Latest / CRYPTO 101 / Ep. 688 Open Sea State of the Union and New Token Announcements!

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Ep. 688 Open Sea State of the Union and New Token Announcements! · CRYPTO 101

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to the Crypto101 podcast, presented by Gemini.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Your bridge to the future of money.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: all right ladies and gentlemen boys and girls gather round gather round high hope everybody's having a fantastic morning noon or night wherever you are in the world.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: We know certainly you're in the right place.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're at the crypto 101 podcast.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm your co-host Bryce as always joined by my good buddy out in Hurricaneville, Florida.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: How's it going, man?
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Speaking of hurricanes, Bryce, I've heard that there's a cap four, maybe a cap five, not too far south of us here in Florida.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's funny.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's sunny out right now.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know that it's down by I think Jamaica, but could be on our way could be on our way.
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know I've got a soft spot for Jamaica.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've been.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: to sandals over there and had a lot of fun.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: So hopefully yeah shout out to anybody who's in Jamaica listening hopefully everybody's safe and sound But we've got a great podcast episode in a fantastic guest here joining us today.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Adam Hollander is joining us He is the CMO chief marketing officer of OpenC.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Adam, how are you doing?
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm absolutely stellar.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Awesome.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're really excited to speak with you today, you know, open sea burst onto the scene a few years back, you guys were and still are the preeminent place to trade NFTs and so much more.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we want to dive into all of that.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there's a lot of exciting things on the horizon, but let's just get acquainted here.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Between us, the audience, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you found yourself running marketing at the largest, you know.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: NFT place in the crypto.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I've got a very professional background most notably a number of years ago I started a gamification software company that I sold off to Microsoft.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've done a number of things with a variety of companies since then but about five years ago I'd say that I really dove in deep into crypto and NFTs and for the last five years I have been living in breathing crypto Twitter and buying and selling and trading NFTs broader crypto meme coins
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: really participating in the culture and membership around this space and it's something that I've become very passionate about in terms of really the basic premise of digital ownership and how that can affect a variety of markets and industries and art and gaming and the like.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the way that I found myself in the running marketing, it opened sea, actually, kind of a funny story, but open sea made a decision last year that I didn't particularly agree with.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I tweeted it, Devon, the CEO of Open Sea, and said, hey, you guys really need somebody over there that, you know, better understands culture and marketing.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Devon actually really to his credit reached out to me directly, somebody that really likes to have difficult discussions and, you know, there's a lot of people, you know, I'd say in crypto but broadly just in the world in general that only want to hear positive things and only want to hear when things are going well or you have compliments for them.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Devon wanted to hear the, you know, very harsh, critical truth from me as to how I was feeling at the time and we ended up spending hours going back and forth on really the opportunity and, you know, what open sea has in front of it.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And a couple weeks later, I joined on a CMO.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's incredible lore.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love that.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did not know that story, but I'm going to have to go back and pull up that Twitter exchange because that's gold right there.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, tell us, you know, for folks who are listening, they might have heard about NFTs and seeing profile pictures, but they might not really understand what NFTs are at a high level.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: So could you kind of give us the 101 on NFTs?
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, sure, happy to.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the analogy that I like to use for anybody that's seen me one of these interviews before, but imagine you walk into a museum and you see a, you know, beautiful painting up on the wall and you're told it's worth a million dollars.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so then you ask yourself, why is this worth a million dollars?
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's because it's the original and you can prove that it's the original and there's a lot of people in the world that, you know, covet and enjoy that artwork.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you go to the gift shop and you buy a print of that particular artwork, it's not really worth very much.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you take a snapshot photo of it with your phone and post it up on the internet, it's not really worth very much.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it is, in fact, a copy of that artwork, but it's not the original and of course you can't prove that it's the original.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the basic premise here is that up until a few years ago, it was very difficult to place value on digital assets or digital art.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the reason for that is that you can generally take a digital file, you can copy paste it, you can post it to the internet, you can put it up on social media, you can email it share it with friends, and the copy is indecernable from the original.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, therefore, it's very difficult to place value on the original asset when you can't really prove that it is in fact the original.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: But with the blockchain and with NFTs, you can do exactly that.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so, when you create an asset on the blockchain,
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: it has a provable, infallible history that is associated with it where you can truly prove that this is in fact the first piece of artwork that was created by this artist and by this artist wallet and you can see everything that's happened with it since.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there's a number of implications that come along with this.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: One is, of course, just the fact you can prove that you are holding the original asset, but then through that proof, what else can you do with it?
