Fireside With Animoca Brands' Yat Siu and Forbes' Taha Ahmed l KBW2024

[Music] hello everyone what an honor to be here with two industry Giants please welcome tasm Chief grow officer at forbs and of course yatu co-founder and executive chairman of panim Moka Brands it's it's really H guys Jad could you please tell me ER what is animoca vision for the coming year well I think the vision for the coming year has the same vision for us as we had for all the other years and the years going forward which is digital property rights right our mission basically is to see a world where everyone has digital property uh whether you know we think which is basically a tokenized type of asset whether it's virtual or physical really at the end of the day and uh you know we've been trying to push that Vision forward by not just building in it uh like with moche but uh or sandbox or so on but also by investing in it and I think we're one of the largest investors in web 3 today with over 540 portfolio companies and growing and hopefully by the end of the year maybe a few hundred more I don't know we'll see and which are the projects we are most excited about well that's like picking your favorite child so can't do that but I would say thematically what we really like obviously is gaming um we're really excited about what's happening in the ton ecosystem where the largest validator and sort of big ecosystem supporters because we think that ton will help onboard basically hundreds of millions of users into web 3 as well and we'll talk a little bit about our partnership which we think is also helping towards that uh and of course with moover which we can talk about a little later uh for digital identity and building reputation which I think is very important for our industry as we want to mature that space and again you know we'll talk about that a bit with our Partnership of course t for this huge Media Company um how is force uh bringing web 3 to masses GM GM everybody so so good to be here um Forbes actually has been at the Forefront of Technology since over 100 years in 1917 when the company was founded right they uh on the first issue actually we were championing uh entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial capitalism right as a way of prosperity for the world and we all know what has happened over the last 100 years hundreds and billions and trillions of wealth created through entrepreneurship and 100 years later you know looking at you know where we are in 2024 web 3 is also about you know building investing creating you know amazing companies like you know Anoka and what you guys are doing and investing and driving know Mass adoption there and so for us it is about celebrating uh web3 entrepreneurship and we think that as a result of doing that we are going to inspire a large wave of Builders creators investors um to come in and uh we think we have a role to play there and what has Forbes achieved in the space so far so let me let me tell you a little bit about Forbes web3 so you know you the you often talk about us as as a media company we're obviously one of the largest Business Media Brands uh in the world but you know this team Forbes web 3 is uh is on the business side of the organization that is focused on building uh web 3 Focus uh web3 Native and blockchain Native uh products platforms and community and we've started the business with Community First in mind um often so we we we don't have layer one and we don't we didn't have like an nft that we wanted to launch or club or anything of that sort we started with people first um and which is which is very different and often leads to question like you know what are you what are you guys really doing in in in web 3 and um you know and we understood this by the way in the first one or two months of launching this that it is all about the people it is all about how much value you're trying to uh to generate for people and are you winning the trust for for the people and your members and and your sort of community from from day one and we've been doing that organically right like just putting the hard work like all the other the companies um that have building direct relationships uh with with members Community onboarding them um in real life through events and everything that we've doing and what has happened over the last one year um we've now become I according to our m one of the fastest growing Community for entrepreneurs investors and Builders uh through Forbes web 3 we are in several countries 5 to 10 countries we have done 20 plus events but most importantly uh what I what I'm very particularly happy about is that we've done things through uh not necessarily just a pure web two-way you know we're not like growth hacking we are partnering with companies in in the space right um we we've done it with uh you know large exchanges we we did a big partnership with coinbase just last week right and the community rewarded us we I think are one of the I I corre don't hold me to it but like um the the biggest uh uh record for for a web2 brand on the base chain 250,000 minutes in three days uh which which is big but before we were all of that stuff we were able to partner with you know amazing companies like you know Anoka as well um on you know supporting web 3 education and things like that so and I know we're going to talk more about it but that is what uh our impact has been and that's what we've been been focused on amazing amazing yet what can you tell us about mocha verse what it is why it was created well I mean first I think uh you know just quickly to build a little bit on on what what we just spoke about is it's great to see a big brand uh like Forbes come into the space and it shows essentially that mass adoption isn't just coming from the Quantum of users which is kind of what ton does as well uh with telegram but with Forbes it's about the quality of the users coming in right when you talk about hundreds of thousands of people that are coming in who are they they are entrepreneurs they're investors they're capitalists they're Builders it's a different type and that's actually how we have to think about building these networks and that now leads on to how we think about identity and mooche because in moverse what we're trying to do is build this sort of global reputation system starting with gaming because in web 3 we do have one big problem which is actually onchain reputation doesn't really transfer across multiple projects and so we have these problems about you know Bots air Farm sort of air drops and so on I have no idea sort of whether he's real or he's not for instance with AI you know you can do all sorts of things to fake identity kyc is not enough for instance how do you do that and in the real world we have systems it's your identity it's your symbolic Capital like for instance your University degree as an example or your background or your work background right the reason we have a name and a reputation in the physical world and we don't switch it every year right is precisely because we have a legacy we've built that gives us