The Metaverse Podcast - NFT Influence, with Bored Elon of MetaMars
Primer: Bored Elon began his Twitter journey as a parody account of Elon Musk. Eventually, he built up a separate identity and became known as a NFT investor. In this episode of the Metaverse Podcast, he shares with host Jamie Burke on a variety of topics, including MetaMars, his upcoming online arcade with a Martian spin.
Background
One of the most outsized influencers in the NFT space
Rarible collection:
Created 700
Owned 1700
Have been receiving a lot of spam NFTs
Created a few NFTs to experiment. Realized that he is not a visual artist and shifted to partnering with artists instead
Would come up with concepts and work with designers and artists to create something together
Would split the profits 50/50
Acted as a gallerist, providing visibility to artists
Took his winnings into other investments, startups, and DeFi
Investing In Art
The visuals are not always the most important. It's the story that the artist tells
Dabbling in art made him curious to invest in other projects
When Bored Ape Yacht Club launched, he thought it was a really clever story. Liked the universe they were building and bought 14 of them
Still holding on to them today
Ended up cementing his branding with the term "bored" in front of his name
"The most appealing part about that project was that they use the bored adjective in their project. That was obviously a great alignment, and had nothing to do with me. People made assumptions that I was somehow connected to it, but I wasn't." - Bored Elon
Bored Ape Yacht Club
People have described it as a web country club
His focus is on their storytelling aspect. They provided enough of a framework for their universe without creating too much guardrails
A project can be completely open-ended and sometimes that could lead to paralysis and the project doesn't really go anywhere
On the flip side, you might have a linear video game that tells you exactly what to do. Players might be bored with the game and leave
Bored Ape Yacht Club created little nuggets of information that tell the story about these apes but also allow the community to expand on the universe themselves
Who Is Bored Elon?
Modeled Bored Elon off David Bowie
David Bowie was hard to describe — he is an artist, he is a singer, and he dabbles in a lot of things. He is a curious person and he changed through time
Bored Elon started off as a joke, as a caricature of a billionaire genius who has brilliant ideas when he's sitting on the toilet
"I'd rather be sort of a jack of all trades, who is a solid 8 out of 10 in a lot of different things versus being an expert in one particular area." - Bored Elon
It evolved into someone who dabbles in a lot of different places today — game design, investing, NFTs, etc.
Lot of communities would not consider him a part of them. He's okay being a jack of all trades
Was a parody of Elon for the first couple of years. Eventually, it started to become its own identity
The real Elon tweeted at him a few times and sarcastically said that Bored Elon is his troll account. Would get him into trouble as people would think that Bored Elon is Elon
Have a communications and marketing background in the games industry
Getting Into Crypto
Got into crypto in 2013 because he was frustrated with the difficulty of sending money to people around the world
Started experimenting with Bitcoin and Stellar
Had a pause from 2015 to 2018. Felt that crypto wasn't going to grow to the place it is today
Returned to crypto when he saw more utility
Saw the opportunity to turn his distribution into a real business and create products. Has been a life-changing experience for him
Unpacking His Recent Tweet
💡 Recently Bored Elon put out a tweet saying that decentralized social media will be a wild west as opposed to centralized media, which will be literally nothing. What does he mean by this when he has built his profile, distribution channel, and everything through centralized social media?
Was a dig at Facebook
Knows that Twitter is his biggest distribution mechanism. If they shut him down, it would be a huge blow to everything that he's doing
Appreciative of the opportunities that has been enabled by Twitter but have a sense of constant dread that he does not have control over the community he has built
Still a little bit bullish on Twitter. Have a wild theory that Jack Dorsey does want to decentralize Twitter down the road by buying back the company from shareholders and gifting the company to society
When Bored Jack?
Jack Dorsey is tweeting as if he already has the Bored Jack name
Thinks that Jack is beyond the point of caring about money
Twitter is moving faster than other social platforms. They have already introduced Bitcoin payment features and will soon introduce NFT-based profile pictures
There will be a steep learning curve for the masses, but once they realize that they can monetize through decentralized platforms, operate without being advertised to, and have their data sold, decentralized platforms will start to take off
Is Deplatforming A Constant Concern For Him?
