exactly “battle tested”. 

Lastly, I suggest downloading Hiro - its one of the main wallets for the Bitcoin & Stacks ecosystem with a solid track record. They’ve started rolling out Ordinal support on their testnet & plan to push the same features to mainnet in the next few weeks, if not sooner. 

No matter which of these you go with, be sure to back up & test your recovery phrase before sending anything to the wallet. 

Now, how do you buy inscriptions? 

Buying Inscriptions

As I mentioned earlier, the bulk of Inscriptions are only sold peer to peer. You’ll need to jump in the collection’s discord and find the creator if the mint is still active. Otherwise, you’ll need to connect with the owner of the inscription & broker the deal. 

This is HIGHLY risky & could easily leave you shit outta luck. 

There is at least ONE collection I’ve seen so far that allows you to mint your Inscription through the collection’s website - Astral Babes. I’m almost certain this is a nicely camouflaged P2P order flow, I can’t say for certain. 

The 3rd option, though less obvious, is a bit less risky & perhaps a bit underpriced. Recognizing the UX hurdles but still wanting to be an earlier mover, some projects have opted to mint on Ethereum, with the expressed intent to migrate the collection to Bitcoin through a burn event. 

Some options in this camp include UnOrdinals, BitcoinOrbs, & The Edge of Oblivion. Some have already begun their migration, while others are still in process. For collections that have yet to move, there’s the risk they never migrate. Even if that happens, you still will have the Ethereum version. 

Only you can decide if that’s a risk you find acceptable. Given the founder’s track record, I went ahead and added a BitcoinOrb to the fund. Time will tell if that was a wise move or not. 

Creating Inscriptions

So remember when I said you have to run a full node to make an Inscription? Well, a few nimble devs stepped in to provide Inscription as a service for those who don’t want to go through the hassle. 

The two main options are Gamma, the primary Bitcoin NFT marketplace built on Stacks, & Ordinal Bot, a tool created by the Satoshibles team. 

Both tools work in near identical fashion, but Ordinals Bot is the better option.

1. Once you’re on the site, upload the file you want inscribed. (I suggest leaving the “Optimize Image” box checked.) 

2. Input your ORDINAL compatible  RECEIVE address from the wallet we created earlier 

3. Select your transaction fee. The higher the fee, the faster the inscription will process. Then, click “Submit & Pay Invoice”

4. You’ll need to pay using Bitcoin. You can scan the QR code or copy the address. Lighting is also an option.

5. Download your order as it serves as your receipt.

Once the transaction is fully processed, your ordinal will show up in your wallet. 

The Future of Ordinals & Inscriptions

Given the historically tribal & maximalist nature of the hardcore Bitcoin community, its no surprise that this has been met with all sorts of reactions. 

Some are happy to see Bitcoin demonstrate its flexibility as an application platform allowing truly decentralized access. Others fear that Bitcoin’s reputation & role as a sovereign store of value may get sullied by the sort of scams & rugpulls that have befallen Ethereum & other smart contract networks. 

Perhaps the wildest aspect about this whole thing is that Inscriptions may be the key to solving Bitcoin’s long term security issues as they introduce a novel source of revenue for miners, further incentivizing them to continue securing the network. 

If you’re watching this & exploring Ordinals & Inscriptions, you’re truly a pioneer. Could you end up making some good returns if you grab the right project, its certainly a possibility. I’m definitely shooting my shot! Regardless of the upside, I hope this trend encourages you to take a deeper look at Bitcoin & everything happening in the ecosystem. It may not be as dopamine inducing as Ethereum or the latest L2, but its the largest network for a reason. Who knows, this may be the best shot yet & ending the toxic tribalism that’s divided Bitcoin & Ethereum for so long. 

If you’ve got the Bitcoin bug, I encourage you to check out the Stacks ecosystem & grab yourself a .BTC domain name. 

If you’d like me to make a video covering more of the Bitcoin world, leave a comment below and let me know. 

If you missed the last keynote about the Root network airdrop, be sure to check it out. 

While you’re at it, might as well listen to the most recent interview, too. 

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📣 Amplifying Marginalized Voices & Fostering Healthy Communities

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Today’s Guest: Sian Morson of The BlkChain & Science Magic Studios

Founder, The BlkChain | VP Community, Science Magic Studios

Today we’re joined by Sian Morson, founder of The Blkchain & VP of Community at Science Magic Studios.

This episode covers a lot of ground, but is particularly focused on two topics: diversity & community. What does Web3 offer to marginalized voices? What are the main barriers to entry? How do we avoid groupthink to establish healthy communities? For all this and more, be sure to watch (or listen) all the way through.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

Chapters ⌛️

0:00 Disclaimer

2:56 Sian’s Early Career In Tech

9:52 The Power of Being A Generalist

11:47 The Diversity Gap in Web3, VC & Tech

16:00 Why Marginalized Communities Need Web3

18:12 Identity & Pseudonymity: A Tool Of Empowerment?

20:07 Privilege: Economic & Educational Barriers To Web3

22:31 Culture & Community: The Long Tail of Web3

27:04 Music NFTs

29:22 Share Protocol

32:11 How To Go To Market w NFTs

38:46 Can NFTs Fix This Creative Constraint?

42:15 Cool Cats & Group Think: Establishing Healthy Communities

46:02 Marketing V. Community Building

52:20 Rapid Fire Q&A

About The Blkchain

The BlkChain is a community-driven magazine with the primary goal of amplifying and elevating the work of women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ artists and collectors in NFTs. 

The BlkChain exists to ensure that those who create digital art are given the opportunity to show their work, and not be dismissed because of their gender or race or sexuality.

About Science Magic Studios

Science Magic Studios is a digital asset venture studio helping brands and IP owners use web3 technology to create direct, meaningful, and valuable relationships with their communities. Science Magic Studios is the sister company to ScienceMagic.Inc.

Connect with Sian

Twitter: @SianMorson

Learn More About The Blkchain

Site: TheBlkChain.com | Twitter: @theblkchain

Learn More About Science Magic Studios

Site: ScienceMagicStudios.xyz | Twitter: @sciencemagicxyz

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⛏️ Tokenizing Trillions & Pioneering Programmable Money

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Today’s Guest: Vesto’s Chris McGregor + Wolfgang Decker

Co Founders, CEO, CSO | Vesto

Today we’re joined by Christopher McGregor + Wolfgang Deck, co-founders of Vesto.

This episode is one of my favorite to date, as we dive deep into the intersection of DeFi & CeFi. Some topics include Vesto’s core capabilities, tokenizing investment funds & money markets, compliance & regulation standards for institutional crypto offerings, building CBDCs & much more.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

Chapters ⌛️

0:00 Disclaimer

2:30 Vesto Overview

5:30 Tokenizing Corporate Treasuries

8:30 Compliance & Regulation for Institution Grade Crypto

14:09 What's The Value of Blockchains?

