NFT the Movie is one of the next big things when it comes to NFTs. The movie will document the stories of inspiring artists from around the world through NFT technology. Major Dream Williams is one of the people attached to the project. He helps represent Caribbean culture and the uniqueness Puerto Rico has to offer. Major is the Founder of DreamVille Labs PR and the Chief Curating Officer of the Caribbean Art Mob. Learn how he got into NFTs and the importance of embracing culture. Tune in to get inspired! Join your hosts Eathan Janney, Jeff Kelley, and Josh Kriger and their guest, Major Dream Williams, as they tackle the meaning of culture and a little bit more about the movie.
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Major Dream Williams on NFT The Movie And Minting Culture, Plus SoRare To Get $532 Million In Funding Led By Softbank, Largest Round In Crypto History
Welcome to the show. We got a great episode featuring our guest, Major Dream Williams.
We’ll find out what the heck NFT the Movie is and what does it have to do with elevating culture.
We’ll also find out what’s led to the largest round of funding in crypto history at $500 million.
In addition, we’ll learn what the three ingredients are that Major Dream recommends to help the next generation thrive. Find out about all this and more on this episode of Edge of NFT. Don’t forget to head over to our website at EdgeOfNFT.com to sign up for our newsletter and dive further down the rabbit hole.
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This episode features Major Dream Williams, an early blockchain adopter with a background in traditional finance. He and his company are documenting how to use NFT innovation to move the culture forward and connect humanity. It’s called NFT The Movie, a documentary about the movers, shakers and givers in NFTs anchored around the first successful blockchain vote for Brock Pierce and the team that was a part of it. Welcome, Major.
It’s so great to see you and to be in person with you. We are having a great time in Puerto Rico. It’s too good. Too many piña coladas and mojitos. It’s been great to see you and see so much vibrant energy around blockchain and making Puerto Rico the best place on Earth. Having you here is fantastic. To kick it off, given your diverse background where you have the opportunity to see the world through many different cultures? What does culture mean to you?
First of all, thank you for having me here. I’m super excited. The space is super exciting and the reason that I feel even more is because I get a chance to help mint culture. You ask, “What is culture?” Culture is the lifeblood of any vibrant civilization and community. Culture is how we talk, how we eat, what we eat, how we dress, how we wear our hat, how we talk with our slang, how we dance and walk. These types of what is normally intangible are the things that make you walk down the street and realize, “That’s different.” When you see that, that is culture shining through.
Over the last many years, there have always been people who see culture and are able to take it somewhere where it doesn’t affect the culture positively. Whether that be monetarily or in the philosophical aspect because they’re now putting their piece of culture in other people’s hands. It gets to be wrangled, mangled and whatever have you so that something like Tex-Mex develops. It’s not necessarily Mexican food. It’s not necessarily Texas food. It’s Tex-Mex. Some people love it, some people don’t, but the idea is it’s based on the foundation of the culture.
What that’s made me think of is it’s interesting that we’ve been talking about digital real estate. A lot of times, where you can make an analog between digital real estate and real-world real estate is how much traffic there is. If there’s a lot of traffic and the physical location, that’s great. That drives the price up of that piece of physical real estate. If there’s a lot of traffic in a virtual location, that drives up the price of that virtual space.
Money always follows the cool. Click To Tweet
What’s interesting to me about what you’re saying is what makes that virtual space more appealing. To track the traffic is culture. It’s like, “What’s going on there? What’s exciting? What’s interesting to look at? What’s interesting to listen to?” We’ve seen it throughout the years with cultures and various large cities and urban areas. You see this happen over and over again. A very rich culture moves in when it’s inexpensive monetarily. The culture gets enriched, then the real estate price drives up, and everybody wants to be there. That’s really fascinating.
Historically, it’s exactly right. To piggyback on that, money always follows the cool. People want to be associated with the culture like movers and the trendsetter. A lot of times, those are the people who are anti-culture. They can’t find jobs and something to express so they end up in these places like a Soho with these warehouses. What comes right after that is the money. It becomes trendy, prices necessarily go up, and the people that made it cool end up leaving.
