Reasons and goals for my entry into the crypto market
Greetings !
It’s been a while. I’m Hwang Hyun-ki from Metakongz.
There have been too many issues.
There’s an unachieved goal in Metakongz:
to lead the global market with K-NFT.
I will continue to pursue this objective.
Naturally, it won’t be easy, and the initial stages may be challenging.
However, we aim to gather individuals who share same visions and will help us realize our goals and vision, just like in Metakongz.
Also, the most important thing is that I am prepared.
I have faced many disappointments.
Now, let’s begin this long journey.
1. I watched it by chance
Stephen Spielberg Movie Ready Player One
of course It was Spielberg.
I seemed to have found a new future after watching this movie.
“When I was young, everything I loved about ‘Lineage’ and more was captured in that.”
It felt like I wanted the chance to establish myself in this new world, ensuring anonymity, acquiring rare items, and exploring the potential for in-game currency (adena) to hold more value than real money, all while creating new job opportunities within the game.
“VR felt like a distant future, but looking at the advancements made with the Meta Quest currently being developed by ‘Meta,’ it’s truly impressive. Apple recently made a bold introduction of the Vision Pro, a VR & AR device, but the price was too high, leading to a sales halt. However, there are high expectations for the next iteration.”
In addition, Sam Altman is rapidly conducting a lot of data capacity and AI semiconductor infrastructure supply chain. Fast movements are so good.
There are views that says “metaverse meta is over,” but is it really the case?
“Even Citigroup, a giant corporation largely owned by many Jews, predicts that ‘by 2030, there will be 5 billion users in the metaverse.’ This suggests that more than half of the global population will be working, playing, and spending more time in the metaverse than in reality.”
The Era of Web3 is ahead
It has been several decades since the invention of the internet. The business model of Web 1.0 was primarily through portal sites. Many e-commerce businesses developed through platforms like Yahoo, Google, and Naver.
With the arrival of Web 2.0, we entered the mobile era. When Steve Jobs unveiled the smartphone, mobile platforms quickly became integrated into our daily lives, making them much more convenient.
Now we are in the era of Web 3.0. How long will the internet exist only in 3D? In the future, intermediaries are expected to disappear due to blockchain technology, and issues like data breaches and advancements in AI will make anonymity and personal security increasingly important.
In 2021, something remarkable happened with Roblox.
Roblocks Gucci bags were more expensive than Gucci bags carried in reality.
So why did you buy Gucci bag from Roblocks?
He probably thought it would be more time to spend in the world of Roblocks than in the real world.
Yes. It’s time.
The “value” will be determined by where I invest my time, and as CitiGroup and Meta discuss, the metaverse will certainly come. In the future, our children will talk about it.
“Dad, did you and Mom only use Instagram and TikTok on your phones back in your day?”
“And the fact that we spend money and time in virtual worlds isn’t limited to just the metaverse.”
“Our generation has already experienced the metaverse for over 20 years. There was a time when we bought acorns to purchase songs and decorate our mini rooms. And what about the game Lineage?”
Lineage was truly groundbreaking. It created many internet neologisms like “enjoy gaming,” “chaos,” “real fights,” “leveling up,” and more. Moreover, the ability to realize one’s identity within an anonymous environment was a phenomenon in itself. The avatar, remembered only by its ID as “another me,” could become a hero and gain fame, and the fact that we were thrilled by this and spent astronomical amounts of money on it was an astonishing experience.
Lineage served as a springboard for a booming gaming market in our country. Many people began spending real money to gain fame and enjoyment in the gaming world, leading to a significant increase in the market capitalizations of domestic game companies.
That’s right. I felt that all of these phenomena indicated that “we were potentially waiting for the metaverse.”
I believe the reason the metaverse is bound to succeed lies in human nature.
Just as Columbus discovered America and we explored the new continent of the internet, we now have smartphones and the metaverse. Humans have a strong desire to continuously seek new frontiers. Elon Musk has referred to one of these frontiers as “Mars,” and he is researching terraforming methods to make Mars similar to Earth’s environment.
“Isn’t the metaverse more realistic than terraforming Mars?”