17:30 Building CBDCs

19:50 Privacy Concerns of A Cashless Society

21:25 Polygon v Ripple v Optimism

23:50 When We Can Expect To See CBDCs

28:51 How Does Vesto Generate Yield?

33:10 Insuring Institutional Grade Smart Contracts

35:55 Advice for Founders

Connect with Chris + Wolfgang

Chris McGregor | Wolfgang Decker

Learn More About Vesto

Site: Vesto.io | Email: Info@Vesto.io

About Vesto

Vesto is the turnkey blockchain solution for businesses to safely scale into the future of digital assets. On a mission to revolutionize the financial industry by enabling efficient payments and innovative investment opportunities through blockchain technology, Vesto provides key infrastructure for decentralized and traditional finance to coexist and interoperate.

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There’s every indication that the Root network will be every bit as important for the advancement of Web3, NFTs, DeFi & crypto as Bitcoin & Ethereum. 

If you were really tapped in during the last bear market, you could have been one of thousands to be blessed with airdrops ranging from $18K all the way to a quarter million dollars! 

For free.

Now do you see why little “Timmy with the Stimmy” is feeling a ways ‘bout that little ‘ol $1200 from 2020?

Well, if you focus your full & undivided attention for the next 15 minutes, you could set yourself up to strike an even bigger payday.

So - what is this airdrop & why does it have the potential to completely reinvent everything we know about token launches, protocol governance & maybe even securities laws? 

Most importantly, how do you get in position to benefit from this airdrop? 

Let’s get into it.

Keynote At A Glance

AIRDROPS EXPLAINED

The Purpose of Airdrops

Airdrops are a mechanism for projects & protocols to directly distribute tokens or other digital assets to a group of user wallets, free of charge.

Typically the goal of an airdrop is one of the following:

• Increase decentralization of a native governance token

• Reward early or highly engaged contributors

• As a guerilla marketing tactic for boosted awareness & attention

Generally speaking, the most effective (& most lucrative) airdrops achieve at least 2 of the above, if not all three.

Uniswap, who’s widely credited for kicking off the airdop meta, was able to tick all three boxes as they distributed 400 UNI tokens to each wallet that interacted with the protocol.

ENS rewarded users who previously minted a name & Yuga Labs made airdrops a staple of NFTs when they made BAKC a free mint for BAYC holders & dropped mutant vials shortly afterwards.

Airdrop Upside

To some, the perks of gaining governance rights is more than enough. The added exposure for a protocol? A bonus.

For the vast majority of folks though, airdrops are a lottery ticket - a hope for a big payday. Given past results, this isn’t just wishful thinking.

The Uniswap airdrop was worth ~$1200 the day it was distributed. If you’d held on to it and managed to sell around its peak of $45, it was worth ~$18K. The ENS drop ranged from $~17K to $84K on the high end & dYdX peaked between 8,600 for the lowest tier & at $265K for top tier users. 🤯

Sure, we’re assuming those recipients sold everything at the peak price, but still, folks have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for simply being early & consistent supporters of new protocols & dApps, not once, not twice, but several times.

And its about to happen again.

THE ROOT NETWORK AIRDROP

Root Network Explained

The Root Network is a Substrate based EVM compatible blockchain with a deliberate focus on onboarding non-technical users to web3, optimized for user experience & purpose built to enable an interoperable metaverse.

The network has native support for dynamic NFTs, a multi token gas economy powered by Ripple’s XRPL, a federally recognized decentralized identity protocol, compliant DeFi supported by the Mastercard network, decentralized communications, & even an artificial intelligence protocol. Again, this is all architected directly into the base layer of the network & designed to work out of the box.

https://twitter.com/flufworld/status/1537782733774389251?s=20&t=k7JRT6VN99JmaBpgHdR1BA

ROOT is the native token to the Root network & will be used for:

• Governance

• Securing the network via PoS

• A block reward for node operators & validators

• The primary in-game token for the Fluf World game

• An incentive in the network’s Data Marketplace

Futureverse Explained

The Futureverse is the formal rollup of more than 8 individual companies responsible for building the core infrastructure powering the Root Network.

Some of the companies involved include Non-Fungible Labs, Sylo, Altered State Machine, Shadows Interactive, CentraPass, CentraPay, Immersive, ATEM Car Club & more.

Together, the Futureverse is a team of more than 200 people who’ve raised over $500M to build out the “Open Metaverse”.

There’s a lot to chew on here, so I suggest you check out this video from Gerry at Gerry’s Open Metaverse, along with this video from The Defiant.

How To Earn The Airdrop

So how can you best position yourself to benefit from this historic airdrop? Be willing to invest your capital, your attention, & your time, cause this is not your ordinary airdrop. Let’s dive in.

Root Airdrop Eligibility

One of the most unique aspects of the ROOT network AirDrop is how eligibility works.

Historically, most airdrops have come from DeFi protocols, not layer one networks. As a result, eligibility requirements have typically revolved around actions that drive liquidity to the protocol, such as making a trade, swapping tokens, taking out a loan or depositing capital into a liquidity pool to deepen order books.

In the case of the ROOT network, content, IP & gamified experiences have been the initial points of user traction, not DeFi. As a result, airdrop eligibility comes from holding NFTs from the Futureverse ecosystem.

It’s generally assumed that most, if not all of the genesis collections across the ecosystem will be eligible in some way, but its worth noting that the only 100% confirmed assets at the time of publication are Fluf World, Party Bears, Burrows & The Next Legends.

Regardless, holding an eligible NFT is just one part of the larger equation.

Phased Challenges

To actually receive & redeem your airdrop requires active participation through phased challenges.

At a high-level, these challenges are a way to gradually ramp up network activity, to teach people key skills necessary to work their way towards becoming an informed participant & contributor of the network.

It also happens to be a clever way to minimize the risks of the SEC claiming the airdrop is somehow a violation of securities laws.

To give you an idea, one of the first challenges will be migrating assets from The Next Legends genesis collection from Ethereum over to the Root network. This both initiates a distributed transfer of value to the network while also teaching people how to use a cross chain bridge.

Another challenge involves generative AI art from the Thingies collection, rewarding those who’ve been actively exploring the AI aspect of the ecosystem.

Given that each of the genesis assets has a unique role to play within the broader Futureverse ecosystem, expect certain challenges to require a synergistic combination of assets to fully participate.

For instance, you may need a Burrow & and a Thingie for one challenge, or a Party Bear & a Buzzie for another. Just something to keep in mind.

Claim Mechanics

So you’ve acquired some airdrop eligible NFTs, & you’ve participated in the correct challenges to receive your allocation of ROOT.

Well there is one last hurdle, the “Time-Delayed Reverse Claim Mechanism”.

Historically most airdrops grant access to the full allocation of your tokens from day one, as was the case with Uniswap & ENS.