dividends in the future right think about how you build your reputation in the physical world that actually gives you value long term in whatever Society Community you're building in and so mocha ID is doing that with the mocha verse basically if you play games for instance um you know are you a good gamer how are you committing to the value of the network um you know are you dumping your tokens right away when you get them you know like all these narratives that come into this build your reputation next thing if I'm a game project or if I'm can of web through project I will know who I want to reward based on your past Behavior which is how the real world works right if you you've been a good citizen you're rewarded a certain way if you've been a bad one you've been rewarded another way or not at all and that's actually how we build scaling and stability in the system so as we onboard you know the sort of hundreds and thousands of you know capitalists or millions of other types of users into the ecosystem we need to onboard them a system which they can trust and we can build with reputation and that's basically the vision of moochae uh and of course you know this is something that ex starts with our gaming in our projects but really extends beyond that you know we've got partners with ton and an an addressable base of hundreds of millions of users that we basically want to onboard onto mocha ID and just as a closing point today our digital identity is completely outsourced to Google or to Facebook or to any of those big companies and you don't own your digital identity if you lose access to Google or if you lose access to X which they can do at any time actually your entire digital history is wiped but in blockchain with essentially an ID that's yours and even if a service provider doesn't want to offer business to you your reputation is still yours it's not someone else's thank you very much yet and what about Forbes Legacy pass yeah um so when we started building the the the community and really uh Ling the groundwork for how we want to expand there right like came we were sort of faced with this interesting uh what what we people call high class problem which is the number of in the amount of inbound interest and the appetite for for our brand right and we had to really create a mechanism through which you know we we still want to participate and do things with the community but we do it in a way we're very able to prioritize and focus on the people that really uh demonstrate their commitment to uh Forbes web 3 but most importantly our our vision which led to the creation of um Forbes Legacy path which forbes's Legacy pass is a collection of 1917 uh sold bound passes uh digital sbound passes on the blockchain um that unlocks s significant benefits for its pass holders this uh this this sort of this pass uh I think it's the first soulbound membership house or some people call it soulbound you know nfts um you have to apply to get there for uh right now the weight list is over 100,000 people or now that our Comm Community has grown the way you can enter the community is we really decentralized this and and anytime if you get referred to by a member you're you're able to to join um the idea is not we're not trying to be elite or anything but uh through this process we are really trying to identify the people who demonstrate commitment to the web3 space and since theyve demonstrated the commitment then we do with them like we wanted to have a mechanism through which we can build uh with our community and that has done that and since we we' we've launched in June we we are you know doing really well on that front but now almost all the partnership uh opportunities uh that that we uh that we have or commercial opportunities actually that that we have we are able to uh almost all of them come from from passholders we're obviously very grateful for several communities around the world that have particip uh participated in it obviously grateful for Anoka like the executive team part of it uh yachu is also a part of it so thank you for your membership and early believe in in in our and our mission but that's that's the idea right uh um 1917 for anybody who cares about what 1917 is it is the year of founding of Forbes and we wanted to make it uh really uh really symbolic for what we're doing great I understand there's an announcement from a partnership your team's going to to announce in the near future right is there's something you would like to share about that you're going to hear it first you're going to hear it first um well yeah I mean I guess I guess um we can't really announce full details but basically in Q4 uh Forbes and Anoka have already sort of put the steps forward to basically a major partnership which we're proud to announce but I guess you could considered as a pre-announcement to an announcement coming through in a way um but I think I think one of the big things around this as as you'll hear about this more down the road is I think this is to me sort of the direction of how do we bring institutions into web 3 I think you know this is something that Anoka we've been looking at focusing on ourselves as a public corporation but also who are the best representatives of the institutional era I think of web 3 and I think I can't think of anyone better than obviously basically um forbs when you talk about sort of the people who read it who are sort of involved um in all of that uh and just think about today you know when a lot of people were saying oh well we're not sure about Bitcoin ETFs and ethereum ETF what does it really mean decentralization all that kind of stuff but at the end when they actually came in when black Ro came in when van when Fidelity when all those guys basically came into the web three space buying the ETFs everyone was like clapping and yay right and that's actually what we need we need more of the institutional capital I mean the public Equity Market in the US is 80% institutional but it's the complete opposite in web 3 so I think if you want to have a more stable more friendly more open ecosystem that's actually also one that will be more embraced I think we need to bring in institutions and I can't think of any better partner than to do that than right here awesome well um why don't we give it a little bit more to to people uh uh because uh I I I think I'm going to lead a lot of people asking for for questions right um before I get more detailed like it it is it is important to understand the the context as I mentioned partnership um has been a critical Tool uh uh sorry mechanism for for3 to be able to really go country by country and and and build a robust uh uh you know part credibility and partnership with there and we're obviously grateful for all the things that we've done with various different partners working with Anoka was one of the the earliest Partnerships that we've done we've honestly done it virtually we've done it in different parts of the world and it was a very natural transition because both companies have been working towards uh somewhat of the same mission