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then you can tie benefits, you can tie utility, you can tie membership, you can tie all sorts of other interesting things to the fact that you are, in fact, the holder of this particular asset, and that just has implications for a variety of
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: different markets and industries, you could think of it in terms of gaming, the, you know, assets that you earn inside of games, you know, we're starting to see RWA's, where people are collecting, you know, real-world assets, Pokemon cards and the like, and they're able to digitize ownership of them in the form of NFTs and on the blockchain.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so anyway, I'm going on and on, I could ramble all day, if tell.
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Digital ownership, but hopefully that gives people at least a cursory understanding.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: totally.
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I definitely think it does.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: That made sense, Brennan.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: What do you think about that?
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, God made thinking, you know, because open seas evolved a lot over the last couple of years, right?
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now we see NFTs, and there's whole space, even as it relates to NFTs, because now NFTs have ties to tokens and real products, and it's been this kind of expanding ecosystem.
• 6:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you allowed to say if you have a favorite block chain for this kind of thing or is that kind of like choosing a favorite child.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to get you in trouble here.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, I'd probably better not, but we support 23 things.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't hope it's in.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: We really love all of our partners and the people that are behind them.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's a good question.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought you were going to say, what's your favorite NFT?
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm going to ask that question next.
• 7:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you might not be, again, it's probably similar vein.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Do you have like a profile picture that's a certain NFT community?
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, look, I'm a very deep collector of many years.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd have to really think if I have one favorite NFT that sits in my wallet.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I use a crypto pump as my PFP, but you know, I also...
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: on a, you know, 001, Opeppen from Jack Butcher, that I treasure, I have a, you know, squiggle from Snowfro and Art Blocks that I treasure.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, I've got my, you know, board ape and bunch of others that I feel pretty attached to at this point to motion.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I guess I would probably leave it at that.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, it's cool because NFTs can really like just take so many different shapes and sizes, like for instance, the board-ape stuff, like, you know, you could get, you know, certain utility and, you know, access to events.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And with the squiggles, it's almost like, you know, just pure artwork, right?
• 8:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so they derive their value and really so many different ways.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, um,
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's really incredible.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like things have evolved a lot and maybe you could comment on like the last cycle of NFTs in 2021 to like where you think NFTs are today, like what's changed?
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's an interesting question.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: So,
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think what you're really asking is, you know, what's the difference between the bull market in 2021 when, you know, everyone in their second cousin, we're talking about NFTs, you know, the Thanksgiving table and, you know, where we are today.
• 8:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Back in 2021, I would argue at least in hindsight that a large portion of the people that were buying NFTs were not doing it for the love of membership or art or community or utility.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were really speculatively gambling on the future price of those assets.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, look, a lot of the blockchain is financial-est.
• 9:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there's a lot of people that trade every day with profit in mind.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can do both.
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have a bunch of NFTs that I probably will never sell because I'm emotionally attached to them.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the art.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the community.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the utility attached or I just have, you know, this...
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say emotional historical attachment to them, but at the same time, I trade every day.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do that for profit.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have been for years and that's something that I also enjoy about this space.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's no right or wrong.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would simply say that years ago, a huge number of people that came into this space came in with that mindset.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And now what I would say is that while that still, of course, exists and nobody would be naive enough to say that that's not a part of NFTs or blockchain or meme coins or trading crypto, I think that more and more of the conversation now is in fact about the art and the utility and the community and the membership.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: and really the power of the technology of proving digital ownership of assets and the effect that that can have.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's something that I think is a lot more encouraging to people that are building and innovating and trying to figure out how to really create things in the space which is something that is somebody that's been here for a long time is very exciting.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: kind of along those same lines, open C's now expanding.
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's one of the cool things that's obviously the main reason why we're having you on here is because open C for a long time has been known as the NFT platform.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You guys were really the first group to come in here and do this and be like a popular hub for people to transact all of this.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But as you're just saying, I mean, a lot's evolved since 2021 when I think that this really came on to people's radar.
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So catches up the speed, you know, how are you guys expanding?
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to, I don't want to be the one spoiling it here.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I appreciate the layup question there, so we'll get into a little bit of what's going on at OpenZ.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, look, our vision is to be the web three home for everything that you do on blockchain and crypto.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so NFTs are one very important asset type, and they hold a lot of value and a lot of benefits and are used for a variety of things.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: But most people that hold NFTs also trade broader crypto.