It makes me think about Busboys and Poets. Jeff and I are from DC and that’s been a cultural institute for as long as you can imagine. Wherever there’s Busboys and Poets, there’s a lot of development. Who created Busboys and Poets are artists and they’ve been great about keeping their prices reasonable, making sure the entire community is part of that environment. We’ve had many good meals at Busboys and Poets over the years.
That’s what culture is about. The things that are remembered. Culture is taxed to nostalgia, the things that make you feel comfortable. Culture is important to me. As a Jamaican, to simply put out, traveling the world, I understand what a simple shift an accent is. If you see me, you feel like I’m African-American but I don’t necessarily identify as African-American. I’m Jamaican-American. It’s different. My culture is something that I cherish but since a lot of us have been born in the States, we have now created this thing called a Jamerican. We are rooted in the culture but we like things a little bit more first world so it makes us a little more detached. When we go back to the island, we’re too Yankee to be a YArdie, but then in America, we’re too Yardie to be a Yankee. That was the straddle I had to go down.
I understand this much when I was in Dubai, Paris or something else, when people hear a Jamaican accent, everything changes. Whether I talk about Bob Marley, Cool Runnings or the Jamaican man that broke them hearts. That could be the thing. That’s what culture is. When I look at it, people will be able to sit on people’s couches and sit for months with a doctor to talk them through their life trauma just to get a smile and a good feel. If I can do that with an accent, that right there to me seems like there’s something monetizable there. I was like, “NFT is the best chance for us to get involved and mint ourselves.”
Let’s spend some time talking about innovation and culture in Puerto Rico, crypto, art, and curating the Caribbean. What has your experience been and how has it influenced your thinking on how to elevate local culture?
I’ve been in Puerto Rico right after Marias because as a child of the Caribbean, the goal was to come down and help. Before that, I was in Jamaica with my family working in a business. We own some land over on the North Coast. It did a lot to help improve the Jamaican Island. We ended up coming of age to be able to focus on the business so we wanted to develop. I did one of the cardinal sins. That’s what I advise innovators to do at this point. I came down like a Jamerican. You know what you should do and not understand what underground politics meant and what the movement was about. I came in knowing better. I came in with Fortune 50 companies working with me, with $700 an hour lawyers. All you’re doing is coming down and ruffling feathers, not because they don’t see the benefit but it’s all about how you present yourself. The optics is important.
In the Caribbean, if you understand this much, we will cut our nose to spite our face because our pride is what we have so when you’re gone, we’re still there. That was something that I witnessed and I understood. This goal here in Puerto Rico, the stakes are at their highest because there’s so much real movement that can happen. I found myself in the place to be able to speak to the innovators that are coming down. Most of them are coming down to save taxes but the thing is these are winners. These are people who do and the Caribbean culture is counterintuitive. You can’t come down with a full head of steam because we will slow you down. This is like going back in time.
I was at lunch with one of the guys that created the act that created all these tax incentives. My observation talking to him is that’s the initial hook. It’s similar to crypto. It’s making money and saving money. Those things are nice but then there’s some magic that happens, some dust that flies through the air and wraps you up. You see the potential and more. It was a brilliant strategy for Puerto Rico to create those incentives to get everyone to look at something differently. A couple of follow-ups too. I’ve already realized that if people are coming down here to save money on taxes, they usually don’t stick around. They come for a little bit but they’re not going to last 1 or 2 years once they see a lot of work has to be done here. On the other hand, while there are people coming down here to save on taxes, the people that are sticking around more than not are feeling invested in integrating the culture into the better life that people in this area might want. They’re trying to improve infrastructure or build a society in a way in which it benefits everyone. That’s very interesting.
Ultimately, the only thing I would like to say on top of that is we’re talking to people who are successful. At this rate, I don’t care about your success. I care about you as a person. The idea is that anybody necessarily needs to come down and improve, more than people need to come down and see what’s going on and support. Everyone here is trying to improve themselves. Nobody is not trying to improve.
NFT Culture Movie: Culture is the lifeblood of any vibrant civilization. It’s how you talk, eat, or dress.
