My Journey into Web3, NFTs, and the Metaverse

TLDR:

Following my curiosity and challenging my skepticism ended up showing me the most exciting technological developments I've ever seen - Web3, NFTs, and the Metaverse - and yes, we're still early. You'll read some highlights of my journey below and quickly realize the level of growth and acceleration in the space. We went from, "what's an NFT?" to Nike acquiring RTFKT in one year - and much more.

I spent 2021 learning both as a student of the space and a collector , I'm doubling down in 2022 and supporting those trying to enter the space, both as brands and as individuals. I was accepted into the Kernel Web3 Fellowship and I'm also participating in the inaugural class of Republic Realm Academy.

NFTs are here to stay and Web3 is the larger ecosystem getting built that will recognize and reward ownership verifiable on the blockchain. The ability to provide creators and/or brands with perpetual royalties of assets via smart contracts and allow collectors as well as tastemakers to share in the upside of those digital assets is a game-changer. New ways of building businesses and community will come out of this era - we're starting to see it with the early developments of DAOs.

My best advice is to dive in and learn by doing. Reading about it can only take you so far.

But it's worth noting that there are a lot of risks and challenges (scams, rugged projects, crypto volatility, unrealistic expectations and timelines, technical limitations, gas fees, etc) and most projects will not stand the test of time - be careful and approach the space thoughtfully. You also need to understand that you will "miss" many projects (we should really call them businesses), and that's ok. Those that do "make it" have a chance to influence culture and society and maybe even generate meaningful wealth and/or opportunities for those involved*.

*Not financial advice. All opinions are my own.

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Disclaimer: These are highlights of my journey in 2021 and by no means an all-encompassing list of what I saw or what happened in the space, just some key things I saw, when I saw them, and in some cases what it taught me. One week in NFT land feels like a year in the "real-world" - other notable projects or platforms include but are not limited to: Art Blocks, Cool Cats, Doodles, World of Women, DeadFellaz, Fluf World, etc.

January:

• I had no idea the journey I was about to embark on.

February:

• Read about virtual land and was immediately skeptical, it seemed crazy. Why would virtual land be worth this much? Couldn't they make an infinite amount? How would it sustain its value? But it piqued my curiosity. This was my introduction to the concept of "the metaverse".

• Questioned my skepticism and challenged my thinking, I knew virtual goods were a big industry, and growing. With the growth in gaming + our increased usage and dependency on digital devices, it seemed inevitable - I wasn't sure which "world" would win, but I could see it working. Although despite acknowledging that it had potential, I didn't buy any virtual land.
• Heard about NBA Top Shot, joined the platform, and started collecting. It immediately reminded me of collecting sports cards as a kid and playing FIFA Ultimate Team, both of which I understood well. NBA Top Shot became my "gateway drug" to learning about NFTs. This was my introduction to NFTs (beyond virtual land).

• Joined Clubhouse and started listening to conversations about NFTs and the metaverse. This was the first place I learned about CryptoPunks. Punks sounded fascinating and I was interested but didn't commit the resources necessary to buy one. This was my introduction to NFTs with historical significance.

March:

• Beeple sells an NFT for $69 Million. The First 5000 Days is a collage of 5000 images created by the artist since he began his daily project in 2007. This was one of those moments where I realized this "may" be bigger than I initially thought.

April:

• Started hearing people join Clubhouse chats and making monkey noises, I had not drank the KoolAid at this point so I dropped off the chats and missed out on Bored Ape Yacht Club. BAYC would eventually be the first project to show me the potential of providing creative and commercial usage rights to owners.

May:

• I saw the Bitski newsletter in my inbox and noticed the drop from RTFKT with Jeff Staple. Jeff is an iconic figure with sneakerheads, this was his first NFT drop, his shoes had previously sold for thousands of dollars, and this drop would get me an NFT of the sneaker plus I would also be able to "forge" it to get a physical if I held on to it long enough. More importantly, I liked the NFTs and Bitski allowed me to pay with a credit card - this was a no-brainer. In all fairness, I still felt "odd/guilty" about buying a jpeg of a shoe. This experience showed me that having the on-ramp of being able to pay with a card vs crypto significantly reduces the barrier to entry.