That’s why I am confident that enormous changes that could completely transform humanity will occur within the next five years.
2. The inspiring spirit of Bitcoin and the cyberpunk movement.
The reason I entered this market is because I saw the future of the metaverse through “Ready Player One,” as well as the spirit of cyberpunk embodied in Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
So what is Cyberpunk?
Cyberpunk has an anarchistic, radical, and rebellious atmosphere regarding science and technology, focusing on issues like social ills, absurdities, and class conflicts arising from advanced technologies. The term combines “cybernetics” with the 1970s punk fashion trend, officially originating from Bruce Bethke’s short story “Cyberpunk” (1980).
Cyberpunks seek to find means to replace government authority through “cryptography.” Cryptocurrencies opened the door to verifying transaction trust without relying on official institutions like governments or banks. From that point on, cyberpunks came to refer to individuals who develop and utilize cryptographic technologies and privacy-enhancing tools to achieve social and political change. The term combines “cyber,” representing encryption, with “punk,” symbolizing resistance.
When considering the significance of Bitcoin, it can be seen as one of the works of cyberpunk activists rather than the product of an individual.
It is based on the philosophy of “privacy for the weak and transparency for the strong.”
Many people disillusioned with the realities of financial capital are calling for decentralization instead of centralization.
So, what is the relationship between Bitcoin, the current currency war, and the dollar?
The dollar, which has established itself as the world’s reserve currency, is gradually losing its status. This is largely due to the Federal Reserve, which is privately operated, having the sole authority to issue U.S. dollars and using that power to print money excessively. It seems absurd that a private entity is responsible for creating currency. However, this is the reality. As a result, the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis occurred, leading to many casualties.
After the shock of 2008, the people who cried tears of blood were all their own families and friends. The great shock of 2008 was caused by financiers and the privileged elite above them, who received bailouts and even threw bonus parties, while small businesses and the general public were left to suffer. The generation that witnessed this began to feel disillusioned with the reality of financial capital. It was during this time that an anonymous person named Satoshi Nakamoto uploaded the Bitcoin white paper to the internet in October 2008. It felt as if a hero had emerged in troubled times. The white paper he proposed contained some of the following text.
- A pure P2P electronic currency realizes an online payment system that directly transfers value without going through existing financial institutions.
This raises issues regarding monopolistic currency issuance (centralized systems). It presents “Bitcoin” as an alternative to overcome the limitations of the financial system. With blockchain technology, a new era has opened where transactions can occur between individuals without government or financial institution intervention.
So what is Blockchain?
**Decentralized Blockchain System**
1. All participants are administrators.
2. All transaction records are logged in a ledger.
3. Blocks are created, and transaction details are stored in these blocks.
4. Chains are connected.
5. Blocks containing transaction records are linked together in a chain.
6. It is characterized by being securely bound to one another.
7. If someone tries to intentionally alter the contents of a block, it is impossible unless all connected blocks are opened.
The core of blockchain is that each block connects to others to protect information without a centralized authority. Previously, all transactions were based on trust in a single, centralized ledger maintained by banks. However, using blockchain technology ensures trust through a multitude of distributed ledgers. This principle of blockchain will lead to a world where various fees and intermediaries become unnecessary.
In other words, it is a technology that can establish “trust” even without the intermediary of a bank.
Furthermore, Ethereum has created an incredible technology called smart contracts, which could eliminate all intermediaries.
The world is already preparing for the metaverse and virtual reality.
The image above depicts the “process of helping the public understand the metaverse,” initiated by an anonymous individual in 2021.
Isn’t it chilling how closely things are unfolding?
Recently, haven’t there been many damages caused by deepfakes and cyber wreckers? As AI continues to advance, cybercrime will persist. While it may not happen immediately, I predict that markets emphasizing anonymity, such as gaming, NFT communities, and Twitter, will gradually become more prominent and popular.
With the advancement of blockchain, all assets will be tokenized. In the future, the barriers to capital investment markets will become even higher than before. Many startups have focused on crafting their investment presentations with the mindset that they just need to attract investors, leading to a significant number of indiscriminate startups receiving funding.