Jeff and I have a term for that. It’s called the Good Idea Bouquet.
Do you know what we should have been? I’m like, “My G, hold on, chill and relax. You’re right. We should. Don’t tell anybody that though.” Ask and see what they’re doing and quietly supply money. At the end of the day, you’re still doing good where you come from. You only have to do six months or half the year here, which most people operate on that. I’m one of those people. I live here full-time because we all need a big homie on the ground. It’s not like everybody comes six months and then leaves six months. Everybody comes at different times. You need to have at least a constant down here and that’s where I found myself.
The other thing I want to call back to because I find it fascinating, and then I have a question that’s related to the next step. Going back to you talking about speaking in a different accent, we might even have some B-roll to add as supposed to the movie. You met a friend of ours, Elliot. We were all hanging out. He knew that he had a common connection to a culture that you had. He actually started speaking your language. It was impressive the way that you two immediately solidified a connection. I’m happy to have been able to see that to illustrate what I’m talking about. I’m going to hit the next question here. If you could tell us about the Caribbean Art Mob and how that empowers artists.
The Caribbean Art Mob is a movement. It’s funny because I had a real conversation about this because we’re doing the branding and getting it out there what it is. On the islands, we have a love affair with the mafia, big families with a way of being that combine that classic debonair vibe, that masculine where your families felt safe, and swashbuckling adventurer that was looking for a treasure in the Caribbean. That adventurer who’s willing to jump out there on the island. When I look into it, violence has always started with the mob.
When we talk about taking that culture, you need to be able to do it in a way that elicits an inclusive, helpful, yet stern, forceful and measured way of being. Don Corleone was very understated. With a look, things happen. That’s what we want to be here in the Caribbean. We want to be someplace where people and artists feel trusted. That they can trust us but we can be a bridge to that artist’s pool that they’re looking for because every emerging artist wants to be recognized. Right now, we find that the best place for a lot of these artists to be is with a crew that is looking to educate, uplift, support, fight for, and who is savvy enough to maneuver those at high levels.
It’s interesting. I happened to be watching some footage of Spike Lee at Cannes, which has been going on. I forget the title but he was given a position that became the first black person to have this position of leadership at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s fascinating to me. I heard him calling out politicians in various countries as gangsters. I thought that was fascinating. It’s taking that term which has been used in so many different scenarios and using it for a pejorative term when it comes to the type of insider politics and leadership that’s happening in various countries.
Bullying. You can bully with information. We keep things apart. I’ve always been fascinated with repurposing words. In the hood, we had to grow up hearing things about ourselves and still having to go through that and coming out of that. That’s because we didn’t believe these things about ourselves. You could call me whatever you want but if you’re not calling me my name, you’re not talking to me. The aspect of me saying this is a mob is because the people who have been on the outside normally end up being the mob but because we are a community. Let’s mob up. Let’s mob out. We’re mobbing. Let’s roll together. It’s unity.
Community is everything when it comes to the creator, culture, NFTs, and all the cool stuff that you’re cooking up.
It doesn’t matter without community.
Let’s take a step back for a second. We’re here talking about so many impactful elements of culture, community and art. The bridge to the technology side of that is NFTs. What was your introduction to NFTs? How did the idea for a movie about it come about?
Two things. At first, my induction into the NFT world was a few years ago. One of my dear friends came to me. He’s a top blockchain guy. He came to me with this sports project because he had been working with a bunch of retired NFL players and they didn’t know how to monetize their life after. He’s like, “You need to start planning for retirement. You need to get into this NFT space.” I don’t even know if he called it NFT but it was a way to create these digital collectibles. I’m bringing it to some of my basketball player friends and my brother who plays professional basketball down in Australia. I’m bringing it to him and then he introduced me to folks.
All of them are looking at me, “Why would I need that? I’ve got my fans.” A Black Swan event happens and now everybody’s like, “How can I monetize my fans?” NFT is what everybody wants to do. You have the NBA Top Shot. You have these things. Timing is what it’s all about. A few years ago, I started learning about that. Fast forward to me sitting down with Jeff Crane, the producer of NFT the Movie. Barely a conversation went down and then he ended up having another conversation with Ken Bozak. All of a sudden, “We got NFT the Movie.” He buys a domain for $12 and stuff like that. The next thing you know, a movement is happening because of the community.