The benefit? You can access & sell all your tokens as soon as there’s a liquid market.

The downside? You can access & sell all your tokens as soon as there’s a liquid market.

According to the Futureverse whitepaper, a fraction of the ROOT token airdrop will be available immediately, but the bulk of the allocation will gradually become claimable over time, the earlier the claim, the more of your allocation you forfeit. The forfeited tokens go back into a pool to be divided amongst the remaining claimants. So simply put, the longer you wait, the more ROOT you’re eligible to claim.

The game theory here has two key benefits.

The first being reduced sell pressure from what would otherwise be the the standard post-airdrop bubble up & crash as recipients sell en mase.

The second benefit is sustained engagement.

It’s quite likely they’ll be a steady stream of challenges for several months, if not years, following the initial launch & upfront claim.

To maximize rewards, users will have to remain engaged with the ecosystem, helping to avoid the sharp drop-off that typically happens post-airdrop, & better positioning the Futureverse to establish enduring network effects as current community members draw in new ones.

Potential ROI

At this point you’re likely asking yourself if it’s worth it to get involved. Only you can make that decision, but there’s enough information available to allow for some healthy speculation.

Let’s start by assessing the distribution model.

According the the FV whitepaper there’s a supply of 12B ROOT tokens with…

• 10% allocated to “Initial Community Rewards”

• 15% to “Land Mechanics”

• 10% to the “Ecosystem Development Fund”

• 5% for the “Block Reward Bootstrap”

You can check out the whitepaper for full details, but this is what’s most relevant for the airdrop.

With these figures we can begin to extrapolate possible scenarios.

Thankfully a prominent community member KONA made a phenomenal thread for this very purpose.

Kona’s projections assume that of the 10% allocated to initial Community Rewards, Flufs will receive 5% & Party Bears will receive 1%.

Of the 15% allocated to Land Mechanics, its assumed 5% will go to Burrows.

Lastly, this assumes the max ROOT claimable for each asset - meaning FULL participation & a longer wait to claim the tokens.

With all that said, Kona projects:

• 60K root for Flufs

• 12K ROOT for Party Bears

• ~17K ROOT for Dens

• ~68K ROOT for Suites

• ~154K ROOT for High Rollas

• ~274K ROOT for Studio Snoop Dogg

He takes it a step further to model the relative ROI based on the ETH price of each of these assets to see which is the better value in terms of money spent vs projected ROOT allocation.

I like this approach, so I updated the multiples to reflect fiat denominated floor prices at the time of publication. Assuming a $4B market cap, one ROOT token equals $0.33.

From best to worst ROI are:

• Suites @ nearly $23K (23x)

• High Rollas @ ~$51K (14X)

• Dens @ ~5,600 (~14x)

• Studios @ $90,420 (~11.12x)

• Party Bears @ $3,960 (5.4X)

• Flufs @ $19,800 (4.2X)

Again, these are just speculation. Expect more clarity once the first challenge begins.

Your Chance To Own The Future

Airdrops have been known to provide life changing money to those fortunate & engaged enough, to receive them.

In the case of the Root network, I’m confident this will go down as one of, if not THE most important airdrop in history.

Of course only time will tell, but NFT airdrops & companion collections have already provided early Fluf Holders with tens of thousands of dollars. The scale & impact of a layer 1 network launch will FAR eclipse that.

On that note, its important to know that most airdrops don’t come directly from layer 1 networks themselves, but rather the dApps & protocols built on top.

For networks that have issued tokens, they’re usually sold to private investors & VCs via premine events. Controversial & divisive as it may be for the community, this is what happened with Ethereum, as folks like Vitalik Buterin, Joe Lubin and many other co-founders & early contributors accumulated roughly 60% of the current total Ethereum supply before any ICO ever took place.

https://twitter.com/hasufl/status/1280140252737343488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1280141326827302912%7Ctwgr%5E3e570fd32275da5a3b5d80c0f2688f19fc4a4b8d%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcryptonews.com%2Fexclusives%2Fthe-ethereum-premine-debate-on-fairness-regulation-and-centralization.htm

Yes, there’s an allocation for early contributors & advisors, but its only 10%. The main way VCs got exposure to Futureverse & the Root network was through buying equity in the constituent companies.

By owning the ROOT, you’re in position to be a validator or a staker & earn a portion of network fees. The more activity, the more rewards.

Again, only time will tell how everything shakes out. Still, there’s every indication that the Root network will be every bit as important for the advancement of Web3, NFTs, DeFi & crypto as Bitcoin & Ethereum.

We’ll find out soon enough.

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Today’s Guest:

Founder, Creative Director | Scary Garys

Today we’re joined by Michael Hollingsworth, better known in Web3 as “Goldie”.

We discuss his rapid rise to prominence, exhibiting work at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, collaborating with Rolling Stone & Coinbase, partnering with Nike & Converse to design custom drops, his best advice for new artists, and much more.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

About Goldie

Goldie hit the NFT scene in a major way in 2021, steady growing his collector base with 1/1 art featured across MakersPlace, SuperRare, KnownOrigin & more before releasing his generative “Scary Garys” collection. Physical works have been displayed & auctioned at Chicago mainstays like the famed Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago as well as the prominent imnot/Art.

Check Out Goldie

Goldie's Official Site | Goldie's Twitter | Goldie on Opensea | Goldie's LinkedIn

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Today’s Guest: Gaby Araujo

Head of Marketing | Bueno

Today we’re joined by Gaby Araujo, Head of Marketing at Bueno, as we discuss building a Web2 audience in Web3, why “NFTs” became “digital collectibles”, Bueno’s highest ROI channel, handling toxic community members & much more.

If you’re a fan of our conversation with thridweb’s Catty Berragan about organic growth marketing in Web3, you’ll LOVE this episode.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

About Bueno

Launched by Pablo Stanley in 2021, Bueno is a powerful no-code NFT toolkit taking creators through the whole lifecycle of a project. Whether its PFP collections, generative art, the “microverse” or Web3 powered forms, Bueno is a one-stop shop.

Check Out Bueno

Bueno Official Site | Bueno Twitter | Bueno Discord | Bueno YouTube | Goldie's LinkedIn

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Today’s Guest: Ryan Ouyang

Founder | IYK

Today we’re joined by Ryan Ouyang, founder & CEO of IYK as we discuss the value of blending digital & physical experiences, proof of proximity as an authentication standard, powering gmoney’s 9dcc apparel line, & much more.

Enjoy! (If you do, please feel free to share 😉)

About IYK

IYK is a platform powering physically-linked digital assets + experiences via NFC-powered “Proof-of-Proximity”. The goal? Inspire people to live in the moment by bridging immersive digital and physical experiences. From tokenized apparel & IRL minting to authenticated guest books & targeted rewards, IYK gives you the tools to launch next-level activations and identify your biggest supporters.

