Primer: Cloudwhite has been a collector all his life. After entering the NFT space, we see his fingerprints everywhere. From creating Axie Infinity content to TextPunks, whatever he touches oozes innovativeness. Listen to this Zima Red Podcast to learn more about his creations.
Origins
From Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Studied film in college
Went on to talent management and worked in a talent agency
Worked as a casting director prior to COVID
Got into NFTs at the beginning of 2018
Purchased his first CryptoKitty
"And I saw this story on Vice News about you know, the future of digital collectibles and referencing CryptoKitties. And I was like, that's it, I'm in. Got to get my hands on it."
- Cloudwhite
What Made Him Get Into CryptoKitties
Has been a collector all his life
Collected Lip Smackers, Pokemon cards, Beanie Babies
A lot of people in the CryptoKitties community were physical collectors prior
Digital scarcity and being able to prove that scarcity on the blockchain resonated with collectors
His NFT Journey
Went headfirst into CryptoKitties and put in his all for the first 6 months
Was a community member trying to build content. However, he experienced a lack of support from CryptoKitties/Dapper Labs
Felt frustrated and diversified into a bunch of shitty projects. Spurred him on to be the NFT guy that looks into new projects
Found out about Axie Infinity. Knew Psycheout, Trung, Chuck Fresco, and Jiho from the CryptoKitties community
Started going deep into Axie Infinity in 2019. Was disappointed with the slow progress
Axie Infinity
A pokemon-esque game
Digital pets called Axie, where each Axie is an NFT
Players form a team of 3 Axies to battle other players
Winners would earn a token called Smooth Love Potion (SLP), which is used to breed Axies
People in the Philippines are using Axie Infinity to provide for themselves
Upcoming land gameplay where gamers are able to battle and build up their estates in the game
Started a Twitter account because of Axie Infinity. Wanted to enlarge the NFT community as well as to connect with others
"I call myself an Axie Infinity evangelist, for instance, I went to Bitcoin, Miami, I paid for myself to go down there and talk about Axie Infinity."
- Cloudwhite
Why The Community Is So Friendly To Newcomers
One factor is sheer luck. Started with a great core community of 50 - 100
Another factor is the Axie Infinity team. They realized very early on that empowering the community was the key to growth
Axie The Musical
Early on, there was a creative art contest
Created a rap and turned it into a music video
Won 1st prize for it
Participated in the contest because he wanted to have fun
His Plans In Axie Infinity
"And I really hope to be able to provide for my family just doing that [Axie Infinity Land gameplay]. That's the end game. I've been saying that to my mom for three years. It drives her nuts. She doesn't understand any of this, and she wonders where the health insurance is coming from."
- Cloudwhite
Doesn't offer any scholarships as he does not have any great battle axies
Focused on collecting rare axies that cannot be reproduced
Put all his eggs in the land basket
Long term goal is to continue creating content
When land gameplay goes live, he will be streaming content on it daily
Land Gameplay
In the beginning, it was called Terrarium. People thought that it was individual terrarium rooms for axies to live in
When land sales went live, it introduced a broader map and 4 different types of chests that people could buy
Each chest contains a land and different land items
Idea is to collect resources and battle Chimera in land gameplay
Axie Infinity land and items were originally on the Loom network. When Loom network decided to move in another direction, the Axie team began to look into building their own solution. The result was Ronin
The shift from Loom network to Ronin most probably delayed the launch of land gameplay
Different Land Types
Potential to earn more from rarer land types (e.g. Earn more from a Mystic estate than a Savannah estate)
Price for all types of land exploded upwards
Community Building
Once land gameplay goes live, the next iteration is a software development kit (SDK), where users can create their custom experiences on their land
Important to have a core game tying up everything together, like what Axie Infinity does (in contrast to Sandbox Game and Decentraland)
TextPunks
Started his own art endeavours after entering the NFT space
Does a lot of 8mm and 16mm film transfers to NFTs
Started working for OpenSea as a community manager
Left his job to work on NFT art and his community full-time
Followed the unofficial punk movement
Thought about what made punks rare. Wrote down words on a Word document and ended up creating TextPunks
Those who purchased the NFT had an opportunity to claim a physical print
"I showed my mom and dad what I was selling. I showed multiple people, but when they saw it, they just said you sold that, and you sold it for how much and they don't see anything there. They barely even see the word because the words are almost nonsensical if you're just reading them down the list."
- Cloudwhite
ThiccPokemon
Pokemon with big butts
Project started a few months ago
Has been a huge collector of pokemon cards
Found out that people sold physical versions of these NFTs and was blown away by it
Cards have different rarities. Holders of common and uncommon cards are thrown into raffles for a chance to win rare cards
Recently announced their Thicc Gym Leaderboard. Holders who hold the most cards within a given class ends up as a Thicc Gym Leader. If Thicc Gym Leaders manage to hold their position for 3 weeks, they get an ultra masterball card to catch legendary pokemon
CyberKongz
An avatar project
Was drawn to it because of the community. Some of the biggest Axie Infinity people like Cocobear and CryptoLander developed CyberKongz
Owners of Genesis Cyberkongz can passively collect their BANANA tokens, which could be used to breed baby kongz or buy other merchandise
Going to launch their first game in Sandbox Game soon
Cocaine Cowboy
An initiative he started last year on the NIFTEX sharding platform
He has an Origin axie called Cocaine Cowboy
Sharded Cocaince Cowboy on NIFTEX into 10,000 ERC-20 tokens ($COKE)
Created an art contest where people who featured Cocaince Cowboy in their artwork would get some of the shards
Cream City Brick
After fractionalizing Cocaine Cowboy, he was thinking of another interesting way to drive community engagement
Received a gift of one of the 1st cream-coloured Axie from Cocobear
Wanted it to have a personal meaning to him; in Milwaukee, they have a cream city brick that is part of their history and culture
Tattooed the Axie on his back and thought of fractionalizing the Axie ($CREAM) and giving it away as a reward to others who got an Axie Infinity tattoo
Rough Love Potion
Most recent project
Small Love Potion recently rebranded to Smooth Love Potion
Wondered whether is there a Rough Love Potion (RLP). Decided to create it instead
Minted Rough Love Potion on KnownOrigin and subsequently sharded it on NIFTEX
"So what I did was I changed out the colourway of the SLP-like icon graphic to a more dark and ominous kind of graphic. And I minted that piece on KnownOrigin."
- Cloudwhite
Created a liquidity pool on Uniswap V3 where 10 SLP would equal 1 RLP
Most Interesting Aspect Of The NFT Sector
NFT sector is starting to reach the masses, but this is just only the beginning
Excited for people to see this as the future of collectability
His Content Creation Strategy
Always been motivated by personal interest. If he is interested in something, he will execute it
Any New Products That Will Be Launching Soon
Focusing on his personal life right now
Favourite Video Game
Pokemon Blue
Single Favourite NFT
Owns the largest Savannah estate in Axie Infinity. That's his favourite piece
Most Controversial Thought On NFTs
Don't really have one
If He Can Change Something In The NFT Space
A deeper appreciation of the fact that everyone is in this together
To push a positive narrative on all fronts
"So just, you know, everyone remember to continue to stay positive and keep the beliefs and the core values of what we're presenting going forward."
- Cloudwhite
World Of NFTs In 3 Years
There will be a big leap. NFTs would be flourishing and Axie Infinity can be the next Pokemon
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