• Gary Vaynerchuck announces the upcoming launch of VeeFriends. I had kept up with GaryVee's content for years and believed that, over a long enough timeframe, he had the ability and resources to develop intellectual property (IP) that connected with people. That said, in order to buy a VeeFriends you were going to have to spend Ethereum (ETH) via Metamask to purchase it in a Web3 native way. At this point I had never spent ETH or used Metamask. I considered it but ultimately made the decision that I believed ETH would outpace the growth of VeeFriends. What's ironic is that I actually appreciated and respected that he was educating and on-boarding people to Web3. This is when I realized that the crypto native way of making purchases likely would not work for the masses, at least not as it was currently constructed - I also learned about dutch auctions.

• LarvaLabs launches Meebits. I knew it would be a good idea to keep up with the team that created CryptoPunks so I followed them a while back and learned about this drop. In short, they were allowing their previous holders to mint Meebits for free (except for gas fees), therefore rewarding them for supporting LarvaLabs early on. Meebits was my first introduction to a secondary collection as a way to reward the current holders (of CryptoPunks and Autoglyphs) while providing a new entry point for new collectors to expand their reach and influence.

June:

• The RTFKT "forging" event happens and I claim a physical version of the NFT I had purchased. To my surprise, they decide to "airdrop" a Meta-Pigeon OG NFT for everyone that forged during the event. This was my introduction to airdrops, the concept of phygital, and utility.

July:

• As my interest in the space continued to grow, I reached out to Harvey Schwartz for recommended reading on the metaverse. To no surprise, Harvey shared what proved to be the best reading and foundation on the topic - The Metaverse Primer by Matthew Ball. I would highly recommend that anyone trying to understand the space reads it. He also informed me that Matthew had just launched The Metaverse ETF consisting of companies like Facebook, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Roblox, Unity Software, Apple, Snap, etc.

August:

• Lionel Messi was dropping his first NFT on Ethernity. As a life-long Barcelona and Messi fan this was a must-get for me from a collectible standpoint. While the drop itself was "messy" (pun intended), this got me to take a second look at the space - both at the platforms and creative minds behind the projects. This is when I realized we had just begun (we're still early), if Messi was doing this now more celebs, athletes, and brands would follow.

• Quickly realize the importance of Discord and Twitter for NFTs so I started joining communities, following thought leaders and collectors. This significantly accelerated my learning curve. This was also my introduction to the scams and lack of security in the space.
• UTA, a major media talent agency, signs the Larva Labs projects - CryptoPunks, Meebits, and Autoglyphs for future films, TV, video game, and publishing projects. This is when I realized that some NFTs had the potential to become the next influencer(s).
• GaryVee shows the world a model for driving sales of a physical product (in this case a book) by adding a limited time NFT incentive with purchase. He sold millions of books in a 24-hour period. This was my first introduction to the power of NFTs as a way to drive traditional commerce.

• Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) launches their secondary collection, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and sells $96 million worth of those NFTs within an hour. The mechanics of the drop were fascinating. People that held a BAYC were airdropped mutant serums, and the remaining 10,000 were sold at 3 ETH each. Some people got lucky in securing a particularly rare mutant serum (there were three levels of rarity to them) and that would guarantee that they would get a more rare/valuable MAYC NFT. This was the first time I ran into the mechanic of an NFT that you can choose to hold on to or immediately use to get your MAYC and the second time I saw a major collection rewarding their previous token holders. Beyond that, the amount they raised was mind-blowing to me. At the time I thought it was either a signal of a top or this was fundamentally going to change the way companies raise money moving forward.

September:

• I start diving deep into specific projects via podcasts and noticed that RTFKT had announced they were making an avatar project, codenamed AKIRA (later revealed as CloneX). More importantly, I learn that the NFTs I had from the RTFKT x Jeff Staple collab were going to qualify me for a whitelist to be able to mint this secret project. As the team started to show the community teasers of the collection it became obvious that this had a new level of quality. This was my introduction to a whitelist.