We understand that we have some amazing people in the crypto space that are here in Puerto Rico. This is a hotbed. As my partner, Zach, normally says, “This is a Cambrian explosion of the future and we have all of these world leaders and innovators stacked right on top of each other.” I’m sitting here like a kid in a candy store. We’re sitting there having a conversation. The beautiful thing about it is that you get to break bread and talk to people as people. The movie is about that uniqueness that Puerto Rico is causing.
We’ll have a chance to chat with Jeff. I’m excited to see this movie come to life. I know you guys are doing the Festival Circuit. That would be exciting. You mentioned at some point to me the connection between Brock Pierce and NFT the Movie. How does that come together? How did the election and Brock’s running for office fit in? What does that all have to do with NFTs? Put these pieces together for us.
There are many smarter people out there that could probably put this thing together but I’ll give it a try. Brock Pierce is one of the lead thought leaders in the crypto blockchain, freedom, individuality movement. He started off as a child actor but since then, he’s been an advocate for a lot of the people who have been on the outside. When we talk about voting and we talk about NFTs, what we’re talking about is provenance and identity, “Are you you?” “Yes, you are as long as we can know that.” When we talk about voting, especially in this country in this past election, there’s a lot of accusatory things about the legitimacy of voting. As far as I can see, NFTs are the best way to at least make sure you’re talking to somebody that you’re talking to.
With Brock being such a futurist, he’s somebody who has been able to see around corners for many years. I thank him all the time for being able to take shots because when you’re doing something that’s disruptive, things are going to come at you from all sides. He takes it on the chin with a grin and keeps going so I commend him for that. He came up to me and I’m like, “I’m focusing,” because I still have a farm project, an agriculture project, and I focus on mushrooms, microgreens and that stuff. Brock knows me into doing that, cooking, fitness and all of that. I’m like, “Brock, I’m doing NFTs. I’m an NFT man.”
He sat with me for about three hours trying to convince me not to, and how hard this is going to be because I told him how I’m trying to move the culture and the industry in the Caribbean. It’s not like he’s trying to get me to not do it but as somebody that has been doing it for so long and has felt all of them coming at you from all sides, he cares about me. He’s like, “If you want to do mushrooms, I’ve got you. Let’s do that.” I’m like, “This is the purpose, the focus, and what this blood is pumping into my veins to do. I’m a son of the Caribbean and if I can get back and help that by being in this small group of people who understand this space, that’s what I get to do.” He gave me love, a hug and was like, “I’ve got your back.” This is why we get to do an interview here in his place because it’s love and support. It’s always been that. He will tell you, I’ve never asked him for anything. The only thing I’ve always asked is access because as soon as I figure out what makes sense, we’re going to take it to Jamaica.
We’re in a monastery in old San Juan right next to one of the major government offices.
We’re right next to the governor. The governor lives behind us.
It’s a beautiful building. I was here in 2018 when it was purchased. This place has been restored. We’ll share some pictures of our background with the readers at home too because it is a special building.
NFT Culture Movie: Come in knowing better. It’s all about how you present yourself.
What you were talking about getting something started with the name of a project and then all of a sudden, it gets momentum for saying, “I’m doing this but I’m deciding to throw my weight into this,” and those risks that it takes. Probably one of the values, whether stated or not in this show is initiation. Taking the initiative to get something started. He looked at people like the CEO of Binance, maybe Binance.US or Binance in general. We talked about what was their advantage moving forward, moving fast, and trying things. One of our most respected entrepreneurs nowadays like Elon Musk, a lot of people are fascinated by all the different projects that he’s doing but he has this attitude of, “Nobody else is doing it so I’m going to do it.” It’s spaces like this where it’s fresh and new, and it’s those people that realize, “I can own this and I can create this. I can be the one that determines how this is going to be in the future.” That’s a lot of magic.