in but but but in different ways and as a result of the sort of deeper connection on a very on on a mission level when our Legacy pass launched we recognized that uh you know we one of the Legacy members actually helped us do do this analysis and it turns out that the the largest group like the biggest Holdings of Legacy pass holders is actually the moover right and that that was incredible right like thinking about like all the stuff that you're doing on digital IP all things you sort of talking about you know uh Equity ownership and equality and things things like that and also open campus right yeah we did O the open campus celebrating uh uh you know education and driving you know adoption from there the various different you know conversations we've done with the team so there's there's this is how sort of the the partnership came about and what people can expect let's just I'll stop there because the the more details are going to come or otherwise our social people are going to not like us um we be because of you know uh what what each one of the brands represent we are now we've built a very robust benefit Suite uh through the Legacy pass all the benefits that we've been offer and through a an initiative that will be launching soon we will be we're very proud we're very happy about it we will be extending the Forbes Legacy B uh benefits to uh the Moe holders and it is this partnership I think is is one of its kind has has not done been done at the scale through which because it it it'll be it'll be very symbolic at least in in my opin I think so and it's also highly symbolic because in one way I would say that Anoka represents the trust and commitment of the web three community and you basically represent that of I guess the web two world and we have to bring them together right and that's actually really what our mission is which is mass adoption and how do we bring people from Web Two into web 3 and this happens not just on the consumer level at Large Scale but but also at very high level brand Partnerships it's kind of building trust and building trust is built on reputation and so we're both leveraging our joint reputations to basically build the web3 ecosystem U without giving away too much I I see such a natural partnership there right it's it's that how you feel it AB absolutely it's absolutely natural and I think you can see for instance you know in one way we also share those values ultimately you know what what Forbes is and Forbes 3 is pushing is an entrepreneurial capitalist future to be clear right that's what we believe at Anoka as well that's what we believe ultimately web 3 and blockchain is at heart a capitalist system and I would say also broadly speaking I think capitalism is somewhat under threat in the world from a political perspective true there's a lot of people who don't understand it dislike it but in large part also because they haven't benefit from it and I think this is Again part of the mission and how do we do that right it's a it's it's a mission of Media communication our communities the Moe holders are actually not sort of just users they are investors they're Builders and they're actually very very compatible with the I guess the Forbes audience but then think about just generally the web 3 audience anyone who's entered the web 3 audience maybe made some money holds tokens actually what happens to them they become capitalists every web through user is a capitalist when they hold one token you become a capitalist you're property owner and suddenly you're in the system and just think about your own experi experiences you know when you made some money on tokens did you just cash it out or did you actually reinvest it back in the ecosystem and do some other things and invest in other things so I think again that's actually how how the future of any economy was built was is to reinvest in it and that's what happening in web 3 and I think again this is a natural partnership I I I also think like just the the the synergies between you know our various teams that uh that are working it's very natural right like uh they're um members of the executive team our Legacy passholders and I don't think you know but we own a bun ofor in our vault one of the earli absolutely thank you yeah no we we uh we did it long before so that was one of our first one in the world great amazing so as we're preparing to to wrap up the panel guys is H is what's your your outlook for web 3 can you share your experience and what do you see for the future uh Bitcoin PR just kidding um anyway I mean first I think that to me you know web 3 and blockchain has demonstrated through really the last 12 to 18 months that it is a force to be reckoned with right at the end of the day given all its instability that we've seen in the global markets it's actually proven to be one that's has won people over into the space so it's here to stay and I actually think what we're going to see in the next 6 to 12 months is much more broader Mass adoption at multiple levels you know we can look at ETFs really as the first taste for the institution so I do think we're heralding the beginning of an Institutional age of of web 3 where where you know larger offices and groups are looking at it ETFs are not going to stop only at Bitcoin and at eth right you're going to get different altcoins that will start playing in these ETFs and ET ETP space I think gaming is going to uh bring in basically hundreds of millions of users in the space But ultimately the impact will also come from other builders and entrepreneurs around the world you know with our Partnerships like this that basically go into the space so we're very bullish about it um you know there's macro conditions and finally of course I think we will all be looking very very tightly at the US election that's true T um uh I certainly agree with with all all the things that that You' mentioned you know from our perspective you know as I'm seeing this um I'll take a different stance on it uh first one is I think web3 is becoming very politically relevant now and you know it's part of national debates there and um as a result of that political campaigns and political campaigns and and and as a result the more uh the more it gets talked about in the developed world I think the the developing world is is going to follow suit and would want to take part uh uh part in that and as a result I think that's going to be a very strong Tailwind uh for um web3 uh adoption um and so so so that's just you know there's a big Tailwind coming on that side um and from from like a from from like a web 2 Branch Corporation side I think more companies are going to realize the power of of community and investing in communities earlier on and hopefully U we'll follow suit in terms of you know how how we've been just before we even build a product we focus on community and listening to people I think more and more companies are going to um follow that in that way okay thank you very much Jens thank you it has been an honor to moderate this panel with you absolutely very much thank you so much [Music]