• Learn about VeVe and am impressed by the IP they've been able to bring onboard but decide to pass on their projects due to it being a closed-platform. Turns out VeVe would go on to do remarkably well.

October:

• NFT Sales surge to $10.7 Billion in Q3, coming from only about ~265k active wallets trading NFTs on the ETH blockchain.
• Christie's auctioned Gary Vaynerchuck's NFT art for $1.2 million. This continued the trend of a traditional auction house getting into NFTs and reinforced the influence Gary was having in the space.

• Learned about CyberKongs and how Genesis Kongs produce 10 $BANANA every day for the next ten years. That alone doesn't mean anything unless you realize that the BANANA token had value based on game mechanics within their ecosystem and could be exchanged for USD, a meaningful amount at that time. In short, this NFT could essentially pay you. This raised all sorts of red flags in my brain: a) too good to be true, b) why are they worth anything? c) wouldn't that be considered a security? d) no way this lasts, it sounds like a pyramid scheme. Regardless of what I thought at the time this concept was innovative and people were getting paid. This was my introduction to NFT tokenomics.

• MekaVerse launches as one of the most hyped up and in-demand projects of the year. The demand for it far outweighed the supply that would be minted (8,888), at one point the Discord had over 200k people and plenty of bots. People had to get lucky via a raffle system they implemented. It was the first raffle I had participated in and I had never seen something with this much demand. It really emphasized the importance of being on the whitelist where you were guaranteed the ability to mint and reduced the problem of gas wars. I also learned about how these hyped up projects often seem to make a run up "pre-reveal" and then quickly crash in price for any non-rare NFTs post reveal.

• Tom Bilyeu announces the upcoming launch of the Impact Theory Founders Key and his vision for building a Web3 media company that rivals Disney. I had watched Tom's interviews on YouTube for years and believe in him as a person, his vision of instilling a growth mindset, and him as an operator - he sold QuestNutrition for $1Billion. He laid out a grand vision with the most detailed plans I had seen to date. Impact Theory taught me about different forms of utility that a Web3 media company can provide. This inspired me and got me thinking. New brands and IP would be developed that allow the community to co-create and share in the success of that property. This would come from smaller and nimble groups as well as some of the major studios. But what would happen to the iconic IPs of our time? Pokemon, Star Wars, SpongeBob, etc. My guess is that they would likely create spin-offs and/or work in a closed ecosystem where they can control more of the story and live within a brand-safe environment - at least to start. Not a bad thing, but not fully taking advantage of the new technology. This presents an interesting and unique opportunity for new IP developments that bring everything Web3 has to offer, Impact Theory is going down this path.

• FEWOCIOUS NFT sells for $2.8 million at auction. I learned about FEWO a few months back after the collaboration with RTFKT Studios. He was making waves and is arguably the first truly NFT native artist to go mainstream and make it to a traditional auction house. FEWO's star was rising.

• I listened to NFT Now interview 0xb1 (a collector) and Tom Capone (a talent agent at CAA) where they talk about the future use cases of NFTs. I was fascinated by the conversation but the thing that stood out to me is that CAA was representing an NFT collector. They were obviously looking at the items within the collection as potential talent and IP for brand deals or licensing agreements - genius.
• Coinbase announces that they will be launching an NFT marketplace, making it clear that they see a meaningful opportunity to build their business with this market. They have approximately 73MM wallets in their ecosystem with a 3MM wallet waitlist for the launch of their marketplace - I immediately realize this could be a major catalyst to bring new collectors in 2022.

• Facebook rebrands to Meta, Mark Zuckerberg wants to be known for building the metaverse and highlights the importance and priority the firm is putting to building out the metaverse. This was my first realization that the metaverse was going mainstream faster than I expected.

• The RTFKT x Jeff Staple physical shoes arrive, seeing is believing. That JPEG I had purchased back in May turned into a real pair of shoes and a hoodie as bonus. It was special and I knew it was important. Imagine when brands like Nike and Adidas do this...NFTs as a way to unlock physical goods.