In the future, income-generating real estate, franchise companies like Starbucks, hospitals, and many other assets will gradually transform into investment markets where individuals can invest through tokenization (such as STO or RWA).
This will bring many benefits to the market. Of course, there will be initial pain due to indiscriminate and uninformed investments, but if the groundwork is laid properly, it will ultimately be better for individuals.
Each company will need to establish greater benefits for individuals to attract investments smoothly. This will enable effective fundraising. As a result, individuals will invest in tokens (corporate shares) and receive returns and various benefits from each company.
In other words, individuals will have access to many more valuable investment opportunities that they previously couldn’t access in the existing system.
**Basic Income and the Metaverse**
Due to advancements in AI, Sam Altman and Elon Musk are advocating for a return to a society where everyone receives a basic income, similar to the times of ancient Rome. This movement is gaining significant momentum.
In the future, many jobs will disappear, and as Elon Musk puts it, we will enter an era where “anything you want can be obtained cheaply.” This can largely be attributed to AI. Their belief is that, under such circumstances, people will be able to live on a small basic income provided by the government.
What was the Roman Empire like?
As Rome conquered various nations, Roman employers began to hire cheaper labor in the form of slaves instead of Roman citizens, leading to job losses for the citizens. (Imagine those slaves as AI; the Roman citizens lost their jobs to AI, just like we might today.)
In response, the Roman Emperor introduced a basic income system, providing small amounts of bread and money. However, this led to a problem: the human nature of seeking meaning through work began to crumble. Consequently, the Roman Emperor became increasingly focused on concerns about riots and unrest.
Thus, the Roman Emperor began to construct various entertainment facilities, including the largest public baths and the Colosseum in the world.
Doesn’t it feel somewhat familiar? Yes.
In the future, the gaming and metaverse industries are likely to develop similarly to the Roman Colosseum, where we will increasingly seek our identities and find jobs within that space.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman believe that history may repeat itself due to AI. I share that belief. So, what should we prepare for?
The future will not unfold according to our conventional understanding. Therefore, we need to invest more time in studying blockchain (coins, NFTs, STOs, RWAs, etc.) and various forms of investment. Additionally, many futurists predict that the future will be an era dominated by influencers and celebrities.
Thus, while considering the metaverse era encompassing blockchain, social media, YouTube, and gaming, I want to emphasize the importance of continuously studying these areas and staying active in investing.
4. P2E (Play to earn) — Earn money through games.
I want to create games like Lineage or Pokémon to generate jobs in the future “metaverse.” I hope to start this journey with NFTs and contribute to many developments in the process.
My experience playing Axie Infinity has been very valuable. Since 2021, play-to-earn games have gained significant popularity in Southeast Asia and abroad. However, this concept is still unfamiliar in South Korea. Even among those in Korea who understand cryptocurrencies and invest in them, the idea of play-to-earn is not yet widely known.
Probably over 90% of the people in South Korea are unaware of it. The concept may be so unfamiliar that it could evoke uncomfortable reactions.
- Earning money through games: Does that make sense?
Let me introduce you to a game that is already gaining tremendous popularity in Vietnam and the Philippines. It’s the leading game in the NFT gaming market: Axie Infinity.
Axie Infinity is a game developed by a Vietnamese company, inspired by Pokémon. Despite having only 50 employees, it once achieved such immense popularity that it surpassed the market capitalization of NCSoft, making it a standout NFT game.
The way the game works is that you purchase three NFT characters that resemble cats and earn coins by playing PvE and PvP for 1–2 hours a day. You can also breed these characters and sell the offspring in the marketplace, potentially earning between 200,000 to 1,000,000 KRW.
Each character can cost between 300,000 to 1,000,000 KRW, and since they are NFTs, they hold unique asset value. This means you can safely resell them later. Transactions are quite active, and at one point, players could earn between 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 KRW monthly with an initial investment of 1,500,000 KRW. This led to the phenomenon where about 80% of the population in the Philippines became obsessed with the game.
The success of Axie Infinity has led to the emergence of many P2E NFT games based on the Ethereum chain, Binance chain, and Solana chain. Additionally, the P2E game Star Atlas, released in 2021, played a key role in establishing the Solana ecosystem.
