In this episode of Founders of Web 3, we talk to Jim McNelis, (j1mmyeth). As the founder of NFT42, we discuss the importance of bringing NFTs fully on-chain, how the current state of the technology is like ‘painting on cave walls with mashed berry juice’, and how IPFS is analogous to BitTorrent. We also discuss the dangers of onboarding large brands to unrefined tech, the importance of creator royalties, composability for the future of NFTs, projects like CryptoPunks and Avastars as the DNA for an Open Metaverse, collaboration with John Orion Young (JOY), and much more.

Cameron Bale is the founder of NFT.Kred - a platform designed to create simple channels to market for Non-Fungible Tokens and Digital Assets. He talks about onboarding influencers and celebrities to the NFT market, creating events and communities for technological adoption, and enterprise onboarding. We discuss solving the three problems for NFT adoption, accounting for an emerging space for the music industry, putting on a premium blockchain events, NFT.NYC, and building the connection between the ICO community and the NFT community.

Alexander Mitrovich, founder of Unique Networks talks about their NFT Palette modules, solving for the Ethereum gas problem, the importance of a flexible blockchain, democratizing NFTs, and how Unique Networks will provide the platform for the future of NFTs to be brought to the mass-market. We also talk about their continued success with Substrapunks, building a wallet and NFT marketplace on Polkadot, and how the generative NFT art project has allowed them to focus on the success of their mainnet. 

Jack O’Holleran talks about how they have navigated various market cycles, deliberately not launching a token during 2017 ICO mania but still securing the backing of the likes of Mulitcoin, Winklevoss Twins and Galaxy Digital to go on to make it easier for any developer to build on Ethereum through layer 2 SKALE blockchains. We talk about their continued success with over $2.7 bn staked, making it one of the top 20 proof-of-stake networks globally, his hopes for ETH 2 and why, despite new entrants like Polkadot or Flow, he is still bullish on the future of the network.

This episode, we speak to Arjun Bhuptani, co-creator of MolochDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) created to fund Ethereum 2 grants, and to help solve the coordination problems in funding open-source protocols. We discuss how most problems stem from coordination, the importance of funding public goods, cost of legal documents vs automated systems allowing for anonymous funding, and treating economics and governance in a scientific way.

In this Founders of Web 3 special, Jamie Burke reads his recently published thesis, 'The Open Metaverse OS' a collaborative piece, from across the Outlier Ventures network, discussing the future of NFTs, DeFi and Web3. The book proposes an antidote to Web2, and a thesis, for how we can achieve an Open Metaverse. The text version can be read at: https://outlierventures.io/research/the-open-metaverse-os/

We talk with Joe Lallouz about Bison Trail’s recent acquisition by Coinbase, and why it is a net good for the wider crypto ecosystem. As a serial founder, who has now enjoyed multiple exits we hear about the process of an M&A from the inside, and explore Bisom Trail’s continuing mission to not just serve the biggest corporations in the space, like Coinbase or Facebook Libra, but the longtail of dApps and startups through a commitment to the democratization of finance technology. 

Vivek, Executive Director of Polkadex, discusses how, by leveraging the benefits of building on Polkadot and taking the best of centralised exchanges such as order books and combining it with innovations in DEX's, they have created a hybrid model which tackles industry challenges in price slippage, impermanent loss and democratises DeFi, by removing fees and front running.

Jamie talks to Sandeep who founded Matic Network, now Polygon, about building a layer 2 network for sidechains, rollups and blockchains in a mission to fix Ethereum’s transaction limitations. We discuss Sandeep’s road to a billion dollar network, Web 3 communities in India, multi-blockchain solutions, scaling, and the difficulties of a one-stop-shop for dApp developers.

Today, we talk to Ryan Gill, co-founder of Crucible Network who are pioneering direct-to-avatar commerce in the Metaverse. We discuss the importance of innovations in self-sovereign identity (SSI) and verifiable claims standards to ensure Web 3 and the Metaverse is more open and not limited to a handful of platforms. We discuss the idea of a 'metagame for the metaverse' where its citizens can use NFTs, such as digital art, fashion and in game items, as collateral in DeFi and play-to-earn.   This was recorded in Outlier Venture's Virtual Metaverse Studio, follow us on Twitter and YouTube to experience Jamie and Ryan's insightful discussion with visuals from The Metaverse Show.