Check Out IYK

IYK Official Site | IYK Twitter | IYK Discord | IYK Email

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The best investors in the world don’t fixate on the present. Instead, they look towards the future to discern where things are heading & why.

This is true ALPHA.

Despite one of the worst financial downturns in modern history, 2022 was a major year for Web3 & NFTs. Economic turbulence aside, 2023 is shaping up to be the best year yet for NFTs & Web3.

So whether you’re looking to make billions or just trying to build, here are the top NFT & Web3 trends & predictions to look out for in 2023.

Keynote At A Glance

Dynamic NFTs

Though they've been around for a while, dynamic NFTs are set to take stage in a major way throughout 2023.

In 2022 we saw this innovation used to great effect - from Fluf World’s swappable scenes & sounds, Zerion’s Avatars, which change based on trading activity or Valhalla’s Amory powered “Re-roll” system.

With projects like Doodles 2 enabling swappable music & wearables & Yuga Labs’ Otherside allowing select assets to be decoupled from their Otherdeed land parcels, Dynamic NFTs are THE wave to watch in 2023.

Tech-Based Business Models

Given the froth of FOMO & booming market, most collections released in 2021 survived off of NFT sales & royalties. The harsh winter of 2022 has brought with it the harsh reality that NFT “projects” are destined to fail unless they grow into NFT “businesses”.

Accordingly, expect the strongest teams to begin unveiling scalable tech products as the core of their future business models. Many teams have already started down this path.

Dust Labs, the company behind the two largest Solana collections DeGods & y00ts, have raised more than $7M to build out tooling for NFT projects like the Scholarship tool & POW dashboard.

KPR is building out FocusArt a publishing platform to enable artists to create, release & monetize their works in web3, while also providing more nuanced & flexible trait design & layering techniques to enable more creative aesthetics.

AMGI, the animation studio behind MPH is building out IMMI, a real-time facial animation tool to allow AR + VR communication & content creation, as well as INTERLOOP, a framework to enable any project to build within the UE5 based game world underpinning MPH.

Of course, there’s YUGA LABS, building out their OTHERSIDE Metaverse ODK & hiring former Activision COO to help lead the effort.

Entertainment Expansions

Similarly to the pivot towards building tech products, projects with the capital, connections & creative capacity will make big strides towards becoming noteworthy IP, venturing beyond the small pond of web3 & into the oceans of entertainment, music & fashion.

Yuga Labs is kicking off a interactive narrative activation with “The Trial Of Jimmy”

Creepz is now managed by THREESIXZERO to help guide its expansion into gaming, an animated series & fashion.

DOODLES is making music a core pillar of their ecosystem & has teased some AR concepts that may be used for more immersive storytelling.

Futureverse has been flexing their production abilities with a recent in-engine trailer, shortly followed by the release of their Party Bear/ Buzzies audio-comic book experience.

Web3 Gaming Goes Pro

Gaming has been & remains one of the clearest use cases for NFTs. As one of just 3 industries on pace to grow by over $100B in annual revenue over the next few years at a CAGR of 8.4%, its insanity to think players will keep pouring money into digital assets they don't own & can’t be used in other games. NFTs FIX THIS.

Most of the projects born from the P2E wake of Axie Infinity have already failed - but the ones that remain will lean on pro gamers & streamers to bring greater awareness to their releases, in some cases bringing on these same players as advisors.

Some games to watch throughout 2023 include:

Blankos Block Party | Big Time | FIFA AI LEAGUE | My Pet Hooligan | Illuvium | Impostors | The Watch (FKA Frontier)

“On-Chain” Is En Vogue

Terra Luna was a lesson in algorithmic stable coins, FTX a lesson in self custody, & IN 2023, I’ve got a feeling some major project will be a lesson in the technical nuance of being “on chain”.

Despite popular belief, most NFT collections aren’t actually stored on-chain, instead only storing partial data on-chain: typically the token ID and a URL that points to the token's metadata. Sometimes metadata is stored directly on chain, but that’s usually as far as it goes.

Rare is the project storing everything about the NFT, including the art, entirely on-chain. Why? Because it can get expensive.

So why does this matter? Because if something were to happen to the company behind a collection, a major exchange hosting a collection, or the pinning sites hosting the metadata, your NFT will be rendered useless & inaccessible.

When an NFT is fully on chain, it allows the token to be reconstructed in its entirety using both on and off-chain decompressors, directly from the data baked into the chain, ensuring the NFT persists in perpetuity alongside the network itself.

One of the first PFP projects to be issued fully on chain is J1mmy.eth’s Avastars & early 2022 saw Josie Bellini, one of the most established OG artists in the space, release Cyberbrokers as a fully on chain, .svg collection. After seeing the floor rocket to above 5E & settle back down to earth, I acquired one for the fund.

All it takes is one metadata related fiasco & I’m confident will see a renaissance of fully on-chain projects w/ genuine persistence & immutability.

Corporates Double Down

As behemoths like Starbucks & Nike commit to making Web3 a core vertical of their business with the likes of Odyssey & Dot.Swoosh respectively, expect to see multi year partnerships & significant investments across consumer brands, entertainment, gaming, sports, luxury goods & fashion from corporates as they realize its better to align with an existing player & lean on their foundations, tech & competencies than to struggle to create something worthwhile internally.

Warner Bros invested in Palm NFT Studio back in 2021, Epic Games raised $2B alongside Sony to build a “family friendly metaverse” & Disney kicked off a web3-centric accelerator program while also appearing to have a close relationship with the Aku World project.

Who’s next?

Unicorns, Everywhere

Building on the prior point, many projects raised hundreds of millions in 2022 despite it being a rather crushing year.

Digidaigaku’s parent company Limit Break raised $200M to build Web3 MMOs, Yuga Labs raised $450M at a $4B valuation, & Doodles raised $54M.

While most fundraises have been in the high 7 figures, expect several more checks above 100M in 2023.

Hyper Scarce & Mass Scale Mints

The 10K PFP meta is dead. By no means have we seen the last collection using that well-worn model, but in 2023 and beyond, we’ll see far more projects opting for extremes of the sizing spectrum - from hyper scarce mints of a couple thousands down to a few hundred to mass market mints in the hundreds of thousands & millions.

Why the change? Audience Segmentation. Aside from the “Ape See, Ape Do” imitation games driving new projects to mint 10K collections, most established projects have only remained faithful to this formula in effort to ensure existing holders each have a chance to mint at least 1 new NFT from companion & follow up drops.

As teams assess their inaugural collections & reconcile their existing communities against their future aspirations - it’s become clear that “splitting the difference” doesn’t work. Instead, smaller collections with higher mint prices will allow for more tailored, exclusive experiences & deeper connections than is otherwise possible with larger mints. Oppositely - massive mints intended to drive market penetration, awareness & inclusivity will be sold for less than $50 or given out for free. This scaled approach is critical to growing the community without devaluing genesis holders.