Even before the game launched, they began selling items based solely on their roadmap and team introduction. Star Atlas sold NFT spaceships ranging from Tier 0 to Tier 5.
A significant number of people made purchases, and notably, a spaceship that was priced at $50 at the time surged to as much as $2,200.
This demonstrates that if you can strategically invest in newly released P2E NFT games, there is potential for substantial profits. We have now entered an era where gaming is becoming a form of investment.
However, I believe there is a significant flaw here. Consider the Adena in Lineage. As seen with Axie Infinity and Star Atlas, if volatile “coins” are designated as the currency within a gaming ecosystem, I believe the entire ecosystem will inevitably face a downward trend.
Therefore, I believe that building a gaming ecosystem with “game tokens” on the blockchain that cannot be easily converted to cash, like Adena in Lineage, will lead to a more sustainable and stable ecosystem.
I believe this approach could be a game changer.
Thanks to Lineage, sites like Item Mania and Item Bay emerged, didn’t they? If we focus on the enjoyment of the game and the gaming ecosystem rather than the price of coins, I think we can create a massive empire that generates countless jobs within the game.
What if we could bring in Marvel characters like Thor or Hulk into Lineage? Or carry Pikachu from Pokémon? Imagine being able to use items from other games!
If companies like Pokémon or Marvel were to launch NFT games, they would likely command tremendous prices based on the principle of scarcity.
I believe NFTs will shine first in the gaming industry. If a Pokémon NFT game is released in the future, being a Pokémon Trainer could become a legitimate profession.
Moreover, in open-world games like Lineage, we could see a rapid emergence of a world where players enhance NFTs, develop their characters, sell them, and make that their career.
Ultimately, this is the world many people dream of — the world of Ready Player One.
5. So what do I think about NFTs?
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, meaning “a token that is not interchangeable.” To understand NFTs, we first need to grasp the concept of blockchain.
Unlike fungible tokens like Bitcoin, which can be exchanged for one another, NFTs are unique and cannot be exchanged on a one-to-one basis.
To illustrate this with real estate: even if you build twin buildings, each will have a different address, making them distinct assets.
Similarly, NFTs operate on this principle. An Axie Infinity game character can hold asset value because it is unique, allowing you to truly own a character that is exclusively yours.
However, I would like to simplify the concept of NFTs and define them in two ways.
First, I would define NFTs as “New Future Tickets,” serving as tickets to a new future and the metaverse.
In a metaverse world, technology that proves ownership of personal assets will be essential. NFTs will act like property titles in the real world, verifying my ownership.
As we transition to the metaverse, my identity will be represented by an avatar, along with various items and virtual real estate, all made possible through NFTs. As mentioned earlier, blockchain is a technology built on trust.
Transactions must be trustworthy and seamless without intermediaries. Furthermore, all assets should be verifiably owned by me.
This is precisely what NFT technology enables.
Secondly, I define NFTs as “New Fan Technic,” a technology that creates genuine fans beyond just customers.
I find this similar to community dynamics in apartment complexes in South Korea.
For example, imagine owning a Hillstate apartment in Samseong-dong, Gangnam. If something negative happens within the community, residents might try to keep it quiet for fear of lowering property values. Instead, they come together to resolve issues and take various actions to boost property prices.
The NFT community I experienced mirrored this dynamic closely.
The founder of Yuga Labs, the leading PFT NFT company, expressed this sentiment regarding BAYC.
Isn’t it impressive? The 7,000 marketers mentioned refer to the holders who don’t receive a salary.
The same goes for Metakongz.
As people resonated with our roadmap, goals, and beliefs, they began joining us as holders, transforming into marketers themselves. They started showcasing Metakongz to their workplaces and families, engaging in authentic marketing efforts.
The impact was tremendous. Among the Metakongz holders were executives from large corporations and even celebrities, all working together to enhance the community’s value.
Thus, the Metakongz I founded saw the floor price of each NFT soar to a maximum of 40 million won. This was partly due to our daily announcements — 3 to 7 each day — demonstrating our commitment to achieving our goals, but the greater credit goes to the holders who became marketers themselves.