November:

• Attend NFT.NYC, the leading annual NFT conference, where I got to connect with people IRL to discuss the space and talk about where we've been and where we're going. You can read the five key takeaways from Coindesk HERE. This proved to be one of the most professionally energizing and inspiring weeks I've ever had. The conversations we were having revolved around the future that could be built with the new technology and tools available in Web3. But yes, you also had lots of madness and "moonboys" that were only (or mostly) interested in "pumping their bags".

• Attend the premier of "Becoming Beeple" during NFT.NYC and have the privilege of hearing Mike Winkleman, aka Beeple, talk about his journey into NFTs with GaryVee. I highly recommend that everyone watches it. I could see that this was an aha moment for a lot of people in attendance that had just recently started their journey.

• Learn about the Crypto Citizens project from Bright Moments and was immediately impressed by the in-real-life (IRL) minting experiences, the roll-out process to educate and onboard local communities globally, and the fact that they're purposefully minting the project slowly over time vs all at once. As fate would have it, I would randomly get selected from a large theatre to mint a CryptoNewYorker and experience it firsthand. I couldn't believe it. What made the experience even more insane is that Andrew Yang, Steve Aoki, deadmau5, and Marshmello all minted a CryptoNewYorker the same day I did - and I was there to experience it with them. This was my first introduction to an IRL minting experience.
• Meet CryptoNewYorker #392.

• Nike teams up with Roblox to create virtual Nikeland. I have to admit, when I saw this news it was interesting but I didn't give it much thought. It was good to see a brand like Nike making a big play into gaming but that's primarily what I saw it as vs a Web3 play. I liked the fact that they would go through the process of world-building and I'm sure they felt comfortable in that environment in terms of brand safety since it's a walled garden - i considered it a good first step. Roblox is a Web2 company, just like Fortnite, but to both of their credits, they are likely the closest representation we have at the moment of a metaverse and both are committed to moving in that direction. So while I didn't see this as immediately groundbreaking, with time I've come to realize the importance and value of this decision.

• Adidas announces a partnership with Bored Ape Yacht Club, G-Money, and Punks Comics. Adidas had purchased a Bored Ape back in September and created a character called Indigo Herz. They leveraged the fact that BAYC gives owners IP rights and build a brand of their own within that ecosystem. They involved the native Web3 and NFT community to help them learn the space and build their plan. They followed that up by announcing a partnership with Coinbase and buying land in The Sandbox. It was clear that this was not a short-term cash grab. They took the time to learn about the space and dove in in a Web3 native way. As such, they have been welcomed by most. You can read a thread from Gmoney about it?HERE. Kudos to Ben Mayor White and the broader team at Adidas for leading the charge. This quickly became the model example of a brand entering the space the "right way" and getting accepted by the community.

• Impact Theory launches MerryModz. This was my first seasonal project. While I didn't like the idea of something that would go out of season, I loved the story they were telling and the quality of the work Francisco Herrera and team were delivering. I was going to support them regardless, but the behind the scenes "Creating Merry Modz" video showed me what the team was capable of. Developing stories and IP takes time, I know that, but this was clearly a team taking it seriously and a team I would bet on. It was a turning point where I started to see the tides shift with teams that were serious about the space launching higher quality art with plans to make them 3D, it wasn't just CloneX anymore. I realized that 3D would quickly become table stakes moving forward.

• The long awaiting CloneX Mint Vials arrive. A reward for those that supported RTFKT early and held on - diamond hands as they say, and those that were able to secure them during the public mint. You would mint a vial that would later be revealed to determine which CloneX avatar you would get. We learn about the different DNAs available and their percent rarities. The vials immediately reminded me of the Mutant Ape Serums from BAYC with a nice twist of the DNAs and the hundreds of available traits.

