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00:00:18:18 – 00:00:51:17

Richard Carthon: What’s up, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Crypto Current. Your host here, Richard Carthon . Today we’ve got a special one for you. Today is going to be focused on actually ah a bit that we are putting on October 28th. It’s Friday, it is going to be called Acme. Austin’s going to make it and it’s going to be from 12 to 6. We’re going to have six panels, 18 speakers talking on all things web, three wrapped up with a nice and fun happy hour. And we actually have one of these speakers with us today. So today we have been Ben Noble whose handle on Twitter is BNF.

00:00:51:19 – 00:00:53:10

Richard Carthon: TS How are you doing today?

00:00:53:22 – 00:00:58:04

Ben Noble: I’m doing great, Richard. Thanks for having me. Austin is going to make it. Let’s go.

00:00:58:24 – 00:01:13:11

Richard Carthon: Yes, it is. So I mean, I’m excited to have you here, man. You’re going to be speaking on one of our panels, the Metaverse and NFT panel. But before we talk more on that first one, learn a little bit more about you. Can you give us a little bit background on yourself?

00:01:14:08 – 00:01:47:12

Ben Noble: Yeah. So I got started in the crypto space 2017, 2018, and it is in 2018 and it really fell in love with the space. Quit my cushy software job to get involved in my own startup and really have been grinding it out ever since. So one of the first projects I got to work on was was God’s Unchained. I’ve worked on finance, I worked on Synthetix, so I’ve done both sides of the table defi in an office.

00:01:48:09 – 00:02:00:01

Ben Noble: But more recently, my love of NFT is, is obviously coming out my, my Twitter handle and yeah and yeah. So, so I don’t just love the space. I live it.

00:02:01:17 – 00:02:17:24

Richard Carthon: Farrell And it’s cool to be living it, especially in a place like Austin, where we’re starting to see the community continuing to grow. And what made you want to leave that cushy new job and kind of go all in the world of Web three and and start your own startup? What drove you to to make that leap?

00:02:18:26 – 00:02:50:02

Ben Noble: Yeah. You know, I fell in love with the narratives around Etherium and the World Computer, which is if you’re sitting as an O.G. and listening to this shit, you probably remember that if you’re newer to the space. That was kind of the push when we moved off of Bitcoin and just financial transactions to, Oh, this is a digital ledger, it can be applied to everything. So once I had that epiphany of, Wow, this is what I was thinking about three forever ago and going, Oh, this is the next iteration of Internet, I guess, Web two.

00:02:50:14 – 00:03:08:08

Ben Noble: I was like, I’ve got to be on the ground floor of this. You know, this is a story that writes itself. So I’m really grateful I made that jump. It wasn’t always easy to be through a couple of bear markets, and I know we’re probably going into our next one, but I have faith. I’ve been through a couple of them now and I’m ready for the next cycle.

00:03:09:10 – 00:03:34:18

Richard Carthon: Definitely, man. And on that. So since you’ve seen now two bull cycles and now we’re going through our second during this timeline from 17 till till now, during this time, your company was focused on doing a lot of things around marketing and PR, branding, etc.. Why do you think it’s important for brands and companies that are in this space to keep focusing on that and to be building during these times?

00:03:35:15 – 00:04:06:23

Ben Noble: Yeah, projects are learning right now that they need to be able to tell great stories and those stories don’t end at the sale. So being able to produce stellar content, incredibly engaging content in that can be, even as I refer to, have been so much like content because it’s something that is priming your audience, initiating engagement, creating that social connection. You need to keep that project alive, that life force. You got to keep the blood circulating where the body dies, essentially.

00:04:07:05 – 00:04:37:27

Ben Noble: And so when we’re looking at benefits that are building into this next cycle, there’s been a lot more meaningful thought play put into, okay, this isn’t just like a one and done cash grab. Where are we going with this and what is that long term vision and and how do I fit into that world beyond just day to day speculation? So I think that’s something we help a lot of projects with, and that’s something where projects are continuing to put emphasis.

00:04:39:11 – 00:04:54:05

Richard Carthon: And it’s essential. And that goes across the entire spectrum of of all of these startups that are in the web3 space, but even more so for Metaverse and NFT play. So what drove you to become more passionate around Nfts and everything like that?

00:04:55:02 – 00:05:33:06

Ben Noble: Yeah. Robby and James Ferguson make a very compelling case for play and earn gaming, and they were one of the first to really draw my eyeballs in. I mean, obviously we’re playing around with CryptoKitties and some of the early static images that really didn’t do much outside of you can breed them and functionally were, you know objectively were cute. And so we progressed so far beyond that now. But when I was first getting in, it was it was the gaming component was like, oh, this really has the potential and power to disrupt the gaming community.