We were all hopeful that when the metaverse arrives, Metakongz would become our “luxury avatars.” In the metaverse, PFP NFTs will serve a role similar to that of cars in the real world. While some people may drive “Porsches, Benzes, and Lamborghinis,” for others, any NFT that simply exists in the space is akin to a car.
In the metaverse world, the most important thing will still be myself. Whether I choose to buy a luxury avatar or just any avatar will be up to each individual’s choice. Because of this phenomenon, and due to the belief of many in the future of the metaverse, the monthly trading volume of NFTs skyrocketed to about 7 trillion won, and the cheapest BAYC NFT reached up to 500 million won.
A community of 10,000 people is certainly not a small number. Joe Girard once said, “With a community of 10,000 fans, you can secure 2.5 million potential customers.”
In the future, platforms will be built around WEB3, forming communities. In the WEB2 mobile market, platforms were able to gather customer communities by providing services for “free,” like KakaoTalk, or focusing on more “convenient” offerings, such as delivering agricultural products in the early morning. As a result, a variety of business models have emerged on these community-based platforms, including Kakao Delivery, Kakao Taxi, webtoons, shopping, and more.
Now, WEB2 platforms have reached their limits. There’s no longer much they can offer to customers that feels truly rewarding. Therefore, I believe that in the future, WEB3 platforms that realize “shared value” will grow into even larger corporate giants. This means that businesses that originated in NFT communities could potentially invade the platform markets dominated by WEB2 giants, posing a significant threat.
So, what is value sharing?
What is value sharing?
WEB 2.0 (Realizing more value sharing) -> As we transitioned from WEB 1.0 to WEB 2.0, platforms that focus more on “value sharing” became mainstream. Examples include mega platforms like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, and YouTube.
Drawbacks
However, these mega platforms have a centralized interest structure. After the establishment of a corporation, they seek various institutional investments and eventually go public (IPO), resulting in a complex web of interwoven interests.
As a result
Therefore, the limitation is that the only beneficiaries are the shareholders within the company.
WEB 3.0 (Perhaps realizing value sharing properly) -> The WEB 3.0 business model is based on the concept of “let’s share and distribute assets with each other.” The emergence of “cyberpunk” groups that criticize the centralized social structure originates from the spirit of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Restoring Trust
This is the biggest challenge for the WEB 3.0 industry. If trust can be restored and the number of participants increases compared to now, the realization of value sharing in WEB 3.0 will come sooner.
**As a result**
If a WEB 3.0 mega platform emerges where immutability, scarcity, and utility coexist, and where “we share and distribute value,” I believe that WEB 2.0 mega platforms will begin to collapse rapidly.
That’s it.
I believe that NFTs will ultimately serve as essential “elements” in the metaverse. Before that world arrives, I want to build a well-prepared community.
Our company owns the mission of ‘PunkVism’: The movement of adventurers who resist the unreasonable society, and wants to create a really powerful community by recruiting PUNKYVIST (Punkyvist).
The Punkyvists, as I see them, are people who simply cannot tolerate unreasonable things. They are those who can’t stand injustice and might sometimes feel alienated from the world because of their extraordinary way of thinking. These are people who aren’t ordinary and don’t hesitate to take adventurous actions for the sake of adventure, and they might also be early adopters who are always faster than others at purchasing new products. That’s why they’ve entered the NFT market.
First and foremost, with the vision of ‘K-NFT to the world,’ I want to successfully launch the new Metakongz, which will be distributed for free to existing Metakongz holders and the early-selected Punkyvists.
This will be an extremely difficult challenge, but as they say, ‘the crazy dreamers who believe they can change the world are the ones who do.’ We will absolutely make it happen.
Thank you
Snowseed Cofounder, Writer COO : Chris Park
Home page : https://snowseed.io/kor
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/snowseed_official/
X : https://x.com/SnowSeedasia
Discord : https://www.discord.com/snowseed
Chris X : https://x.com/Punkyvist
Chris Instagram : https://instagram.com/parkjoongseon