It was Matt’s first time here in Puerto Rico, but people have been talking to you about us. People have been talking to us about you for as long as we had both been working on projects, which has been like no time. There’s this energetic attraction there between just doing it. We created our first show a month after we decided to do a show. We started creating content. We have a newsletter coming soon but we didn’t stop to get everything perfect because innovation now is at a hyper-speed and you have to flow with energy.
To piggyback on that before I asked my next question, being here in Puerto Rico, we see many people with this kind of initiative. I’ve talked to many people here. We’ve been to some entrepreneurial events and people who are investing in projects. They’re shooting for the moon, they’re excited, and they’re going for it, “Do you want to come on board?” They’re excited and see people are into it. The next question I have is simply, when is this documentary, NFT the Movie, coming out, if you know and where can we view it when it does?
I am going to keep that under wraps in the hands of Jeff Crane. I can tell you this much. We are filming a Puerto Rico section of NFT the Movie. After that, we will be finished shooting, editing will happen, and we will be submitting to Sundance. It will be on the Sundance Film circuit and maybe Cannes at some point but as far as the story and what happens, it’s Jeff Crane’s baby so I’ll wait for him to join the show to tell you.
Eathan is pretty good at getting people to reveal their secrets. We have to have Jeff on sooner than we expected. We’ll figure that out.
Perhaps you’ll be nominated for Best Supporting Actor in this scene. If it wasn’t one of the best scenes, I wouldn’t be nominated for Best Supporting Podcast.
I definitely would give you guys Best Supporting Podcast before me being Best Supporting Actor. That’s for sure. I’m a happy servant of the Caribbean and I’m glad that I’m able to highlight this and what we’re doing here in Puerto Rico because Puerto Rico is a special place to me. Most people don’t know, but we are on the Southern tip of the Bermuda Triangle. This is a portal. This grasps and brings the things that it needs and spits the things that it doesn’t need out. I always say to people, “Where are you running away from or to?” The islands have a way of doing that. It’s bringing people down and when you’re not treating it right, It’s casting you off.
Speaking of talking to many people and you’re not going to give up all the goods on the movie yet, is there anybody, a project or an individual you have spoken with that stands out to you that we should keep an eye on?
There are so many. I met a guy, Elliot, who’s doing this thing with engines. He’s getting a chance to render these cultural spots around the world. They did this Machu Picchu. He comes up to me and I’m like, “It’s how they did it in Japan.” I’m not saying that people in the States aren’t doing rise up but I’ve over pixelating stuff.
I’m going to clarify what this is. We’ve been hearing this a little bit more. You heard it personally from Elliot. He is an expert in AR/VR technology. What he’s done and what his company is doing is going to some of the major sites around the world and creating AR/VR versions of those places. When he went to Machu Picchu, he created a whole world that is now digital Machu Picchu, which looks like a picture of it. What they can do is license this to video games and other users like a Flight Simulator or whatever so that now people can play a game in nearly what is the real Machu Picchu. It’s called Virtual Worlds.
In the real world of real estate when people go there, the price goes up.
Elliott loves the show. He’s going to go crazy on this segment.
Elliot, wag your wand. You know what they have. They’ll tell you big things. They’ll talk more about what it cause when you go around the Caribbean. They want that type of resonance because the Caribbean is beautiful. Trust me, I’ve mentioned pirates earlier and going around for gold and booty. The real gold and booty are the people. The people of the Caribbean are the treasure. That is what I’m trying to highlight. Your granny that has the little joke all the time or that auntie that always smacks you in the butt and gives those religious services. That is culture.
Jeff, do we have time for a couple of quick hitters because I want to know what Major has to say about some of his backgrounds?
How are you doing, Major? What do we have for time? We can jump into a few of these.
Let’s do it. People remember this, I’m a man of the people. I come from the ‘80s New York so remember the times were different.
Let’s jump into this. Let’s give you the whole thing. Major, Edge Quick Hitters is a fun quick way to get to know you a little better. There are ten questions. We’re looking for short single-word or few-word responses. Feel free to expand though if you get the urge.