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: They hold,
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ethereum, they hold Bitcoin, they hold Solana, they trade meme coins, and recently we're starting to see some other examples of things that can exist on chain that are really powerful.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned RWA's earlier, where now people are tokenizing real-world assets, like a Pokemon card that PSA graded.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: and that allows you to hold it safely inside of your crypto wallet, it allows you to trade it back and forth without having the physical asset needing to be mailed overseas to the new owner and then allows you to burn the asset if you want access to it out of its brink's vault or wherever it's being stored.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think what we're going to see over the next five years, 10 years, 100 years, is that this concept of digital ownership is very foundationally important to where the world is headed as we are spending more and more of our time online.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I know the concept of a, you know, metaverse world now has a little bit of a almost, you know, asterisk or smile, take more around it.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I do genuinely believe that at some point, we are going to spend more and more of our time in a digital world interacting with each other and whether that's playing games, whether that's, you know, conducting commerce, whether that's, you know, doing any number of things.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that will take place in virtual spaces.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that means that the
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so what open C really believes is that if you are going to be doing all of these things, it needs to be easy, it needs to be seamless, and you need to be able to do it all in one place.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so a very almost remedial example today would be that if you are trading meme coins in crypto and you do hold NFTs, you should be able to see them in one portfolio across all of your wallets, all in one place.
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: You should be able to have all of your blockchains seamlessly in one app.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: where it doesn't matter if you own ethon, base, or ethon, main, net, or if you want Solana, or if you want abstract, or whatever it might be, you actually have the ability to just easily, seamlessly transact with all of your asset types, all of your wallets across all chains,
• 13:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: very easily, very reliably, very seamlessly, all in one place that you call home.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that is the vision that we have for OpenC.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most people still know OpenC as the world's largest NFT marketplace.
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we are the world's largest NFT marketplace.
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I believe we will always be the world's largest NFT marketplace.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But people are doing so much more with blockchain and crypto.
• 13:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there are so many good reasons why they should want to have all of their assets in one portfolio, one place.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, across wallets, across platforms, mobile, desktop, across different blockchains, and be able to do that and transact securely, seamlessly, all in one place.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, you make a great point because anybody who's interacting with NFTs, clearly they have to have a good understanding of crypto, right?
• 14:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because you can interact with crypto and you can go and say buy an old Ethereum, but not understand NFTs.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you can have a very, very basic understanding and still get exposure to Ethereum.
• 14:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: You cannot however have like no understanding of Ethereum and going get an NFT like you have to just know what you're doing a little bit more because you have to typically speaking I know they've made it you guys admitted a lot easier in recent days, but or in recent years, but you know you basically used to have to go by Ethereum Then transfer it to a wallet connect the wallet to an NFT marketplace and you go through all these different things and it makes sense like the people who are interacting with this stuff
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: are obviously plugged into all these different areas, whether it's normal crypto, whether it's meme coins, whether it's these communities or whatever it may be.
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it makes sense.
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is one of the big things that we've been talking about for years on here, you know, me and Bryce, we've brought in a lot of leaders and it really does come down to, I think, two areas.
• 15:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's ease of access and it's interoperability.
• 15:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: How can we, and you all, how can the crypto space in general,
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: make it self available to anyone.
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: The my 80 year old grandma, how can she be able to do this thing because it's so easy and then at the same time how can it be so seamless where they can view everything in one place where it can be just as seamless as they're probably used to it and they're like basic Schwab account right when someone goes into that they say, okay, I can see all my investments in here.
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can see everything in here and I think we were playing a little bit of a game of ketchup with crypto to say how can we kind of get to that same point.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when I hear you kind of talking about this, that's where my brain goes because a couple of years ago, obviously we weren't there yet and I think it's really easy for people to forget where they kind of come in in the modern day, they get really comfortable and used to how things are now, but they forget that even a couple of years ago, we were not that.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's the same kind of argument that people go,
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they say, oh, well, why don't you just buy Bitcoin back in like 2011 or 2012?
• 16:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, well, number one, it was really hard to.
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was sketchy.
• 16:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't easy.
• 16:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: There wasn't a great interface.
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, there was all these things.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, I don't want to rent too much, but that's kind of what it reminds me of.
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, look, I agree with everything that you just said.