His content is fairly light
Does not get into politics or say anything controversial
It helps that Jack Dorsey is following him
Fundamentally, still doesn't like the fact that someone has the power to deplatform him
In the process of diversifying his distribution channels through email subscribers, Discord channels, Instagram, etc.
TikTok And NFTs
TikTok as a massive driver of culture. Played a huge role when it comes to stock volatility for stocks like GameStop and AMC
Can translate that type of fervour to NFTs
TikTok has a Chinese backer. Was surprised that they ventured into NFTs
His Investments
Invests in the following:
OlympusDAO
CityCoins
NFTs
Startups that are focused on decentralized identity, communication, and gaming
CityCoins
CityCoins is a combination of generating wealth but also doing good for local cities
CityCoins is built on the Stacks Network, a layer 1.5 on top of Bitcoin. It enables developers to build contracts and other features that Bitcoin can't do on its own
When a CityCoin gets mined, 70% goes to the miners and the remaining 30% goes to a particular city
A wallet will be created and the 30% will sit there until the mayor of a particular city claims it
Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami did opt to claim the wallet
Instead of people being taxed involuntarily, crypto can be used to generate money and allocated to cities that have done a good job in running things
"They [CityCoins] create a wallet, and all that 30% goes to this wallet, and it will sit there until the mayor of a particular city claims it. And luckily, Mayor Francis Suarez did opt to to claim the wallet. And so $10 million has already been generated through mining activities for the city of Miami that they can use for anything." - Bored Elon
Involvement In DAOs
PartyDAO
Group of people putting in money to acquire a high value NFT such as a Bored Ape or a Punk
The group can then say they own part of a Bored Ape or CryptoPunk and be part of a little club
When the NFT gets purchased in the future, hopefully it could fetch a higher valuation for its members
SyndicateDAO
A startup he invested in
It helps founders and creators spin up businesses and raise money to invest in other businesses in an easy way
Allows founders and creators to focus on business building, networking, marketing, and deal flow without having to manage the operations involved when it comes to raising money
SyndicateDAO is making great progress
Besides community investors such as himself, they have raised money from Andreessen Horowitz and many other prominent investors
Love seeing people like Snoop Dogg, athletes, and celebrities getting into the NFT space
"There was 100 people who were mentioned and one of them was Snoop Dogg, and I was listed right under him as an investor. So that's a feather in the cap for me to be a co-investor with Snoop Dogg." - Bored Elon
Thinks that we have reached the cultural tipping point now that celebrities are jumping into NFTs
MetaMars
MetaMars is a metaverse, but he does not like the term metaverse
A combination of blockchain, gaming, DeFi, and NFTs
Right now, it is a private Discord. Anyone who owns a particular NFT called the Mars coin can jump into the discord and chat with him and other community members
"So for anyone who's heard of PoolTogether, or no-loss lotteries, that's essentially what MetaMars is going to be. You play games, you have fun, when you're done, you get all your money back. But if you're really good, you're also going to get a prize on top of that." - Bored Elon
MetaMars is going to be an online arcade that features classic arcade games with a Martian spin
To play the games, players have to deposit a certain amount of ETH. This ETH will be earning yield
The top-scoring players in a given week/month will be going to win the entire pool. Inspired by the PoolTogether concept
Will be launching with 4-5 games
Their plan is to act as a gateway to other people's games
Confident that they will reveal an early version of MetaMars in spring to summer next year
Sentiment Around Gen Z
Jamie shared about a Gen Z founder whose whole pitch revolves around the pointlessness of saving as their generation is not able to gain any meaningful form of income
Hence, the trend towards gambling
Bored Elon responded that that sentiment around Gen Z is valid. It has become an "all or nothing" for this generation and crypto is providing the younger generation with a way to leapfrog the traditional path and obtain wealth in a more accessible way
Will lead to a more egalitarian society than the current system
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