Exploring the Metaverse with MultiNFT CEO Guy Goldenberg

In this AMA, we had the pleasure of being joined by Guy Goldenberg, the CEO of MultiNFT. We got the chance to ask Guy about the future of digital entertainment and the metaverse, as well as NFTs and what is their role in the digital age. He also had the chance to explain a bit about MultiNFT's vision for the metaverse, the challenges that comes with the digital era, and how the metaverse and entertainment may combine.

This Slogging thread by Sara Pinto, Guy, Mónica Freitas, Abeer and Jack Boreham occurred in slogging's official #amas channel, and has been edited for readability.

Sara PintoFeb 16, 2022, 12:00 PM

Hey @channel, please join me in welcoming our next AMA guest, Guy. Guy is the CEO at MultiNFT, a group that seeks to create a cross experience between the metaverse and the real world by connecting musicians and art designers to their fans worldwide.

Please feel free to ask Guy anything about:

Sara PintoFeb 16, 2022, 12:00 PM

Hi Guy, it's a pleasure to have you with us. Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you started with MultiNFT?

GuyFeb 16, 2022, 12:32 PM

Hello Sara and thank you for inviting me over!
I'm 30 years old, an early crypto adopter, and previously before I made my professional debut in metaverse and NFTs- I used to play guitar for several prominent metal bands which I toured the world with and got to know the ins and outs of the production and entertainment industries starting from a very young age.

After being done with live performances as a lifestyle (touring musician life can get pretty hectic at times 😅) and accumulating my first wealth I then worked with several payment service providers here in Kyiv and piled on some executive experience.

Being an Israeli and a professional trader/gamer in the crypto space led me to meet Maxi Hatchwell pretty naturally (the founder which started the company back in 2018) and we immediately hit it off, he then invited me to lead his vision and shared his ideas for the metaverse revolution that was coming and I was swiped off my feet- I remember feeling “This is the future, and I'm going to be a part of shaping it if I join Maxi..”, I jumped in and I have been obsessed with this subject ever since.

Sara PintoFeb 16, 2022, 2:40 PM

Guy oh, wow! That's an interesting journey! I don't think I've heard of a CEO who has toured the world haha. Do you find it more challenging to work in the digital area since it's an ever-evolving subject?

Sara PintoFeb 16, 2022, 2:40 PM

Guy, also, since you are a gamer, I can't help but ask: how do you think that NFTs and the metaverse can change the gaming world?

GuyFeb 16, 2022, 2:46 PM

Yeah, it's been a pretty exciting journey so far I'll tell you!
To answer your first question, I actually fell in love with this world for this exact reason, the exponential trend in technology that drives change is what keeps me up at night, pondering at the possibilities and finding my place in this great future does present a challenge, but any tech company leader should always feel he is being chased by progress around him/her I guess.

GuyFeb 16, 2022, 3:10 PM

When it comes to NFTs and Metaverse in the context of gaming there are three interesting pillars we can look back to from the past to try and predict what the future holds:

A) THE NEED- As you mentioned yourself I am a seasoned gamer, I have been a gamer since the first home computer came out.
But from these years of experience, there is not much to show for, and the same is true with most gamers.. In fact, if you check most terms and conditions agreements you sign when installing a game you will find that all your in-game items do not belong to you as a user, you are in fact just allowed to use the client of the game on your device (temporarily in most cases I might add) and all your achievements are not really YOURS..
There is a gamer mindset migration happening right now from passive users to active community members that recognize the above statement and wonder at the possibilities of owning their legendary items and achievements as assets. You see, in a world where everything is being digitalized, shouldn't your game achievements, items or skins should be your assets?


B) ADOPTION- Remember coming back from the public arcade at the mall or your bowling arena? Well a little revolution was brewing in those arcades, and when people first had the chance to take gaming home they rushed by the millions, not at first, but after the first wave of game consoles and PCs hit retail hands the process was unstoppable, and with it the need for better CPUs, GPUs and communications technology, which was the main drive for years of innovation and gave birth to billion dollar industries.