• 16:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I would simply say that it is our goal and open sea to get a lot further into solving that problem over the course of the next year.
• 16:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so for example, we're working on OSMobile, which will be out by, hopefully, the end of the year.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And OSMobile, we are building to be the simple, best native experience that anyone has ever seen in crypto.
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so you'll be able to double-click Apple Pay.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: and get your first meme coin.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll be able to double-click Apple Pay and you're gonna be able to buy your first NFT.
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna be able to buy Ethereum and not worry about whether you're buying it on base or main net or any number of other chains.
• 17:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then you're gonna be able to transact across all of those different chains in a way where you don't necessarily need to understand that that is in fact what you're doing.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna have everything all in one place that feels like it is your web-three home in your pocket.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: and reducing that level of friction in those barriers is a really, really important thing for us to get much broader adoption and that's one of the most important ways that we're going to grow.
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: We want to make sure that we're building products that appeal to those that are very crypto-native and very savvy and you can go into open-seat today and you can
• 17:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know, zoom in on your, you know, charts for all your meme coins.
• 17:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, you can use a bunch of data to make, you know, really important decisions, but at the same time to your point, you know, when your grandmother does go in and wants to go and buy some token that her grandson told her about, we want that to be extremely easy and seamless.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we want everybody when they say, well, how do I do this?
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do I get started?
• 18:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: The goal for us is that instead of saying, go and do XYZ that you might do today, we're want people to say go and install the OpenSIA.
• 18:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, it's it's incredible and it almost feels a little bit like a competitor to like your your standard crypto exchange, you know, your your coinbase or your your crack and or or Binance, whatever, because now you could have this on, you know, on ramp and off ramp, you could have all these different tokens at your disposal, but the best part is you don't have to trust, you know, in exchange with, you know, your funds, you kind of keep itself custody as
• 18:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's exactly the point is that, yes, you know, there are competitive aspects to some of the examples that you mentioned, but those are centralized exchanges and so that means they're controlling what you can do, what you can trade, they have custody of your crypto, you do not and there's just a lot more you can do in the world when you take self custody of your own crypto.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that is a big challenge because there's a lot of complexity that comes along with it.
• 19:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of security challenges that can come along with it and a number of other hurdles.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so those are the big challenges that we are trying to address because we believe very strongly that you should have custody over your own crypto.
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: You should be able to do more with it.
• 19:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to be the playground that provides you the ability to do that, but do it in a reliable way, do it in a secure way.
• 19:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: and do it in a way where you have all of your assets in one place as you web through you.
• 19:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: In getting to this point, have there been any acquisitions to enhance your platform build out?
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, most recently we acquired Rally, if you're not familiar, and Rally had an unbelievable mobile experience for token trading, and that really is accelerated the development of OS mobile, and we're really excited about that.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But admittedly, it was actually less the tech, which is great.
• 19:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was more about just the incredible team that we brought on board, and so
• 19:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you've got, you know, Chris Mattern who came over as our CTO, you've got Christine who came over as our chief of staff and a number of just expert developers and marketers that came over that are really accelerating our growth and development into this space.
• 20:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so that was something that was really pivotal for us and happened even just a few months ago, but I almost can't imagine open see any more without those folks on board.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: that's awesome.
• 20:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm curious, you know, is there plans to integrate DeFi, you know, being able to borrow against NFTs or, you know, get leverage in order to buy that one NFT that you really want, or is that something that might be a, you know, a little further, you know, further away.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look, it's a really interesting question, and obviously there's a lot of really cool stuff that's happening in our space around those areas that you just mentioned.
• 20:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have not announced anything specific to that.
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: We did announce that we are working on hyper-liquid perks, and so those that are interested in future markets, that is something that will be coming over the coming months that open sea.
• 21:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look, at the end of the day, when we say that we want to be your web 3 home for everything, that means everything.
• 21:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it means that we will consider all of the things.
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a matter of prioritization and opportunity cost and what are we going to do next.
• 21:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And right now, we're very focused on putting out a really beautiful, delightful, noble experience.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're focused on bringing parks.
• 21:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're focused on adding token trading features and
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: doing some really interesting things to bring that side of our product.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say really up to par with the tools that people are used to even those that are doing pretty deep token trading inside of our space.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, of course, we're going to be doing a lot with AI.
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've got our plates pretty full between that and the other.
• 21:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: James, that we're adding, et cetera, et cetera.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, the AI stuff, man, that's super hot.
