Primer: Barthazian is an OG in the crypto and NFT space. In this episode of Zima Red, he shares with listeners what made him shift to the NFT sector as well as insightful philosophical thoughts on Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) technology and the Cost of Living Index (COLIN).
Origins
Majored in mechanical engineering
Worked for awhile
Went into psychology because of his interest in cognitive science
Started his own startup after that. During this period, he entered the crypto space and eventually found himself in NFTs
His Interest In Psychology
Interested in a subsection of cognitive science that deals with bionics, prosthetics, and visual attention, etc
Is related to his background in mechanical engineering since prosthetics is a mix of mechatronics and psychology
Took up a Master in Applied Psychology
Initial Foray Into Crypto/NFT
Joined his friends into the ICO hype
Went into a project where users can buy fishes, breed them, and stake them
Searched for blockchain games and found Crypto Space Commanders (CSC), the space MMO game where players can mint NFT
"And the concept that I could earn playing games that that was like, wow, because you know, you've got when you're young, you keep spending a lot of your time playing games, which I did. And then you've got your family telling you you're wasting your time playing games, and then suddenly, there's an avenue where you're playing games and you're earning so that's, that's a very attractive concept." - Barthazian
CSC taught him about what NFTs are and how they could be used
Pranksy came into the space and started buying crates and flipping them
Realized that Pranksy has an acumen for the market and started mirroring his moves
Moved from gaming NFTs to generative art. Flipped Nate Alex's Chainfaces for some profits
His Motivation In The NFT Markets
Initially, his focus was to create an additional income source
As his capital and collection grew larger, he started to focus on the social element of NFTs
Envision that people can input their memories and experiences into NFTs in the future. Possibly through brain-machine interfaces like Elon Musk's neuralink
"But there's this concept in psychology called Maslow's theory of hierarchy. So you've got like the base part where you're more attached towards sustenance and stuff like that. And then you've got like social status, then you've got self actualization. So at that point of time, I would say, I was at the bottom of the pyramid, where I was just trying to create an income where I could just, you know, like, live life in the way I want to." - Barthazian
Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) Technology
"Like you create NFTs that house such memories or dreams, you could rent it out, you could sell it, whatever you want. That's a game changer, you know, people don't need to travel around the world to actually experience it. The same feeling that when you travel, you could get it simply by purchasing an NFT." - Barthazian
Current state of BMI technology is rudimentary
Allows a congenitally blind person to see shapes
Envisions that NFTs could be used to house memories or dreams and that these NFTs could be rented out or sold
Reason For Staying In The NFT Space
Started out for financial reasons
After achieving some level of networth, it's all about the connections he has made
Eventually, people will reach a self-actualization moment and view the entire thing as a movement and each individual as a creator
"So, even though you started out monetarily, and once that's done, then you know, that twitter meme, it's all the friends we made on the way." - Barthazian
Most Exciting NFT Sector
Very bullish on gaming as he has been an avid gamer
Very excited about generative art NFTs. The concept of generative art NFTs is like a jack in the box; the buyer does not know whether he/she will get something extremely rare or something that is common
Will Generative Art Grow Into A Very Large Market
Speculates that it would be a subgenre within art
Factors He Considers When Investing Into A NFT Project
Sees himself not as an investor, but as a trader
Two different classes of investments:
Holding for the long term
Short-term trading based on hype
For short-term trading, he considers the following points:
Hype
How the contract is designed. The better the contract is designed, the higher the probability that it will be picked up by others. How much of the data is on-chain? Is it an OpenSea storefront or is the contract on their own site? How good is their site?
The aesthetics. Somehow cat-related projects appeal to people
For long-term investing, he considers the following points:
Look at how the narrative plays into the NFT
"In that sense, the people will start talking about it [NFT projeccts] like similar to how people talk BTC, a store of value similar to digital gold. That's a narrative being built. And as people talk more about it, it kind of becomes the truth. So you see how the narrative builds, and how this will be going forward into the future." - Barthazian
Cost Of Living Index (COLIN)
A concept where the cost of living differs across places
This is why people move from a low COLIN area to another area that offers a higher base pay and then send their money back home. The money could be stretched much further in a low COLIN area
In the context of NFTs, artists who live in lower COLIN areas can afford to price their NFTs lower (and still improve their quality of life) as compared to another NFT with similar aesthetics from an artist who lives in a higher COLIN area
Can be observed in Philippines where people can play Axie Infinity and live sustainably off the game
On The Metaverse
What Is The Metaverse
A more interconnected Web 2.0
Like Ready Player One
Centralized VS Decentralized Metaverses
Going to be a clash between centralized and decentralized metaverses
Is There Any Correlation Between The Crypto And The NFT Markets
Yes, there is a correlation between the two markets
Generally, price increases start at the large caps and cascade down to NFTs and shitcoins
His Grand 5-10 Year Vision
Difficult to answer as he is more of a in-the-moment kind of person
Want to work in a field at the intersection of NFTs and the physical human body
Single Favourite NFT
Avastars Founder
The Forge by Silvio Vieira
Most Controversial Thought On NFTs
Majority of NFTs would not exist in the future as their metadata is stored off-chain
Experienced it himself when a NFT project did a rug pull. The token exists on etherscan but there's no metadata and it cannot be viewed on OpenSea
If You Could Change Something In The NFT Space
Standardization of NFT standards
World Of NFTs In 3 Years
Movement from corporates into digital real estate such as Decentraland, Sandbox Game, etc
Interoperability between these different worlds
More events happening online and increased interactions with NFTs
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