December:

• Kevin Rose launches the Proof Collective via a dutch auction. This got my attention for a lot of reasons. Over the year I had listened to many Kevin Rose podcasts via Modern Finance or Proof and knew he was an avid collector who was knowledgeable about the space and well-connected. He had recently invested in ArtBlocks via True Ventures and I knew he was a part of the Flamingo DAO - arguable the most successful DAO to date in terms of digital asset acquisitions. I was also starting to get more interested in generative art and believed that being a part of his collective could provide access to that. Long story short, everything made sense for me...but, I tried to get a "deal" by waiting and when it got to that price and I tried to mint it the transaction failed. Turns out everyone else had that same price in mind and it became a mad rush at the end. I missed out. This was a lesson in price discovery.

• RTFKT launches the portal to reveal the CloneX vials. It was the first mint/reveal I participated in that had you opt-in to very in-depth legal terms and conditions. Just another sign that RTFKT was doing this at a different level. People quickly started to reveal their vials to see what they got and the secondary market was active with people selling and buying clones. As exciting as this was, it presented a game-theory mechanic. Do you reveal the vial and let chance determine what you get? do you sell the vial use those funds to buy what you want? or do you simply hold on to the vial and decide at a later date? All had their pros and cons but I loved that we had decisions to make that would determine the outcome. This wasn't the first time I had seen game-theory mechanics in the space but it was the first major one I was involved in and that made me realize how important they will be moving forward. Those decision lead the community down different paths, paths that they get to influence.

• Nike Acquires RTFKT Studios. The news that shook the NFT market and beyond. I immediately recognized that every boardroom of a major corporation would be talking about this asking themselves what their approach and strategy is to Web3 and the metaverse, should they be looking to acquire someone, etc. Nike didn't tip toe their way into the space, they acquired one of the most talented and successful teams in the ecosystem. This was controversial news to say the least. You had people that loved it and believed that together they had an opportunity to be be so much more. On the other hand, some of the crypto native community is almost anti big-corporation and didn't feel like RTFKT needed to do this. They felt Nike didn't do this bottom up approach that we had just seen from Adidas. Regardless, it was a major move from Nike and it immediately got my wheels turning. RTFKT would benefit from Nike's balance sheet, their sponsorship deals, their access to talent (athletes/celebs), global reach, manufacturing capabilities, marketing genius, etc. On the other hand, Nike would have one of the most innovative teams to help them develop their strategy and approach to Web3 and immediately be considered a leader. By getting into this space Nike would now be able to earn perpetual revenue from secondary sales of their launches via NFTs. Think about all the money they don't receive because of secondary sales on StockX and other platforms. This new and innovative approach to capturing some of those economics over time could yield the firm significant revenue. All of a sudden their move into Roblox made sense, Nike has an opportunity to connect these worlds and use Roblox as a Web2 onramp to Web3 with RTFKT. And to top it off, they officially placed the RTFKT brand beside Nike, Jordan, and Converse. It would become a new brand pillar, wow. Congratulations to Steven Vasilev, Benoit Pagotto, Chris Lee and the broader RTFKT Studios team! A remarkable journey, chapter 2 begins in 2022.

• Learned about the FlamingoDAO at NFT.NYC in early November and was inspired by what Aaron Wright and the group had been able to accomplish. The Flamingo DAO was my first introduction to the concept of a DAO and particularly interesting to me because they were a group investing in ownable, blockchain-based assets. In short, it was a group I respected that was on my radar. I found out they were launching Flamingo Flutter, a collaboration between Flamingo and Art Blocks to bring more generative art to the crypto ecosystem. Having just missed the opportunity to get into the Proof Collective, I was interested in Flaming Flutter. I could learn about generative art through their group, collectors, and artists while getting the benefit of their expertise and ability as a collective curator group. The first collection they launched was called Worlds, by Kenny Vaden. I saw this as a great platform to elevate talented artists and participate as a collector.
• Worlds #78 by Kenny Vaden.

• GaryVee announces a collaboration between VeeFriends and the game Uno with Mattel. They launched a limited edition VeeFriends Uno set that quickly sold out. This was the first example I saw of a Web3 native project establishing a licensing-like deal with a legacy brand. This was Gary's second showing of NFTs and NFT-based IP as a way to drive commerce. He did it first with his books and now he did it with a card game. To take things to another level, he partnered with PSA so you can get your cards graded and truly keep them as a long-term collectible. This hit close to home as my day-to-day is all about helping brands drive retail sales. It became obvious that both legacy brands and these NFT communities could benefit from each other. The legacy brand gets to sell more of their X to the community, and that community gets validation and broader market reach via the legacy brand.