• 21:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: A lot of projects are integrating it in some capacity.
• 21:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Could he give us a little sneak peek or a little taste of how AI is going to come to bear on the platform?
• 21:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know what's interesting about OpenCe is that internally at OpenCe, we are very, very deeply AI-pilled.
• 22:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: What I mean by that is that every single employee of OpenCe doesn't matter if you're working in engineering or marketing or finance or operations, you are using AI as a pretty core part of your day-to-day to accelerate what you do.
• 22:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a superpower that enables everybody at OpenCe to do the work of,
• 22:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: three times the people that are actually waking up every day to build and do cool things on behalf of the company.
• 22:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, when that comes to the product, what it means is we want to take a step back and say, well, how can AI really empower the experience that you have when you are trading on and using OpenC?
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there's a variety of ideas that we have here.
• 22:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have one thing that we're already begun working on, which is what we're calling OS intelligence.
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And think of it as a trading companion.
• 22:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So as you are deciding whether or not to buy that NFT, maybe you want to ask a question around,
• 23:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know what's the price been historically for this collection over the last couple of months or when was the last time that this particular trait was traded and at what price you might start asking you know a variety of questions around hey this is my risk tolerance and you know I really need some recommendations about you know what's really being talked about on the social sphere right now related to crypto and so i'm not going to go too deep into detail because we just haven't shared a whole heck of a lot yet but
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do think that there is a world in the near future where people will view open sea, not only as they're placed to trade, but essentially as their co-pilot or companion in terms of how they trade and how they interact with their own assets on chain.
• 23:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be incredible.
• 23:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, I've seen a couple different LLMs integrated with crypto wallets.
• 23:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And what they're doing is pretty incredible.
• 23:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: I saw one where it was like, you could basically say, OK, look at my crypto wallet and which liquidity pools are going to provide the highest yield based on the assets that I have.
• 23:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then it'll go look everything.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then you can say, OK, deposit to that one.
• 24:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then you kind of give
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: the AI agent, if you will, like a little bit of a little bit of leeway, and now I'm seeing Coinbase coming out with X402, some new protocol to help AI agents interact with wallets, and so yeah, that stuff's not slowing down.
• 24:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels like you guys are also really ahead of the curve on that.
• 24:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I wanted to kind of get your, not opinion, but your, your sort of ideas behind this flagship reserve, the NFT treasuries have started to become a little bit of a thing.
• 24:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: We know about like micro strategy.
• 24:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: They are accumulating a bunch of Bitcoin and, you know, sharp link gaming is accumulating a bunch of Ethereum and so on.
• 24:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: But tell us a little bit about what's going on with the creation of this NFT treasuries.
• 24:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so there's a reason that we called it our flagship collection and not the open cease strategic reserve.
• 24:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that is that strategic reserve has a financial connotation to it.
• 24:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
• 24:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And indicates that you're doing this to hopefully profit in some way.
• 25:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: We actually are not with our flagship collection.
• 25:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: And in fact, the entire reason that we created it was more or less a love letter to the creators and artists and founders that have just
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: truly been foundational for Web3 in the space that we love and serve at OpenCee.
• 25:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so it's our way of providing recognition to those individuals.
• 25:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's our way of creating a foundation of, you know, some of the most historical and revered assets in Web3 like, you know, Crypto Punks and Bordebes and Puchy Penguin and Squiggles and then being able to put emerging artists and creators shoulder to shoulder with them.
• 25:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: really provide some visibility into those that are doing interesting and innovative things, artistic things inside of our space.
• 25:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is something that we're really doing as more of a community-based program than anything else.
• 25:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say one of the
• 26:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: areas that we get value from it is that we're starting to create a lot more content for marketing at OpenCee and it's really great when we have our own squiggle and our own board ape and our own Puchy Penguin and the like that we can incorporate into those kinds of assets and really show support for those projects when they're doing interesting exciting things.
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the purpose of the flagship is not financial, we have no intention of selling these assets, I'm profiting from these assets.
• 26:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: it really is just about open-sea providing recognition of those that we believe deserve to be recognized.
• 26:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's, I do find it interesting.
• 26:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's almost kind of like a museum, right, where you're collecting these things because you know they're valuable, you want to make sure you have them for the long-term, you kind of want them on display, and it's showing some of the most like significant and impactful projects that have come through.