No problem.
Number one, what’s the first thing you remember ever purchasing in your life?
A number. I went to the Number Hall and bought a two. I remember that I hit number one. I said, “I’ll go to the Number Hall and my grandmother,” and I bought a two.
NFT Culture Movie: You need to start planning for retirement. You need to get into the NFT space.
Number two, what’s the first thing you remember ever selling in your life?
Those boxes of big chocolate bars. I went to Catholic school and they had these big chocolate bars with walnuts and almonds in them. I used to have to sell those at Easter time.
It’s hot in Jamaica. Don’t those things melt? I’ve tried to ship chocolate there.
You’re right about that but this was in New York.
The Bronx, is that right?
Throw up your Xs if you’re from The Bronx and Uptown.
Brooklyn over here.
Number three, what’s the most recent thing you purchased?
A plane ticket. I took a plane ticket from Los Angeles to Venice Beach where I got a chance to go to Bright Moments. They’re amazing. My business partner, Zach, and his partner were amazing. Bright Moments was someplace.
We have another common connection. Zach introduced us to Bright Moments and we do show out there at their art gallery. We’re doing one with Elliott Keats.
Learn to dance, learn to cook, and learn to listen. Click To Tweet
I love them. That was the last memorable thing I bought other than gas.
You were able to pick up a CryptoVenetian while you were there.
I’m excited about this and I love the space but I don’t necessarily have space to quip me around. It’s not like I’m running around for things and items but I did get hype when I got this CryptoVenetian, and you guys spoke about it.
I have the best one. That means you have a shot at having the second-best CryptoVenetian.
That’s the beauty of NFT. It gives you that kind of childish like, “Look what I’ve got.” It’s that discovery that you could even think of. The AI and the type of technology that gets put together can create something that we can even think of. That gives you that childish fun.
My girlfriend who normally works until 4:00, and they only do the Venetians from 3:00 to 4:00, is figuring out what day she can leave work early to get her CryptoVenetian.
I still can’t believe I showed up at that time. Thank you, CryptoVenetian.
For folks who don’t know about Bright Moments, it’s a physical gallery where they display virtual art and NFTs. If you show up between 3:00 to 4:00, you have a shot at getting a CryptoVenetian, which is the equivalent of proof of attendance or a token but much sexier and cool. Check it out. Question number four, what’s the most recent thing you sold?
My dream hat was the last thing that I sold. I had some women come in from New York and they bought three hats. That was the last thing that I sold. It’s my help to the community to promote island living as well as the plant-based living.
Number five, what is your most prized possession?
NFT Culture Movie: When you talk about voting and NFTs, what you’re really talking about is its provenance, it’s identity.
My freedom.
Number six, if you can buy anything in the world, digital, physical, service or experience that’s currently for sale, what would that be?
Perspective. I’d love to get perspective from everyone.
That plays into the next question. If you could pass on any one of your personality traits to the next generation, what would that be?
I’m a Gemini so there are seventeen of us so I have something for everyone. If I were to pass on one thing, I would definitely pass on my sense of rhythm. Noticing tone and rhythm, my empathy. It’s more of an empath type of life.
I got that. I thought you meant dance rhythm.
If there are three things I can give anybody as far as mindset to be good with. I would tell every young man out there if I can pass you on three things, I would say learn to dance, cook and listen. If I could pass on anything, those three things. For the listening, I’m still working on but nonetheless, dancing and cooking, facts.
Those are the top three things that will get you laid as well.
I live by the four Ws. Women have got the first but the thing is if you do it nicely, it should.
Number eight, if you could eliminate one of your personality traits from the next generation, what would that be?
I would say to be realistic with yourself in terms of how you use your time. You can’t be everything to everyone. Learn to say no and trust that things will come back around. They may not look the same but they smell the same.
Overcommitment is what you would delete from the next generation. I can see that.
There are lots of opportunities. It’s hard to focus. Number nine, what did you do before joining us on the show?
What I did was I left a two-hour conversation with one of the leaders of local artists and I got 30 local graffiti street artists to commit to a workshop to teach them how to mint NFT, how to make NFTs, and why it’s important that they are recognized in the culture.