• RTFKT airdropped a SpacePod for every CloneX and Mint Vial holder. Think of these like a mini 3D apartment where you can walk in the space and decorate it with the NFTs you've collected. A different approach to the metaverse. Instead of purchasing virtual land and building a world, they built small intimate spaces for owners to enjoy and host friends - they also announced future upgrades to these pods so it's a developing ecosystem. My guess is that they may eventually be ported into existing worlds. The community immediately starts showing their power and influence when they are equipped with the right assets, are supported and encouraged. All of a sudden you had creators developing 3D assets for SpacePod owners to upgrade their pods for FREE. Think of it like user-generated-content, RTFKT planted the seed and the community took off and ran with it. I immediately get excited about the opportunities and potential when the community gets the fully rigged 3D models of the CloneX avatars. The lesson here being that equipping your community with the right assets and making it easy for them to contribute can have exponential results.

• I was introduced to the Adam Bomb Squad community by Will Lex Ham when we met at the Bright Moments Gallery during NFT.NYC. He was such a positive person and passionate about the project, the community, and the leaders behind it that I knew I would have to check-it-out. I listened to a few Twitter spaces hosted by Bobby Hundreds (co-founder of The Hundreds and Adam Bomb Squad) and had grown to respect him. He was genuine, cared about the broader community, and had built a successful business - that had become an important filter for me. This wasn't just a "lets try this" type of play, he was in it and I was willing to bet on the jockey. I eventually read Bobby's essay "The Street Does Not Really Exist" and that solidified my thinking. To this day it's one of the most thoughtful essays I've read about the changes and opportunities we're seeing in Web3 as it relates to fashion and business. I eventually picked up a ABS NFT and was greeted with so much love and support via Twitter. The power and energy behind that group was unlike any I had seen, I was delighted.

• A few days later, Adam Bomb Squad had a drop of a new line of merch. It was the first token gated shopping experience I had participated in, having my ABS token gave me the ability to purchase exclusive items that were limited to holders of that token for a 24 hr period. Beyond the physical products people were purchasing, ABS also had some digital merch items for sale via Decentraland to compliment the physical merch allowing the owners to dress in the digital world as they do in the real world, or vise verse. It was really interesting. And of course, they hosted a party in Decentraland with a virtual DJ and everything. It was a blast.

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Year-In-Review:

I went from asking "what's an NFT?" and "why is virtual land valuable?", looking at the space with skepticism to recognizing that this is a major technological advancement that will touch nearly every facet of our lives. Looking at the timeline of events I highlighted above, you quickly realize just how fast the spaced moved and my understanding and conviction grew with it. It's the most exciting field I've seen and one that I intend on contributing to.

In 2022 we will get closer to mass-adoption, we will see additional acquisitions in the space, venture capital investing not only in the companies but in NFTs themselves (this will force fractionalization of digital assets more broadly), and likely some kind of SEC regulation or guidance.

We're still early as they say, building the ship as we go. It's messy and not without its troubles, but for those that dive in with genuine interest I believe it will be a worthwhile pursuit.

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Leveling Up In 2022:

• Kernel Web3 Fellowship: I've been accepted to Kernel Block 5 (KB5), an 8-week custom educational fellowship diving into the heart of Web3, co-created with 250 peers.

• Republic Realm Academy: I'll be part of the inaugural class of Republic Realm Academy learning all about the metaverse and NFTs, taught by multidisciplinary educators from the most prestigious universities in the world alongside top industry professionals in Web3 technologies.

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Additional Resources:

• NFT 101: Everything You Need to Know
• The Coinbase Ventures Guide to NFTs
• The Metaverse Primer by Matthew Ball
• The Metaverse 101 by Megan Loyst
• Podcast by Adweek & Cathy Hackl: Metaverse Marketing
• NFT Terminology