Some folks have already created a blueprint here.

REDDIT onboarded millions with their collectible avatars, ManchesterUnited is looking to do the same with their Tezos partnership & Starbucks is slowly opening up its Odyssey program before granting access to their legion of caffeine fiends.

The Metaverse Takes Shape

The metaverse is not a singular place, but a standard for handling digital assets, digital identity & their associated metadata in an interoperable & composable fashion. As such, I’m confident 2023 will be the year the metaverse begins to take shape in a truly palpable way.

While I’m not quite as confident the hurdles of active users & engaging activity will be completely remedied, the release of the Otherside SDK will arrive alongside plenty of hype & attention, marking a significant move forward in empowering creators & non-technical users to connect with others in a world that blends socializing, commerce & creativity into a fluid gamified experience.

Aside from Otherside, Spatial is pushing adoption forward by enabling anyone to craft a VR/AR world in minutes & ensuring accessibility from something as simple as a cell phone browser.

Alongside more user generated content populating these worlds, I anticipate major milestones from lesser known platforms like WilderWorld & The Third Kingdom, & metaverse centric networks like Lamina1 to drive the open metaverse forward in a big way.

Network Migrations

The two leading Solana collections, DeGods & y00ts, recently announced a migration away from the network & over to Ethereum & Polygon, respectively. The team’s motives aren't crystal clear, but its safe to assume there were doubts about Solana’s post-FTX future.

Though DeGods & y00ts could be viewed as edge cases, many of the trends we’ve covered will force teams to adapt & adjust their tech stack to ensure their plans are feasible. Despite recent upgrades, Ethereum remains too slow & too expensive to support the next generation of NFT innovation at the scale of hundreds of millions. Hence why Doodles is migrating to a new network in February. Their next phase, Doodles 2, is intended to take the brand from a few thousand to a few million by focusing on digital identity, enabling swappable wearables & music to customize each Doodle. Again, this is a perfect use case of dynamic NFTs - but it requires a more flexible & affordable network to ensure holders aren’t priced out by wild gas fees.

The team haven’t announced which network it will be - but its safe to assume Polygon is high on the list. Still, I, alongside many in the Fluf World & Futuerverse community, have speculated the project will opt for the Root network, a layer 1 chain built by the Futureverse team & purpose built to bring NFTs, DeFi & DiDs to the mass market with a little friction as possible.

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Today’s Guest: Gerry Buckley

Founder, Host | Into The Futureverse

Today we're joined by Gerry Buckley, host of Into The Futureverse & expert on all things Futureverse.

About The Futureverse

The Futureverse is a vast collection of projects, technologies & IP built leveraging distributed ledger technology & intended to help onboard the massess to Web3 by building infrastructure to support an open & interoperable metaverse. Along side Gerry, founder and host of Into The Futureverse, we explore the Futureverse ecosystem as well as the Root Network to see how Fluf World, Altered State Machine, Party Bears, Buzzies, Sylo, Otto Blockchain & more all fit into the bigger picture.

Connect w/ Gerry & Check Out Into The Futureverse

Gerry Buckley

Into The Futureverse YouTube Channel

Enjoy!

⌛️ CHAPTERS

0:00 Disclaimer

0:37 Intro

3:31 Origins of Into The Futureverse

7:39 The Wild History of Futureverse

12:12 The Scale & Breadth of Futureverse

15:30 The FIFA AI League

16:53 Onboarding Users To A Decentralized World

23:19 Ripple + XRPL Partnership

24:20 ROOT Token Design + Airdrop

27:00 Major Partnerships

28:05 Sylo + Seekers Overview

28:25 Altered State Machine Overview

29:57 Otto Blockchain: Compliant DeFi

34:58 Identity Standards + NZ Government Partnership

36:06 Pending Patents & “Donuts”

36:29 Altered State Machine & How AI NFTs Will Shape The Future

42:02 Is Futureverse The “Bitcoin” of NFTs?

42:51 Interoperability & An Ever Growing Community

43:56 The Year of The Rabbit

44:36 Getting Started With The Futureverse

45:27 Pixel of The Apes: The Original “Monkey” NFT

46:02 Thingies Utility

46:22 Burrows Utility

47:02 Seekers Utility

49:04 ASTO Token & The Cortex

49:43 Muhammed Ali’s The Next Legends AR/VR Boxing Game

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Today’s Guest: Jacob Loewenstein

Head of Growth, SVP | Spatial.io

Today I'm joined by Spatial’s Head of Growth & SVP Jacob Loewenstein to talk about the challenges & opportunities of AR & VR, building the world’s most accessible metaverse, the problem with innovating, how to foster deeper connections through technology & much more.

⌛️ Chapters

0:00 Disclaimer

0:36 Intro

2:15 Spatial Explained

4:15 How It All Started

5:30 The Problem w/ VR + The Big Bet on Accessibility

8:40 Decentraland v Spatial

14:30 Did Meta Try To Acquire Spatial?

19:30 Why Startups Should AVOID Innovation

24:15 Gamifying The Social Metaverse Experience

28:45 The Importance of The ReadyPlayerMe Partnership

33:55 The Key To Fruitful Partnerships

40:50 Why You HAVE To Care About The Tech

45:41 How Musicians Are Using Spatial

53:20 The Future of Spatial

56:00 Closing Thoughts

About Spatial

Spatial powers your world in Web3. Offering visually stunning spaces that are accessible via web, mobile, or VR. In Spatial users can customize a virtual space and gather for NFT exhibitions, music performances, runway shows, lectures, live events, watch parties and more. And all it takes is a few clicks to set up your space or join. Spatial was founded in 2016 with the goal of making designing experiences for high-quality 3D collaboration easy and accessible. Spatial is equipped with tools and integrations to make setting up your own space a seamless creative process.

Connect w/ Jacob & Explore Spatial

Jacob Loewenstein

Spatial Official Site

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What if instead of simply using AI – you could own it? This is the billion dollar opportunity happening right now - & most people don’t have a clue…

God Mode ⚡️

These new AI chatbots & generative algorithms got a lot of folks feeling like they’re playing a game in GOD MODE right now.

For the first time in modern history you can spin up intricate art renders, poetic musings, custom fitness plans & even smart contract vulnerabilities by simply “asking” for it. 

As compelling & convenient as this all may be - 99% of you are actually training these cold couplets of code to put you out of a job sooner than was already predicted. 

Well, that’s unless you pay attention to this entire keynote because I’m going to show you EXACTLY how you can flip the script on this whole AI wave to actually own these algorithms & potentially build yourself a billion dollar business off of this emerging tech in the process. 

The best part? 

You don’t need a ton of money, a supercomputer, a quantum computer, or any technical knowledge. All you need is a few bucks to get started. 

Let’s get into it!

