“Tech vs Media” podcast: Will Weinraub says companies based on non-fungible tokens must prove their everyday value
The NFT industry must transform its hype into real benefits to achieve success, said Will Weinraub, CEO and co-founder of OnChain Studios.
“We need to keep it as the underlying technology, and really talk more about the benefits and the use cases and the opportunities that these things open up versus just shouting into the echo chamber about how good NFTs are,” Weinraub said on TheWrap’s “Tech vs. Media” podcast with host Richard Wolpert, noting that NFTs have come to have a negative connotation after their initial hype. “Consumers aren’t going to care unless you translate technology into real use cases that solve their problems or delight them in a variety of ways.”
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Weinraub, whose fascination with digital collectibles was kick-started by CryptoKitties in 2008, has put this goal into practice through his companies OnChain Studios and Cryptoys, a futuristic toy company that incorporates digital collectibles into the world of toys. While other toy companies have physical limitations, Cryptoys has the infrastructure to build original digital content through apps and games that extend the storytelling beyond a tangible object.
While the CEO has developed his company to address long-standing needs, he has observed a handful of companies in the NFT and web3 space falter by failing to provide solutions to real problems and instead “throw the word ‘NFT’ and ‘blockchain’ at these companies and hope that is enough to make this happen.”
“Some deals were able to get done just from the momentum of the hype,” Weinraub said. “But now it’s what’s the use case? What’s the application? What’s the value?”
Due to the lack of follow-through, Weinraub estimates that 95% of NFT projects will “fall away over time,” adding that “we’re already starting to see a lack of liquidity and activity around these projects.”
The next cycle of NFT’s leaders will emerge in their place, according to Weinraub, who notes that entrepreneurs want to keep their heads down and build multi-year projects.
“For a while now, you’ve seen these cycles come and go, you see what happened in the late ’90s, and the whole mobile boom, and the app boom, and then all these different things,” the CEO said. “We see these markets, and we see them as opportunities to build and get ready for the next wave of innovation and consumer adoption.”
Listen to the full episode below.
Highlights of the episode:
- Will Weinraub tells the story of his first Bitcoin purchase in 2014, which he considered “homework” for his company at the time, Live Ninja
- Will Weinraub explains how CryptoKitties started their fascination with NFTs and digital collectibles in 2008
- Will Weinraub praises NBA Top Shot making waves in the digital collectible space as first major licensing partner with a worldwide brand to introduce them to the web3 space
- Will Weinraub gives a simple explanation of NFTs for newcomers, saying they “make the internet our own”
- Will Weinraub compares NFTs to trading cards and notes the possibility of re-opening iconic trading companies in the digital sphere
About “Tech vs Media”
In each episode of “Tech vs Media,” host Richard Wolpert—who brings decades of technology and media experience as an executive, tech company founder, venture capitalist, and philanthropist—and one of his valued guests will reveal enlightening lessons and provide their insightful perspective on the movements , the creators, disruptors and innovators shaping the future of media and technology, and how these industries will intertwine.
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