In our context, gaming is one of the best use cases for NFTs, and thus already are tapping into its proven adoption curve influence.

C) Affinity - Many people nowadays spend many of their waking hours socializing inside some game with the focus being on the game engine, what the metaverse does in this equation is simply turn it on its head- build an infostructure to allow the social experience to stand in the middle and to be the main focus of the technology. The feeling of loneliness while simultaneously being surrounded by a thousand other players in a game is something many users can tell you about, Metaverse platforms seem to be building towards human emotions being the center of digital experience, and not competition or coop vs some enemy like PVE.

Mónica FreitasFeb 16, 2022, 3:47 PM

Hi Guy! Great to have you with us! How do you think entertainment and the metaverse will converge?

GuyFeb 16, 2022, 4:02 PM

Happy to be here Monica, thanks.
Great question and it is at the core of our attention here at MultiNFT!

Since COVID hit we are seeing an accelerated trend of video conferencing, streaming and general digitalization of what used to be normal everyday experiences and social interactions, and the metaverse is the most concentrated form of distributing these mediums in a fair way that's available to everyone on the planet.

We can also observe a new wave of adoption being formed over the past year, this time its coming from the content creator/brands side - many live performers went bankrupt when all their tours and events were canceled for two years straight and similar things can be said about retail and other industries which had their facilities shut down repeatedly, so many are now searching for the way to provide quality immersive digital experiences and monetize from their user base as they used to and in new ways that were not possible before.

GuyFeb 16, 2022, 4:07 PM

There are many examples of how the entertainment industry is converging with the metaverse right now!
All the way from metaverse music festivals with crowds by the same numbers as physical ones (such as The Metaverse Festival which took place in Decentraland where we hosted one stage)-- and to fashion shows, media events and live content releases just to name a few.

AbeerFeb 16, 2022, 8:00 PM

Hey Guy. It’s awesome to have you here. How do you envision NFTs being used in the future?

Sara PintoFeb 16, 2022, 9:50 PM

Guy Thanks for the detailed answer! The need makes total sense. The idea of really owning the skin and so on is quite reasonable.
And when it comes to the Metaverse, socialization is a great asset, and I believe that some VR is a technology that can really enhance the gaming experience. Overall, the gaming universe is expecting a big twist.
Coming back to NFTs, it's a fast-growing market for sure, but I still see a lot of people skeptical about them. Why do you think that is?

Sara PintoFeb 16, 2022, 10:22 PM

Guy From your answer to Mónica Freitas, I see that Metaverse can have an impact on entertainment. How can NFTs complement this area? How can they take part when it comes to events such as The Metaverse Festival?

Mónica FreitasFeb 17, 2022, 10:24 AM

Sara Pinto great minds think alike 😂 I was just about to ask if we could expect NFTs to be integrated into the metaverse Guy

Mónica FreitasFeb 17, 2022, 10:28 AM

Guy I did notice a growth in virtual concerts this past year but I've always wondered if being virtual would ruin the experience. But I've also seen some perks around that virtualization. Do you think this new way of sharing entertainment, online, will muffle the offline shows or will it simply be an alternative to them?

GuyFeb 17, 2022, 9:35 PM

To answer all of the new questions above-
Firstly, NFTs are already the backbone of metaverse experience today, they go hand in hand with each other and compliment each other's core ideas.
Some good examples are membership certificates, land NFTs, ticketing and proof of attendance tokens, wearables or exclusive access to merchandise, backstage passes and restricted VIP area whitelist cards, seasonal or lifetime access stub-- all these examples are already live and functional in many projects right now, and are one of the fundamental pillars the metaverse stands on in its current form.