Intro To Artificial Intelligence & ML 🤖

From dystopian sci-fi films to philosophical pondering about what it means to be human - AI has been a major point of interest for humanity. 

Though fully sentient “generalized” intelligence is still a ways off from mass market application - clever implementations of machine (ML) & deep learning (DL) through projects like OpenAI’s ChatGPT & Dall-E, Stable Diffusion & more are bringing AI copyrighting, text to image generation & even text to video & 3D to the non-technical mass market. 

Without a doubt - artificial intelligence, machine learning & deep learning will be among the most impactful developments of the next decade as demand swells alongside fresh use cases. The possibilities are as boundless as our imagination.

The Risks of AI ⚠️

Putting aside the novelty - we need to acknowledge the possibility for these tools to cause significant harm. Though Deep Fakes are certainly a risk, the threat most likely to impact you directly is competition & mass layoffs. 

As AI becomes more sophisticated, more pervasive & exponentially cheaper to use, it’s nearly guaranteed to outperform humans at an increasing number of tasks & roles, assuming more & more jobs in the process. Sure, new roles will emerge to offset some of the job losses, but I don’t expect a 1:1 ratio here. 

So - what’s one to do when competing against the Hivemind? 

You ADAPT.

Own The Algorithm 🌐

As folks just begin to familiarize themselves with AI & other generative technologies, the near term presents an abundance of commercial opportunities for those who learn how to effectively leverage these tools. Whether its commissioning creative works, developing websites & apps, scaling copyrighting or design agencies or otherwise leveraging AI to boost efficiencies & achieve marginal gains within an existing business. 

Still, this doesn’t stave off the long term trend of AI’s swelling prominence & cost efficiency bumping against the biologically biased, cerebrally constrained organic human mind.

Well – what if instead of simply using* *AI – you could own it? 

What if you became the go-to source for the most popular & in demand ML models used across gaming, art, DeFi & more?

What if you could inject your uniquely trained AI into other NFTs to create a truly dynamic & interactive metaverse?

What if you could directly capture the value generated from these AI algorithms?

Would you do it? 

This is the billion dollar opportunity happening **right now **- & most people don’t have a clue. But after finishing this ENTIRE keynote, you certainly will.

Altered State Machine: Non Fungible Intelligence 🤖

First though - we need to talk about the tech making this possible - Altered State Machine. 

Altered State Machine (ASM) is a decentralized protocol that allows anyone to own, train & trade unique AI “Agents” that exists as an NFT, or as its patent calls it, NFI - non fungible intelligence. 

These agents are comprised of two parts: A Brain & An Avatar

Brains are the actual AI machine learning model/algorithm & themselves have two components, the first being a genome matrix, which establishes a set of strengths & weaknesses unique to that brain. 

These genes are mapped across various categories like strength, speed, size, risk etc, allowing for varied performance across applications & environments. Speed may be quite literal in a video game, but could mean something different when applied to other applications. 

While each agent has a genomic disposition that influences their natural & potential aptitude in certain areas, they can all level up by training at an “AI Gym”, a neurally networked machine learning (ML) model specific to each environment. These gyms  then simulate thousands of instances of your agent performing a certain task, integrating the learnings from those simulations into your agent - greatly accelerating their skills. 

How? 

Well, in addition to the genome, brains also have memories that represent strategies & tactics learned through experiences & training. These memories are unique to the environment in which they were created & get stored within a brain’s memory tree, which can be passed down to other brains via splicing to create application optimized agents.  

The second part of an Agent is the Avatar. 

Avatars also referred to as forms, are the visual representation & functional form factor that allow a brain to operate within a specific environment. These avatars can range from simple 2D images all the way to fully rigged 3D models. 

Once created, these AI agents are able to act on your behalf (or on behalf of a client) across a number of verticals including:

• Gaming

• Art

• Finance

• & more

In certain environments these agents can even act as companions & virtual assistants. 

ASM Applications & Environments 🌴

Before we talk about exactly how you can start building out your own AI empire, let’s look at a few real world examples for context, starting with GAMING, one of just 3 industries on track to grow by $100B in revenue between 22 & 2026 at a CAGR of 8.4%

The AI League is a 4v4 football management game developed in partnership with FIFA slated to release shortly after the World Cup.

The Next Legends is a boxing game developed in partnership with Muhammad Ali enterprises through a long-term partnership with Authentic Brands Group. 

Both of these games are developed alongside ASM & require agents to participate. 

In both of these examples, agents are needed to play the game as characters (avatars) are driven by AI (brains).

As far as art goes, look no further than Thingies - a collection of avatars optimized for creating generative art pieces. 

Other collections are available too, like Buzzies, which allow for AI powered 3D object creation like clothing & environmental structures. With creators earning 6 & 7 figures selling digital assets across the Daz3D marketplace, Roblox & Minecraft - this could help newcomers break into a field with a historically high technical barrier to entry. 

If that wasn’t enough, these same Buzzies may even be capable of generating AI music, which would make sense given comments by the founders & the investment from Warner Music Group, baby Keem & Nas in ASM’s 2022 seed round. 

Though these two collections are AI powered, they may be leveraging ASM’s HiveMind since they don’t require you to own a brain to use them. The other possibility is that they contain g2 brains which will be unlocked for owners to use independent of the form at a later date. 

Last but not least, are EGGS, which are confirmed as breeding devices for Fluf world characters, but may be required to imbue non Fluf World NFTs with an ASM brain. (FYI- these predate the RTFK Animus Eggs by nearly a year.)

Building Your AI Empire ⚒️

Now that we’ve laid the foundations for grasping how this all works, let's talk about the upside & strategies for getting involved in a lucrative way, beginning with which assets to acquire & why. 

Gen1 Brains

If you want the greatest potential upside & versatility- grab a Gen1 brain. Though functionally similar to Gen2 brains (which are way cheaper), the gen1 brains are: 

• Finite in supply 

• Capable of splicing to create optimized gen2 brains

• Hive Mind Access

At the time of publication - many of these features aren’t live yet, so details are limited, but you can find plenty of info in the official ASM discord, where ASM team members have declared their commitment to ensuring value flows back to the Gen1 brains & thus, their holders. 

Before you grab one though, be sure to do some diligence to make sure you get a good deal. Something is better than nothing, but each brain has a different genome weighting and IQ. 

Use sites like AlphaBrain (Genome Matrix + IQ) & ASM Sniper to gauge each brain before making your purchase. If you want even more perspective on the potential upside, stick around until the very end & I’ll show you exactly how much you could make from a simple acquisition & sale should my thesis play out. 

If you want a lower entry point - consider grabbing a gen2 brain as they are just as capable when paired with a form to create an agent, they just miss out on the Gen1 exclusive perks we just covered. 

Avatars

Separate from the brains themselves, I suggest grabbing an avatar, the cheapest of which being the genesis boxers for the Next Legends game, followed by the All Stars used in the AI Fifa game. 