• 26:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm sure from a creator end,
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: creators probably look at this and they say it's kind of like the stamp of approval to get featured inside of here.
• 27:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you're allowed to say that, but that's how I would view it as a creator if I was making something.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: There are thousands of creators that deserve recognition and we're not going to be able to recognize all of them inside of the flagship.
• 27:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't want to indicate that if you're not in the flagship collection, you're not worthy and you know, some way, but we are absolutely trying to put a process in place that enables us to historically look at those that have really made an impact and to look at those that are innovating and
• 27:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: building really unique and cool things today and giving them their spotlight.
• 27:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the characterization of building a museum collection.
• 27:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would love to see the flagship collection showcased digitally and physically in the real world.
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we build it up and I could imagine, you know, lending it to, you know, actual museums that want to show the impact of, you know, digital art and web 3 in blockchain.
• 27:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so, yeah, look, we're relatively early, I think we've acquired something in the range of a dozen or so assets so far for our flagship, but it's something that we're very committed to, something we'll continue adding to, and I definitely think six to 12 months from now when you look at the entire collection that we have in the flagship, you know, left to write it, it's going to be pretty impressive, and there's probably a lot that we could do there to raise awareness for all the amazing things that are happening in our space.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think we'll get there.
• 28:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think we'll get to a point where traditional museums, that like a lot of us know and go to, I think it's just a matter of time, whether it's like a history museum or they're like, at this moment in time, like crypto, I'm sure like 20 years down the line, maybe 10 years down the line, maybe even listen that.
• 28:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: This can be museums that are like, hey, blockchain was this incredible thing and it came out kind of like in the same way where we go to museums and they're like, this is like the historical landmarks of like the internet boom.
• 28:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we all remember these kind of keystones.
• 28:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can have a meeting.
• 28:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Art and the see it.
• 28:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, you know, has their hall exhibition and yeah, a lot of really amazing things that are featured there and people that have been involved from the space.
• 29:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was out at Marfa at the art blocks weekend about a week, we can have a go now.
• 29:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, there were just exhibition after exhibition in real world of digital assets, digital art and these projects that are making a difference inside of our space and I think that this is something we will see more and more of as I mentioned the whole world starts you know spending more and more time of digitally and starts really gaining more appreciation for the fact that digital art is in fact a very real artistic medium.
• 29:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, I know it's it's been at the lack of a two down here in LA, there's been some exhibits and stuff.
• 29:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So Brennan, it's not five years away.
• 29:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's
• 30:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, of course I do, crypto traders, that's damn traders, no, we're just, you know, you guys have put out a big, you know, post on everything going on and so we could link to any sort of, you know, public releases and statements that you guys have put out, but, you know, for those of us who aren't big readers and just want to hear the short pitch or the short and sweet version of what you guys are planning, can you kind of give us like a, you know, 30,000 foot view of what's going on?
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'll start with the legal asterisk of we're not planning anything.
• 30:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is the foundation's token, but of course it is something that opens these greatly supporting.
• 30:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so what I can say is that the token is coming in Q1.
• 30:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've already announced that a couple of weeks back.
• 30:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: What I can say is that if you are an OG trader of OpenC and you used the site for years and you drove a lot of volume through the platform, then you're going to be meaningfully considered by the foundation at TGE and we see you.
• 31:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: What I can say is that those that are currently using the platform, those that never left, those that are participating in our rewards programs, those that are trying out new features of OpenC like not just trading NFTs, but also trading tokens and memecoins and the like,
• 31:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: that we also see you and we really appreciate those that are currently leveraging and using the platform as well.
• 31:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so the last thing I'll note is that we're working very hard with the foundation to ensure that C is not just released as a meme coin to be dropped and forgotten that it will be deeply integrated into the product and the ecosystem of open C. There will be reasons for you to
• 31:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's something that I think when people finally see what the foundation has been working on and planning and what we've been working with them on.
• 31:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they will appreciate that we took our time with this because we wanted to really get it right and we wanted to create something that was lasting and sustainable and adds value to our ecosystem adds value to Web3 as a whole.
• 32:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And with that said, if I go any further, I'm probably going to get myself into legal trouble.
• 32:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just pause.
• 32:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: We want you to keep your job after this interview.
• 32:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: We don't want to be on the CNN and showing us how we just ruined something great.
• 32:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we'll keep it there.
• 32:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: But what else can we expect from OpenC?
