Primer: Jesse & Dan are veterans in the crypto space and have founded multiple projects before. Their latest venture is Aavegotchi, a DeFi Staked Playable Avatar. Learn how Aave, Aavegotchi, and each of the various elements of the Aavegotchi ecosystem tie in together in this episode.
Origins
Dan
Majored in Mandarin Chinese
Passionate about learning languages and programming languages
Became a minor celebrity on social media
Met Jesse in 2016. Jesse wrote his thesis on Bitcoin and introduced him to cryptocurrencies
Started trading cryptocurrencies
In 2018, decided to start learning Web3 and Solidity. Had prior programming experience in Objective C
Created a band with Jesse called Pumpkin Biscuits
Jesse
When he first move to China, he had just graduated after the financial crisis
Saw the writing on the wall with the US banking system and economy
Approached Bitcoin from an intellectual point of view
Joined Lenovo computers' mobile unit
Got to know Dan from his online work
Joined the crypto industry and eventually moved to Singapore where there are friendly blockchain regulations.
Co-founded Mintable and Bullionix.
Views on Cryptocurrencies
Jesse:
Blockchain allows creatives to express their creativity
Ties in with what they have been doing in previous projects.
Dan:
Bitcoin as hard money
Ethereum as world computer
NFTs as a manifestation of creativity
Pre-Aavegotchi Journey
Bullionix
World's first 3D Gold-backed NFTs
Inspired by the DGX token that is backed by physical gold
How could they make the DGX token more interesting?
Stake it in NFTs to increase their collectibility
Collaborated with artists to reimagine what a gold coin would look like in the metaverse
ETH Global Hackathon
Made a proof-of-concept called Yield Hero to direct interest from Aave's interest-bearing aTokens.
Got to know Stani Kulechov and Mark Zeller from Aave.
Thought of their next iteration: Staking aTokens into ERC-721s (Aavegotchi)
Reached out for an Aave Ecosystem grant to develop Aavegotchi
Contacted Xibot, a prominent Pixel Artist, to design the Aavegotchis
Aavegotchi
One Sentence Summary: Aavegotchi is a DeFi Staked Playable Avatar
Aavegotchi can be thought of as an onion with multiple layers:
Core: aTokens generating interest
Second Layer: On-chain metadata that stores the Aavegotchi's traits
Third Layer: On-chain SVGs that represents what the Aavegotchis look like
Final Layer: Taking your Aavegotchis out of the smart contract and putting it in the metaverse.
Aavegotchi as a Web3 avatar of the gamer
"So one reason Aave like this project is we're kind of encouraging safety and savings, right? So it's like a healthy financial habit. So so it's still yours, but it staked inside of your other Gotchi" -
How do you get an Aavegotchi?
Summoned through Portals
Portals can be purchased at aavegotchi.com
10 Aavegotchis inside a portal; however, you can only pick one!
Each of the Aavegotchi in the Portal has a collateral type/aToken.
To summon your Aavegotchi, stake the designated collateral/aToken into the Aavegotchi of your choice
Aavegotchi Traits
Each trait is distributed on a bell curve, with the rarest traits on both extreme ends
A trait with a low value does not mean it is bad. It is good as it occupies the lower end of the bell curve
Six Traits:
Aggressiveness
Energy
Spookiness
Brain Size
Eye Shape
Eye Color
Playing with your Aavegotchi
Each Aavegotchi has a Kinship level
Kinship: a measure that indicates how long since you last interacted with your Aavegotchi
An Aavegotchi's Kinship level will go down if you don't play with it
Kinship level needs to be maintained for your Aavegotchi to perform well in mini-games
Equipping your Aavegotchi with wearables
Like a RPG character, each Aavegotchi has multiple equipment slots to equip different wearables
After equipping/un-equipping a wearable, the SVG image of the aavegotchi will be regenerated to reflect the change
Equipping/un-equipping involves a small on-chain transaction
The Aavegotchi Metaverse
Simple, approachable, browser-based experience
First mini-game is the DAO itself
Aavegotchis going to a town square in a 2D pixelated world to vote
Aavegotchis gain XP for voting
Innovative solution to voting to prevent voter apathy
Metaverse inspired by Gather.town. Pixel avatars hearing other avatar's conversations grow progressively louder as they move closer in proximity
NPCs as Web3 DApp. Imagine doing swaps with a Uniswap NPC without leaving the Aavegotchi metaverse
Parcels will be for sale. Choice of pixel art to enable people to easily create with them
AavegotchiDAO
Three Stages
Genesis
Metamorphosis
Oasis
Currently at Genesis stage
Gradual decentralization across the stages
Team uses gradual decentralization to ensure the right people are on board and incentives are aligned. Give power to those who have proven themselves over time.
Up to AavegotchiDAO to decide on the supply of Aavegotchis (each "batch" of Aavegotchi supply is known as a Haunt)
The entire Aavegotchi ecosystem is underpinned by the...
GHST Token
Native token of Aavegotchi
Launched using a DAICO model on the Aragon DAO platform
The DAICO model was an improvement over the ICO model as there is more accountability in the former
GHST can be bought using DAI through the bonding curve. DAI goes into a reserve pool and stays there. GHST could also be sold back into the bonding curve for DAI
Each month, the team withdraws a little bit of DAI from the reserve. The DAO is responsible for controlling how much DAI is withdrawn
GHST could be staked to earn FRENS, a balance within the staking contract
FRENS could be used to participate in raffles to win prizes or to purchase land parcels in the metaverse
Crazy story of someone winning a LINK cube, a godlike rarity wearable, from a raffle by submitting just 1 raffle ticket out of 1570 raffle ticket entries
A thriving community on Discord
Aavegotchi missions: Discord badges are given to those who complete certain things for Aavegotchi
Aapprentices, their volunteer army, checks through and gives feedback on the mission submissions
Xibot and an army of pixel artists doing designs
Single favourite NFT that you own
Dan
Feeling Bullish NFT from the Genesis mint of Bullionix
Gold-backed Coder Dan NFT
Jesse
A Bullionix 1 of 1 gold piece for his 1-year anniversary with his wife
Cryptovoxels parcel
What needs to happen to the NFT ecosystem
Jesse
Renting of NFTs, especially for very expensive and exclusive gaming NFTs that could be used in a tournament
Dan
NFTs need to become more dynamic. Something that you can play with, interact with, show, and explore in 3D. This will fend off the argument that NFTs are just PNGs
Main barriers to NFT adoption
Dan
A lot of people still think that NFTs are art that is easily copied
Jesse
Hardware wallets to support and have better interfaces for NFTs
World of NFT in 3 years
Dan
Fractionalizing of NFT world (different marketplaces, different NFT standards, different platforms like Ethereum, Matic Network, Wax).
NFT platforms that aggregate across chains would most likely pop-up (like 1inch, but for NFTs)
Jesse
A world with a lot of NFTs
More usage of industrial NFTs (supply chain, finance, etc.)
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