If you’ve got a little more to spend & want some immediate utility, Thingies are a good option & allow you to start selling AI generated art as NFTs. 

If you’re alright waiting a bit for direct utility or know you want to get into 3D design, grab a Buzzie. They’re cheaper & work in complementary fashion to Thingies. Rumor has it founders have been caught saying its their most impressive collection yet. 

ASTO

If you don’t want to buy another NFT, you can get rolling with ASM’s native token ASTO, which will be required to:

• Train ASM agents (regardless of the environment or application)

• Mint ASM agents 

• Participate in governance of the ASM protocol

• Purchase assets for your agents, like powerups, improvements, items & skins

Aside from ASTO being a fixed supply asset required to train brains, holders have been able to stake their ASTO in a gamified way via The Cortex to mine Gen2 brains for free. These mining windows are limited, but something to keep in mind. Add in the ~95% drop from ATHs - could be a solid play. NFA

Billion Dollar Algorithms 💰

As stated at the start of this keynote, there’s an operating assumption that society will continue to prefer convenience & crave efficiency, leading to increased reliance on AI. 

Today, that means cute photos for your Timeline & mind boggling curation of your feed, but this will develop into far more specific & personal applications. 

Armed with this awareness - you can position yourself to benefit by owning, training & selling bespoke AI models to niche customers. There’s a ton of ways to go about this, but here's a few possibilities that come to mind - (in no particular order)

• Training & Selling High Performing Agents For Gaming

  • AI gaming will grow in popularity & likely convert much of the “casual” audience. There’s an opportunity for pro players to get involved & compete in AI tournaments. This is a niche audience with the money to pay for well trained agents if it means a better shot at winning.

  
  

• Commissioning art & custom design work. 

• Crafting 3D structures, clothing, & in game items for resell on marketplaces like Daz3D, Roblox, Minecraft, etc. 

• Generating an AI music farm for licensing & sync placements

• Developing DeFi trading bots

  • Train your agent to achieve a threshold of performance & returns, splice it until then offspring inherits similar performance - then sell it for premium.

  
  

• Deploying Metaverse merchants to sell digital/IRL items on your behalf.

Whether you choose to implement one of these strategies or decide you’d rather just buy & hold - there are other benefits to getting involved here. 

1. Exposure to & irrevocable ownership of the most compelling facet of the leading blockchain based AI protocol in ASM

2. Proxy access to a billion dollar RD team working to bring the latest & greatest advancements in AI, ML & DL directly to you & for your benefit

3. A Front row seat to an ever growing suite of applications & use cases for AI spanning every vertical you can imagine, presented through lore, entertainment & gamification

The Singularity 🧬 + 🤖

We’re living in some wild times, that’s for sure. AI & ML are just the beginning when it comes to society shifting tech. 

There are more unknowns than knowns & nobody can predict exactly how things will shake out. 

There’s a palpable possibility that AI, like many past innovations, is misused & abused by an exclusive group of power brokers in pursuit of control & money above all else, causing undue harm to society. 

At the same time, the advent of NFTs & open protocols like ASM give the average person a chance to shape, own & benefit from this emergent technology.  

My hope is that today’s keynote provides some perspective on how fast things are moving & sheds light on lesser-known opportunities to be enriched by this evolutionary change, instead of displaced & disrupted. 

Talk soon. 

Peace.

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Today’s Guest: Joe Ziolkowski

Co-Founder + CEO | Relm Insurance

Today we’re joined by Joe Ziolkowski, CEO & co founder of Relm, one of crypto + Web3’s most established & prolific insurance firms. In our conversation we discuss the nuances of underwriting emerging markets, token-backed CAT bonds, how insurers drive innovation & much more.

About Relm

Relm is the leading global insurer for companies operating in new and emerging business sectors, including digital assets + Web3, cannabis and alternative therapeutics, among others. To date, Relm has provided insurance support to companies operating in more than 30 countries around the globe.

Enjoy!

Connect w/ Joe & Relm

Joe Ziolkowski - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-ziolkowski-909bbba/

Relm Official Site - https://relminsurance.com/

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Today’s Guest: David Beiner

Co-Founder + CEO | Hume

Today we’re joined by David Beiner, CEO & co founder of Hume, the world’s leading metastar music label. In our conversation we discuss the origins of Hume, the label’s growing roster of metastars & why your favorite artists will soon be digital.

David Beiner is co-founder & CEO of Hume is the leading metastar music label, giving birth to one of Web3’s top performing artists - Angelbaby, which also happens to be a metastar from the popular Fluf World NFT collection, alongside the recently revealed metastar Clio, a clone from the RTFKT collection. With a key focus on fan engagement & participation, holders of the Hume Genesis NFT are able to vote on key decisions for the label’s roster of virtual artists - from which song to release to curating entire albums.

Enjoy!

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Today’s Guest: Nik Bean

Head of Community | Decent.xyz

Today we’re joined by Nik Bean, Head of Community at Decent.xyz to discuss the importance of supporting the creative community & allowing open access to creative distribution across Web3.

Nik Bean is Head of Community at Decent, a leading protocol that enables creators of all types to release, distribute & monetize their works across Web3 in an easy, streamlined & permissionless way.

With the advent of artists leaning into Web3 as a means to establish deeper fan relationships, fresh experiences & sustainable monetization - Decent is a critical piece of infrastructure squarely opposing gated “invitation only” platforms like Sound & Catalog.

Enjoy the conversation!

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Interest rates are through the roof, FTX wipes out BILLIONS overnight & yet I’m here happily spending THOUSANDS on these goddamn JPEGS. Here’s Why…

I was not expecting nor planning to make this video, mainly because I wasn’t a big fan of NFTs when the big wave hit.

I was around in 2017 and put in my dues throughout the ensuing bear market. Once NFTs hit the scene in 2021, I was wholly uninterested.

I didn’t get it.

I could grasp the technology, but didn’t feel like any meaningful innovations had been made. The why wasn’t strong enough.

Now, after spending years being all in crypto & the past year & a half learning & exploring non fungible world - I’m all in NFTs.

To be clear - crypto still has its place & I will continue to invest, but I am far more focused on the upside of NFTs now - here’s why.

Less Regulatory Risk

Regulation remains one of crypto’s biggest hurdles - particularly regarding securities laws. Precedent has been set deeming Bitcoin as property instead of a security & rumors have swirled that the XRP lawsuit is leaning in Ripple’s favor. Still, the FTX mess will draw more scrutiny than ever.

The key advantage vs crypto is that NFTs aren’t highly financialized pseudo-shares issued by a central entity.

NFTs are a wholly different conversation. Whether its BAYC or Doodles, Fidenzas or Flufs, most NFTs are works of art first & foremost -opting for a digital collectible form factor is more of a creative decision akin to an artist preferring to use oil vs charcoal due to their unique properties & possibilities.