We might know that artist. That’s pretty awesome.
Both are compelling answers. We’ll take them both. It’s much appreciated. Last one, question ten, what are you going to do next after the show?
What I’m going to do is sit with my team. I have some amazing people here that are helping me with the vision of curating the Caribbean, minting the culture, sitting down and pushing things forward. We’re starting branding. We have more amazing art families on the island that are starting to be curious about this. We want to look at ourselves not just as the art mob but as the art education platform and show these folks that as old or as young as you are, we’ve got something for you. I don’t do this by myself. I do this with an amazing team.
I have Bobby. I have Alanna. She has a dope last name, and my main man, Miguel, in-house in the art community. There are beautiful artists like my man, Gustavo. First of all, we sit in a place of art because at the end of the day, as Brock told me, if he wasn’t doing anything he was doing, he would sit down and collect art. It keeps the movement going. At this pace, things are moving so fast so we’re trying to stay bonded together and push forward because as I feel it, we are at the tip of the spear.
We’ve learned that many people in the blockchain were collectors at heart. Before anything else, they’d like to collect and it’s a human instinct to decide, “I treasure this and collect them.” We all have them. I forgot that I collected Garbage Pail Kids until someone started talking about it in the show.
It’s that thing that at the end of the day, and I’m sorry, this may be taking it out another line, but everyone wants a few clouts and everyone also sees the world in a little bit of an angle. When you find a community that looks at it at the sliver of the way that you do, it’s like, “You do too?” It goes back to the fact that there is no you and me. There was just I and I. You’ll hear the Rastas say, “I and I the item. That’s the connection.” That’s when you find that you recognize that we all have a shared culture. There is no black or white. I’m not saying that there is no black and white because there is black and white, but the idea that black and white means that we can’t find commonality, that right there to me is what culture eviscerates. Once you have that common culture, it doesn’t matter what you are.
NFT Culture Movie: This is your time to tip your culture. This is your time to wave your flag. Nobody could do anything without you being involved.
My grandmother is Syrian and Irish and my grandfather is West African but we’re all Jamaican. That’s the one thing that culture keeps us wrapped in. As far as what the Caribbean has to offer, you see that it’s showing the other day. I love Michael B. Jordan. Keep doing good work but this is where you had an opportunity that you missed. He got inspired to make a rum from Trinidad called J’ouvert. In Trinidad, come Carnival time, this is one of the massive parties. It celebrates the dead and its religious undertones. There’s so much to it. He chose to name his rum J’ouvert when the people in Trinidad those people that stave and guard the culture. He talked about how it was inspired by that. They approached him and he got targeted on Twitter and they said, “Either are we going to be compensated, tipped, credited something or what?”
He opted to change the name. One, it shows that black people are not necessarily a monolith. It shows that there is Island culture, trinity culture but it also shows that there is no current way that it goes without saying. That’s the beauty of blockchain. You have a trustless society. You have smart contracts because he would have done differently if it was approached differently. When you put somebody on the spot, they’re going to act defensive. He missed an opportunity to do it so I’m thinking this is what the Art Mob is all about. It’s minting the culture so if something like that happens, it’s already standard and it’s already a little tip coming back to the culture.
That’s a great point and that’s a hot topic. If you say that’s a great transition into a hot topic section, we’ll talk a little bit about the news of the day.
We do appreciate it. Thanks for all the insights. It was great. Thanks for indulging us in quick hitters.
Thank you so much for that time. That was fun.
Eathan, what’s going on with one of these major hot topics that caught my attention, one of the largest rounds in crypto history led by ubiquitous and controversial venture capital groups? What’s the story there?
Ethereum-based NFT platform, Sorare, is said to get $532 million in funding led by SoftBank, the largest round in crypto history. This is about the fantasy soccer game and the non-fungible token trading platform, Sorare. The valuation after that funding round is $3.8 billion. This round would add to an already lucrative 2021 for crypto startups, which is seen the top six funding rounds in 2021 collectively raised more than $1.9 billion. I see what you’re seeing here is the cash is stacking up.