Regarding the question about virtualization of concerts and entertainment replacing real world encounters-
All those examples I mentioned earlier are brilliant but in reality digital experiences will almost certainly never be able to completely replace real life, even if it takes place in a three dimensional space in real time, that's at least my personal opinion even as a leader in the space..
However there are perks and bonuses to said tech that defy the way we previously viewed our world and invite new ideas- Imagine the possibilities for the physically challenged, participating and dancing along everyone without any difference! Another beautiful thing to mention when we consider the pros is that the metaverse is boundaryless and is not divided into countries, languages or religions which brings communities to life from all over the planet, a great example I can testify to is a melting pot festival we are taking part in (TBD) that invites all middle eastern nations to a celebration of peace and prosperity, the event takes place both in real world and mirrored in the metaverse to serve those that cant physically be present due to travel limitations set by their regions or other reasons. And the obvious and sad truth is that people today want to actively do less but experience more, for this type of society curated digital experiences with instant teleportation sound pretty natural if you ask me :)

GuyFeb 17, 2022, 9:59 PM

To summarize and answer some more of your questions above (Sara Pinto Abeer) ill say that the real exciting use cases for NFTs are only being experimented with now and we at MultiNFT are getting a birdseye view of this adoption story as it unfolds with the Finance, eCommerce, Fashion, Music and even Science & Health industries as they are being reimagined at the hands of industry giants right now! Some unique use cases that are already underway are personal IDs, Trackers for goods and services, Insurance and self executing living wills, just to name a few. and I have reason to believe that soon NFTs will reach space 😉 but that topic is for another AMA.

And in regards to why people are skeptical there are two main reasons in my opinion-
The first one being the overhyped wave of attention and big bags of money being thrown at every project which make it seem like just another inflated fad or bubble here in cryptoland such as Memes, DeFi, Oracles, Layer1s and any other narrative that we've had pump over the years..
And the second one being an overflowing market of shallow creators who are rushing for an easy cash grab and flood the market with trash NFTs of little or no value.
And lastly, people always have and always will fear what they do not understand.

Thanks everyone for having me and have a great weekend!

Jack BorehamFeb 17, 2022, 2:03 PM

Guy what a cool concept. So what challenges have you had to of overcome to launch your platform?

GuyFeb 17, 2022, 9:40 PM

Thanks Jack Boreham, the main difficulty so far over the years was sticking true to our conviction while the world slowly stops rejecting the idea that JPEGs (as we humorously call NFTs in the industry) and simple constructs on the blockchain such as single assets can one day change the world.
You see we have been shouting this from the rooftops since the term NFT was even coined, but we were early for our time one might say.. Our first NFT collection was released in April 2018 and it was a membership with in-game utility, clearly the world was not ready 😎
Besides that I guess the hardest challenge to overcome was finding the right team and putting together a group of individuals that understand a subject that is still being born in front of their eyes.

Sara PintoFeb 18, 2022, 9:51 AM

Oh wow, I never thought the possibilities and advantages that the metaverse, and the events in it, could bring to someone physically challenging. It's ambitious and enthusiastic to think of a future like that! It's great when all these technologies are converging to promote peaceful and inclusive events. Are those advantages of the Metaverse part of MultiNFT's vision for it? Guy

Sara PintoFeb 18, 2022, 9:59 AM

Guy Thank you! You mentioned that MultiNFT is getting "birdseye view" when it comes to the adoption of the NFTs. Can you elaborate? Is MultiNFT experimenting as well?

Mónica FreitasFeb 18, 2022, 10:51 AM

Guy "People today want to actively do less but experience more". I think this is a great summary of the world we're entering. As someone who's been involved in online festivals and events, what do you think are the main challenges of hosting such an event?

GuyFeb 19, 2022, 11:42 AM

Sara Pinto Without disclosing information under embargo its a little difficult for me to answer this question directly at this point 😉
But I will just say that a main thing we do is consult conglomerates and we are having an influx from some interesting parties, and very unexpected use cases are coming.

Sara PintoFeb 21, 2022, 10:33 AM

And that's a wrap! Guy, thank you for your answers! It's been great to have you here. Do you have any final thoughts for or something you'd like to promote?