Pop star JJ Lin joins Singaporean Scions to build ‘Web2.5’ NFT community

ONEAfter nearly two decades in the music industry, Singaporean pop star JJ Lin is collaborating with two next-generation tycoons to establish ARC, an app-based digital community that authenticates member profiles with non-fungible tokens (NFT).

Lin, an honorary winner of Forbes Asia’s 100 digital stars in 2020, joins Kiat Lim, son of Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, and Elroy Cheo, a descendant of the Cheo family who own the edible oil company Mewah International. Together, the trio aims to establish ARC at the intersection of Web2 and Web3, as a diverse network of creative talents and a leading NFT brand in Asia.

“I have always been very excited to discover new technologies and incorporate these technologies into our craft,” Lin said in a video interview. “I see that there are endless possibilities with ARC … we can really create new worlds with it.”

In addition to collaborating with international artists such as DJ Steve Aoki and film composer Hans Zimmer, Lin, who turned 41 in March, has much credit for having popularized the genre Mandopop, or Chinese-language pop music, in Singapore. The celebrity launched the artisanal coffee brand Miracle Coffee and the clothing brand SMG before he plunged into Web3.

“The best thing about ARC is the growth mindset of learning and shaping ideas together,” Lin added in a statement. ARC claims that the musician is one of the first Asian celebrities who has been closely involved in a Web3 project like himself. “I look forward to unveiling the next Asian creative venture for the world,” he added.

The musician’s co-founders Lim, 29, and Cheo, 37, launched ARC in January as an extension of their professional background. Lim’s previous entrepreneurial experience includes working with his father to launch ZujuGP, a digital community built around football backed by Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo. Cheo operated cryptocurrencies and NFTs, and became a self-taught Web3 expert.

“We are really proud to be ‘Web2.5’ … we want to promote adoption from people who are not natives of cryptographers”

Instead of replacing Web2 with Web3, ARC aims to build a bridge between the two, according to Lim. Members can enjoy personal experiences at ARC’s physical arenas known as Playgrounds, while also using the ARC app to access their membership with NFTs, or unique digital assets that can provide access and other benefits. In May, ARC partnered with Singapore billionaire Kwek Leng Beng’s Millennium Hotels and Resorts and lifestyle destination group Zouk Group to provide members with bespoke experiences.

“We are really proud to be ‘Web2.5’,” says Lim. “We want to promote adoption from people who are not crypto-natives, who may have some distrust of space because of all the current news.” The global cryptocurrency market crashed below $ 1 trillion in June, down from a peak of almost $ 3 trillion in November, following the complete eradication of TerraUSD and the support currency LUNA the month before, which put cryptocurrencies in check.

By curating a group of “well-recognized” leaders and partners and linking member symbols to specific member profiles, ARC aims to alleviate concerns about the legitimacy of Web3 projects. Potential users must fill out an application on ARC’s website, and after joining the whitelist, own Pyxis – ARC’s token – as well as ARC’s NFT. From there, they move to the now available ARC app, which will require NFTs as a form of authentication.

“We really believe in building a product with strong basic principles,” adds Lim. Glue, who comes from a financial background, was the founder of before he started. that and call for a high price. “

Core to ARC is the idea of ​​co-creation within its audience of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, social influencers and more. By building on a common interest in NFTs, members can discuss ideas through the app’s unique methods of building community, according to Cheo, who acts as the platform’s architect.

“Instead of using existing technology stacks to facilitate community … we actually created our own technology stacks,” he says. These features include social audio rooms and a “hybrid Twitter-Reddit” for members to post content. “I can’t really think of an app on the market right now that actually looks like us.”

For the time being, the start-up aims to scale up slowly. The three co-founders refused to share how many applications they have received so far, but among several beta tests, Cheo noted one that had a “couple of hundred” members with a cumulative following of “tens of millions.”

“When we first started, we were just trying to solve one pain point, and that was that every human being has an innate longing for connection,” he says. “Web3 breaks down all these boundaries … it’s unique.”