What’s wild about this, and maybe it’s just I saw the Netflix show on WeWork, is I would think SoftBank would be a little tentative about throwing down this amount of money. What do we need all that money for when you have a mob, movement, and energy that strikes me as a large check? What do you think?
Apparently, I need to ask for more money because we can use that money in the Caribbean. You can see the wave is coming. There’s going to be more things similar, maybe not as much as SoftBank. If there’s teaming up with football and we know how rabid those fans are, that right there is probably what should have been raised. When you think about how global that is, you look at that money now a little bit different.
The Ethereum-based fantasy soccer game is a cool concept where players trade and manage a virtual team with trading cards. They’re taking NBA top shots to a whole new level. Jeff, what are your thoughts?
It doesn't matter what you are. We all have a shared culture. Click To Tweet
You think about the speed with which innovation is happening and companies are building a foundation from which they can grow and do other things. To give a sense for 2019, they raised their initial seed private round of $550,000. In 2020, they raised $4 million and in 2021, they raised $3.5 million to get to where they are. They raised $500 million at an almost $4 billion valuation in that timeframe. That’s insane. There’s speed to a unicorn. Instagram was eighteen months to $1 billion or something like that, which is crazy at the time. It’s nuts how fast it is and there’s real value there. Soccer is the largest, most popular sport in the world and an amazing platform that Sorare’s building. I think about companies like the Googles of the world that have a tremendous amount of power to create opportunity and value on the foundation that they built. I’m excited to see what the heck Sorare is going to do next. That’s a lot of money for a company at this stage.
We’ll get them on the show and have Eathan find out all their secrets.
I know what they can do next. They could come and launch on the Lux blockchain. Shameless plug. Our friend Zach Kelling has launched a beautiful blockchain project in the Isle of Man, which is a tax-free zone. He has one of the only licenses, if not the only license to operate a money transfer. He’s putting the Lux blockchain in the Isle of Man. If you’re talking about $500 million of things moving around, you guys might want to look up Zach Kelling. It’s a great opportunity to at least hedge some of your taxes because there’s going to be a lot of things moving around for those football players.
Some good tax advice for Sorare, even though we do not provide tax advice.
We are not tax-people at all.
No financial investment advice either, whatsoever.
I’m just a Jamaican man, drink my rum and about herbs, and talk good things with the people.
Besides your friend, Zach, where can readers go to learn more about you and the projects you’re working on?
You can definitely check out NFTTheMovie.com. We will be on there. @PlantBasedMan on Instagram and @MajorDream_ on Twitter. There’s going to be the ArtMob.io, so we can get that on and popping. Reach out. Hit me up on Instagram. For all the Caribbean massive with their boats, whether you’re from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica or Trinidad, this is your time to tip your culture and wave your flag. You already have it. This is time for us to represent. That way, after this point, nobody could do anything without us being involved.
We’ve reached the outer limit at the Edge of NFTs for this episode. Thanks for exploring with us. We’ve got space for more adventures on the starship, so invite your friends and recruit some cool strangers that will make this journey also much better. How? Go to iTunes, rate us, say something cool, and then go to EdgeOfNFT.com to dive further down the rabbit hole. Want to help co-create Edge of NFT, got a guest you want to see on the episode, questions for the hosts or guests, an NFT you’d like us to review? Drop us a line at Contact@EdgeOfNFT.com or tweet us at EdgeOfNFT to get in the mix. Lastly, be sure to tune in next episode for more great Edge of NFT content. Thanks again for sharing this time with us.
Important Links
- Major Dream Williams – LinkedIn
- Busboys and Poets
- Festival Circuit
- Bright Moments
- Binance.US
- NFTTheMovie.com
- PlantBasedMan – Instagram
- @MajorDream_ – Twitter
- ArtMob.io
- iTunes – Edge of NFT Podcast
- Contact@EdgeOfNFT.com
- EdgeOfNFT – Twitter
- Ethereum-Based NFT Platform Is Said To Get $532 Million In Funding Led By Softbank, The Largest Round In Crypto History
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