🥸 how to have a Web3 secret identity

[what digital identity will look like with NFTs]

on Wednesday, I will be on Cool Cats Connect’s newest Twitter Spaces, “Meet the Builders” on April 24 @ 8pm ET/5pm PT.

I’m just as surprised as you that I was invited on this! come and support if you can.

I’ll be chatting about using my Cool Cats IP for my newsletter and my book 👀

more on what digital identity will look like in the Web3 future here ⤵️

alpha ⚓

Yuga Labs made the decision last week to sell off their gaming division to Faraway Studio. with it, Faraway acquires HV-MTL and Legends of the Mara as well as the game DookieDash that was a success for the brand over a year ago.

but they’ve decided to punt on NFT gaming (for now).

despite there being an obvious market for NFT gaming, the truth is, it’s a bad business to be in. it costs a lot to make a game like the Otherside. it’s even harder to do when you experience the bear market and the declining floor price that the Bored Ape collections have had.

I was being facetious, but on Twitter, I called this move smart, because NFT gaming is dumb.

what I really meant was, why should Yuga continue to dump money and resources into NFT gaming, when it’s never been their strength?

the old regime ousted the CEO and smartly realized that they needed to get back to basics. like many NFTs collections, they got caught riding the wave of the moment.

and soon, they were too far out from shore. to get back, a lot of NFT brands will have to readjust their focus.

beta ⚓

let’s face it…NFTs as media entities are becoming obsolete.

projects promised to deliver a lot with their IP…games, movies, TV, and comics. some followed through on those promises, while almost every NFT other project did not.

I was sad to discover that Robotos is now a dead project, even after having inked a deal with TIME to produce a TV show in 2022.

it’s a cruel game and behind the scenes there’s too much going on that we don’t know about. so while the projects founder can see the vision, it’s usually an illusion. the people signing the checks for these big games, movies deals, etc. often don’t see a path to profitability.

so if media and hoodie sweatshirt sales aren’t the future of NFTs, then we’re left wondering…what is?

gamma ⚓

my bet? digital identity. we saw Bored Apes going all-in on this before gaming took their focus away from it.

but MoonPay was snatching up Apes for celebrities like Justin Bieber. Timbaland was using his Bored Ape to promote new music. Universal Music Group was starting a Bored Apes band. Jenkins the Valet wrote a book as a Bored Ape too before trying to release their own PFP project.

it’s actually why I’ve always been bullish on NFTs for this long.

much like how owning a domain and website is a sort of “digital real estate” you can build a business upon, NFTs are digital real estate (sometimes quite literally) that you can build an entire identity on.

I’m a small example, but just look at me. instead of having my mug on the inside cover of my book, I opted to use my Cool Cat instead.

and my Cool Cat didn’t just have to write a book! it could have done anything online. it could have built an app, it could have had a podcast, or organized an online petition to abolish NFTs.

which leads me to my next point…

delta ⚓

while I’m obviously not an official member of the Cool Cats team, I am put in a unique position of representing them online...all because I randomly chose to buy one 3 years ago.

I’ve been rocking my Cool Cat for so long, that like or not, they’re stuck with me.

what I say, do, and write could be reflected onto the Cool Cats community and onto the brand at large.

if I were to do something bad in the likeness of Cool Cats, they have no recourse to take my Cool Cat away from me even. if I was immune to community pressure, I could in theory continue to rock my Cool Cat and say hateful things, for example.

(don’t worry I won’t…and I’m obviously not advocating for this kind of FUD)

conversely, if I go viral, my Cool Cat does too. and Cool Cats could, in theory, benefit from that small marketing bump. if anyone asks themselves, “hey what is this cat in profile picture?”, I send a potential new customer their way.

you saw this in the early days of NFTs a lot more often. personalities acquiring Bored Apes through MoonPay helped elevate the profile of the project in general.

my theory is this: with Bored Apes officially out of gaming, just watch…there will come a time again when celebrities we know start buying Bored Apes again.

and this time…we will now know why.