• 32:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: We know there's a big push with the new upgrade with the OS, the mobile.
• 32:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Is there is there anything else that we we can take a look at?
• 32:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, look we've talked about a lot of it in this interview, which I really appreciate and so you know obviously we've got OS mobile on the horizon We've got hyper liquid perps on the horizon.
• 32:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've got several new chains that will be adding to open sea and be doing that consistently probably perpetually into the future because we truly want to be the
• 32:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: one place that you can go across all chains all while it's all asset types, all platforms.
• 33:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are continuing to improve the token trading product.
• 33:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've taken a lot of feedback recently on our rewards program and approach and are reevaluating some of the decisions we've made there.
• 33:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: hopefully we'll have some things to share there in a couple of weeks.
• 33:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: But look, we're really excited for the future.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are building for the long term.
• 33:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are really trying to create something that is special and sustainable and that can be used by millions and millions of people as the core application to conduct anything that they want to do within Web3 and blockchain.
• 33:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: we aspire to be that app that sits on the front page of your iPhone in the dock next to your phone and your messages and your email, you know, we really believe that OpenSeek can be that.
• 33:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And with that, the future is very bright if we can achieve it.
• 33:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that what we're building in terms of our product is going to surprise and impress a lot of people.
• 33:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: man.
• 33:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can't wait.
• 33:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: And for those who are listening who are you know brandspank and new kind of to crypto or to NFTs, what would be one word of wisdom, one word of advice that you kind of not financial advice, but just it, you know, general life advice that you'd want to leave with maybe a newbie who's kind of coming into the space.
• 34:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh wow, that's a good question.
• 34:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say that my first reaction is to find your tribe.
• 34:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of different people that are here for a lot of different reasons.
• 34:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And some people are here for the arts.
• 34:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some people are here for gaming.
• 34:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some people are here for the utility.
• 34:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some people are here for community membership.
• 34:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so you want to find people that are here for the same reasons that excite you to be here.
• 34:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know what, if that's financial, if it's just profit, then that's okay, there are entire tribes, communities and telegrams that are just built and designed for that.
• 34:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, I mentioned I was out at Marfa a few weeks ago, you know, there were five, six hundred people that drove out into the middle of the desert, and it takes a lot of energy to get out to Marfa.
• 34:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I had to get in a car for eight hours to go.
• 34:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: out into the middle of the desert and you know really hang with it all these people but it was amazing to be with a community of like-minded people that really believe in the power of blockchain and web 3 and how it relates to digital ownership and art and to be able to have conversations with people that are in that mindset.
• 35:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that felt really special being out in that kind of environment where everybody had to work so hard to get out to this place just to look around and realize that there are hundreds of other people that are just like you that have the same convictions and I was just awestruck by the entire experience.
• 35:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so,
• 35:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that would probably be my first word of advice is find some other people that are excited for the same reasons that you are and then use that as, you know, a springboard to really understand what community and membership really can mean in this space, what art can mean in this space, what financial incentives can mean in this space because it's really a very fun playground if you go about it the right way.
• 35:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: beautifully said.
• 36:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: It kind of sounded like the burning man of web 3 and after.
• 36:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I could give one word of recommendation, if there is anybody here that is deeply in love with just the artistic side of our space, web 3 and blockchain, Marfa weekend from our blockchain not be missed.
• 36:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was a absolutely unforgettable experience that I've had really uncomparable to anything else in my last five years in crypto.
• 36:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
• 36:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Love it.
• 36:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much, Adam, for joining us and for speaking to our crypto 101 community today.
• 36:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: Where could people find more?
• 36:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll put all those links in the show notes.
• 36:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, your Twitter handle.
• 36:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if you've got a blog or anything, but we'd love to let you kind of share with the community where people could find you and find open see as well.
• 36:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, sure.
• 36:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, look, OpenC.io, go use the product, go experience it.
• 36:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you have an experience it for the last couple of months or especially years, go and check out the new OpenC.
• 36:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think you'll do a double take and be pleasantly surprised with the innovations and features and everything that we've been adding to it.
• 37:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, follow OpenC on Twitter.
• 37:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can follow me on Twitter at Hollandera.
• 37:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Awesome.
• 37:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much and everybody at home listening.
• 37:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for your your time and your attention for joining us today.
• 37:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: Come back.
• 37:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Same time.
• 37:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Same place next week.
• 37:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll have some more awesome guests for you.
• 37:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Take care.