Like Artwork, NFTs are still subject to its own kinds of regulations - particularly efforts to mitigate money laundering, insider trading, & “rugs” aka fraud.

If the Lummis-Gillibrand Innovation Act draft bill is any indication, there’s a chance NFTs will be treated as commodities rather than securities. Expect far more clarity here once the Yuga Labs probe wraps up.

Less Financial Manipulation

…One less attack vector for overzealous, under informed regulators.

For many folks around the world, crypto is their best chance at financial sovereignty, hence why Bitcoin adoption is so strong in developing nations & why DeFi has secured billions in TVL, continuing to function like clockwork when CEXs can’t even seem to manage their account balances. Still, the flood of private pre-sales at undisclosed prices, 50X leverage trading, using tokens as collateral, manipulated prices & Fully diluted value schemes are raging red flags for regulators assessing the risk of retail engaging with the ecosystem.

NFTs are generally non-financialized assets, meaning the typical degen shenanigans & wall street tricks don’t work.

• There’s no 50X leverage trading

• No broad acceptance of NFTs as collateral

• Companies don’t reference NFTs as assets on their balance sheets

• Projects don’t create & sell new NFTs as a means to fund their treasury

• There’s no paper shares of NFTs

Now yes, there are hardcore mint-flippers & NFT traders  - Blur’s popularity is a testament to this.

And YES, it IS possible to get leverage on a select set of blue chip collections through platforms like BendDAO, Honey & even some CeFi folks like Nexo -  but this only applies to the top .5% of all collections, of which most are tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase. 99% of people will never participate in this kind of NFT financialization, meaning one less attack vector for overzealous, under informed regulators.

More Transparency

Though transparent in theory, the complexities of premines, private sales, vesting schedules, inflation schedules, burn mechanisms, etc mean that most crypto projects are opaque in practice. These dynamics aren’t wholly new or unique to crypto, but they can be confusing to the average retail investor, making it harder to assess the risks of investing in a token.

NFTs on the other hand are far more straightforward.

• There’s no premine ahead of public launch & allocation limits are stated before mint - lowering the risks of whales controlling the project from day 1.

• Mint price provides a clear cost of admission, making it easier to assess the cost basis for early buyers, & thus the R:R when buying in after mint.

• There’s less dilution risks because of the effort required to create a new collection vs simply “creating” new tokens.

• Total supply for each collection is established prior to launch.

More transparency means better due diligence, instilling greater confidence & higher conviction for investors - key factors for driving a project's valuation higher.

Clear Use Case

Most crypto tokens lack any clear purpose or utility. As such, most tokens are really just attempts to capture liquidity from the market. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it makes most crypto a speculative instrument by design.

NFTs are very clear in what they’re trying to be: a work of art, a digital memento, an access pass, a claim on a digital item, etc. Projects that forego roadmaps altogether are even purer examples of this “what you see is what you get” approach. It doesn’t mean the NFT won’t eventually have some semblance of functionality or utility, but at least you buy an NFT knowing its baseline purpose & value independent of any potential appreciation in price.

A Future Beyond Web3

Crypto communities are usually composed of people interested in tech or in speculation. Both are fine, but its a different energy & feel, much more like investing in a traditional company through the stock market. The innovations may be great, but not much else feels compelling or interesting.

NFTs are uniquely positioned to leverage IP to craft worlds & experiences that appeal to global audiences, providing ample opportunity to scale far beyond the small walls of Web3.

NFT communities are steeped in culture, that of their own project but also of other communities & projects across Web3 and Web2. This emphasis on culture is vital in helping projects scale from a few thousand folks in Discord to becoming an established fixture known by millions.  Whether its events like VeeCon & ApeFest, installations from Aku World & Doodles, or partnerships with world’s biggest brands - NFTs are uniquely positioned to leverage IP to craft worlds & experiences that appeal to global audiences, providing ample opportunity to scale far beyond the small walls of Web3.

Stronger Communities

Community is the foundation of all great NFT projects. The best teams go out of their way to ensure holders feel like part of the family - amplifying the voices accordingly.

Building on the prior point, NFT culture is firmly rooted in community - its the literal lifeforce for projects. This core tenant means holders are viewed as an extension of the project & the most important stakeholder, amplifying their voices & opinions in - hence why AMAs, Twitter Spaces, polls, Discord updates & more are all so crucial.

Holders serve as a check/balance system - driving greater accountability & communication from the founders & the broader team. When done particularly well, the community serves as a hive mind of creativity & inspiration pivotal in shaping the project’s future with their opinions & feedback.

In the strongest communities it’s typical to find people building genuine connections with each other, from chatting to playing games and watching movies. You may not want to be THAT involved, but this level of engagement is what leads to people holding long term instead of flipping the project the moment they see an inch of profit.

More Upside

Crypto is far out on the risk curve, NFTs are even further. As such, they also provide more upside.

If you assume strong crypto projects like Ethereum will surpass prior ATHs, its logical to expect the same for strong NFT projects. Buying at depressed prices could provide outsized returns as floor prices increase in tandem with the fiat price of ETH climbing. Since most NFTs are ETH denominated, the appreciation potential is less obvious at first glance.

Take a recent acquisition of mine as an example: a Gen I ASM brain with almost a year of historical data.

The sustained floor for ASM has been as high as 4.5E, ~13.5K at the time. Some months pass, some black swans swoop in, & boom, major correction. I acquired one for .71E (~$862) when the floor was .69E. That’s a ~94% discount from ATH, squarely within generally the sweet spot for bear market lows.

If ASM regains its ATH floor while ETH is at least 3K - thats a 15X return. If I were to clock those ETH gains and then ETH runs to 6K, (a conservative estimate as its only 25% higher than its ATH) that would be a 31X return. At 9K, that’s a 46X return.

This isn’t even factoring in possible airdrops that could be noteworthy gains in their own right!

Another key consideration is the “long tail” value of NFTs. Though there’s many factors at play, the main driver of value for NFTs is relevancy + popularity, not any underlying technology. Instead of seeing diminishing returns as the tech adoption cycle matures, the most culturally significant collections will see parabolic growth in value as more people seek to own a piece of the project’s early beginnings.

As projects establish themselves beyond Web3 & start to become globally recognized IP, brands, games & more- they create a flywheel of attention, further cementing them as cultural staples. This has already happened with Yuga Labs & I fully expect to see several more collections grow into multi billion dollar businesses.

Conclusion

Ultimately, if you think crypto is going to have another big run, NFTs will have a bigger one. Its early in the market life cycle for the NFTs & history shows us that the returns drop off after each cycle. Seems like a prime time to acquire strong projects before they make the next big leg up.

Nothing written, ideated, shared, referenced or communicated herein is financial or legal advice*. I’m merely a man making moves & shooting shots based on the best information I have, making them open & freely available to you.*

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