Ishan Pandey: Hi Carlos, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please tell us about yourself and the story behind Olyseum?
Carlos Grenoir: When Kevin Mitnick, Iniesta, Puyol, De La Peña, and I came together to launch Olyseum, we wanted to create the ‘Coliseum’ of fan engagement. A living, breathing ecosystem where fans from every corner of the planet could join and connect with their favorite stars in new and profound ways. We also wanted to be at the cutting edge of technology and consumer trends by leveraging blockchain technology and the crypto movement to satiate the growing demand among legions of fans worldwide to get closer to their idols. That has always been our guiding principle. Additionally, part of our ethos has been to create a network where value is shared among the participants based on their activity within the platform, which helps us scale. This is a microcosm of how fans should be rewarded for their crucial role in the celebrity economy.
Ishan Pandey: How do NFTs disrupt the fan and community-level engagement? Further, what values does it create for the users?
Carlos Grenoir: The NFT space is enabling stars to develop high-value digital representations of their content and to share this content with their fans. Across the global social media landscape, fans have massive visibility over their favorite stars’ activities, but engagement levels are quite limited. NFTs empower fans to have their fandom validated, but the current purview of NFTs can be expanded greatly, with innovations in Virtual Reality opening the door for new forms of experiential engagement between fans and stars and for brands to advertise their products in dynamic new ways. Unique NFT experiential collectibles also represent a democratization of celebrity promotions, broadening access to stars’ reach.
Ishan Pandey: Various musicians and actors are eyeing and getting into NFTs to create a more loyal and engaging brand. How can stars monetize their engagement with users?
Carlos Grenoir: I feel there is a huge opportunity for stars seeking to take their brand monetization capabilities to the next level through NFTs. As we’ve seen, the fan-star experiential paradigm hasn’t been properly explored yet and experiential NFTs, or ‘xNFTs’ as we call them, will redefine the contours of fan engagement and facilitate authentic fan-star interactions that are in high demand. This means stars can truly monetize their star power, their presence, and their connection with fans.
Ishan Pandey: What are your views on regulations around NFTs? Do NFTs need to be regulated as of now, or would that stifle growth in the industry?
Carlos Grenoir: With crypto in general, there has always been a risk of overregulation and under regulation. During the infancy stages of the crypto space, the lack of coherent regulatory frameworks proved to be a strength and a weakness for the industry, it enabled boundless innovation, but at the same time, it allowed certain nefarious actors to take advantage of the landscape. In my view, a flexible, principles-based approach to regulation that champions innovation while providing best-practice guidelines will help sustain the growth of the space in the years to come and encourage wider industry adoption as NFTs become a centerpiece to enterprise promotional activities.
Ishan Pandey: Chinese authorities have recently announced that they will be moving towards stricter cryptocurrency regulations which promptly led to falling bitcoin prices. How will Chinese regulations affect the market as a whole?
Carlos Grenoir: Sudden regulatory shifts have a demonstrated history of impacting market sentiment, both positively and negatively. Certain cohorts of traders will be downbeat about the perceived ‘cracking down on crypto, while some institutional investors will see regulatory advances as a positive step for broader industry adoption. It’s difficult to predict a future market response to evolving Chinese regulatory constraints, but irrespective of short term fluctuations, the blockchain and crypto space continues to gather pace and attract interest from the highest levels of industry and Government.
Ishan Pandey: What are your views on Digital Yuan? Is it going to change the world order?
Carlos Grenoir: It’s certainly a major signal of intent. As of today, the Digital Yuan is accessible to around 10 million people as part of a ‘trial’ phase. This move could, in fact, encourage Central Banks across the world to expedite their own digital currency strategies or start considering Bitcoin as a legal form of tender, as we’ve seen in El Salvador, or could probably happen soon in Paraguay or Venezuela.
Ishan Pandey: Elon Musk has been a driving force behind the emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin, yet his tweets have frequently had a detrimental impact on the market. What is your take on Elon Musk’s Twitter domination?
Carlos Grenoir: No one individual should be able to steer market sentiment based on a tweet. He clearly believes in the fundamentals of decentralized finance and the opportunities within the space as a catalyst for addressing antiquated financial models, legacy infrastructure, and charting a new path forward with fintech innovations.
Ishan Pandey: 2021 has already witnessed a major crypto boom and its subsequent collapse, all within the first half of the year. What new developments in the crypto industry do you think are in store for the latter half of 2021?
Carlos Grenoir: Again, it’s difficult to predict what’s coming next, but I anticipate broad adoption of NFTs in the months ahead, particularly as the business case for including experiential NFTs in promotional budgets is better understood. We ourselves want to drive NFTs forward with the upcoming launch of our Olyverse. Developments around a proposed Bitcoin ETF will also be worth keeping an eye on, as well as any changes from a regulatory perspective. We could also see further exploration around Bitcoin as legal tender across nation-states. I also sense there will be a proliferation in the number of social and community tokens, which will introduce large swathes of users in the crypto sphere.
Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to remove informational asymmetry existing today in our digital markets by performing due diligence by asking the right questions and equipping readers with better opinions to make informed decisions. The material does not constitute any investment, financial, or legal advice. Please do your research before investing in any digital assets or tokens, etc. The writer does not have any vested interest in the company. Ishan Pandey.