00:05:33:08 – 00:05:58:16

Ben Noble: But then that is proliferated into, well, if you do it for music, you can do it for films. It’s become a great tool for liberating creators and bringing creative minds together. And so those are those projects that are moving the needle forward, are starting to coalesce around this idea of metaverse, where all these things become a part of the virtual identity.

00:05:59:27 – 00:06:35:22

Richard Carthon: Definitely. And it’s only going to keep growing from here. I think that Nfts are the gateway drug to mass adoption and bringing more people into this space. It’s going to be the first thing that people really use to to get into the greater web3 ecosystem. And I think that as it continues to develop, it will help to hone in different niches for different companies, different utilities, for for people to really connect and keep building communities and and even around like the idea of communities. You know, you just celebrated your university of being here in Austin after living elsewhere.

00:06:35:24 – 00:06:44:22

Richard Carthon: And how has your experience been in Austin? Just seeing the communities build and continue to grow around the city.

00:06:45:08 – 00:07:15:17

Ben Noble: We’re growing. Austin is becoming a port authority in a lot of ways because of where it’s located in proximity to other major cities. So you have Los Angeles is doing a lot of great things and so is Miami, so is New York, so is San Francisco in very different capacities. You have a lot of venture capital in San Francisco. You got more of the creative celebrity function in Los Angeles. You have more of the commercial art scene in Miami. And so all those things are coming together in.

00:07:15:24 – 00:07:46:05

Ben Noble: What’s beautiful about being in Austin is you’re getting a taste of all those things and being able to glue them together in an area that is really a two hour flight from anywhere to get to. So I’ve seen the population in Austin grow exponentially, and we’re starting to see at meetups and events where you would have, you know, maybe a couple dozen to now potentially 100 people at a weekend.

00:07:46:07 – 00:07:47:20

Ben Noble: That which is really, really cool to see.

00:07:49:05 – 00:08:28:11

Richard Carthon: Absolutely, man. It was it was cool when I first moved here and I’m going to some initial events, you know, you might see ten, 20 people and now it’s like you go in and it’s it’s a crowd. It’s, it’s, it’s impressive. And I’m excited to see the continued growth. And, you know, part of the reason for want to do an event like Acme was to be able to bring a lot of these builders in the space into one location so that we could all meet, learn from each other and network. And with that, with you being able to be on one of these panels, what are what’s something that you’re looking forward to at Acme? And why do you think people would want to come attend, even if they’re local or even if they’re, you know, in the greater Austin area? Like, why would somebody want to come and attend this event?

00:08:28:26 – 00:09:04:10

Ben Noble: Yeah, learn from each other is a really important statement that you just made. And we are still in a learning phase. The vision is not complete. Just because the hype and the media dies down, does it mean we stop building, we stop experimenting, and from where we were at, so where we’re at now, I can tell you the people that were the most successful are the people that are willing to cross, communicate trial and error things and then communicate what works, what doesn’t work, and then have other meaningful entrepreneurs listen to that feedback and advice and create

00:09:06:25 – 00:09:28:03

Ben Noble: things that are delivering at a better capacity over and over and over again. So we’re leveling up, and I think the best way for us to level up is to find like minded individuals and have this communication outright. So I’m really grateful to be a part of this this upcoming panel, this upcoming show. And yeah, looking forward to it.

00:09:28:29 – 00:09:41:25

Richard Carthon: Definitely will. Ben, appreciate you spending some time with us. Everyone listening, make sure you go and check it out. But if people want to learn more about you, Ben, and all the things you have going on, of course you can connect with them at the nft’s on Twitter, but what are some other ways?

00:09:42:19 – 00:09:51:19

Ben Noble: Yeah. So currently running a marketing communications firm called Multiplied but we will be rebranding soon, so don’t fall in love with that.

00:09:53:06 – 00:10:11:23

Ben Noble: I’ve got you can go to our website right now. There’s a link if you want to get in touch with us that way. But I would say the best way is obviously going to be social media. I live on Twitter. I live on Twitter spaces. You know, just reach out to me and I’m always, always around, always living me and if you like.

00:10:12:21 – 00:10:41:24

Richard Carthon: Oh, definitely. I remember when Ben and I first connected, someone introduced us and he really responsive. So definitely appreciate that, Ben, and looking forward to having you at Acme and it’s been awesome to be able to see you out and about at some of the local meet ups as well. So I appreciate your time. And for everyone listening, this is a quick reminder to keep looking for all the amazing content that we have coming up. Come and check out Acme on Friday, October 28th if you’re available. And as always, stay Cryptoquant.

00:10:43:09 – 00:11:06:25

Richard Carthon: Thank you for joining us for another episode of Cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a cryptocurrency and blockchain education platform that’s bridging the gap between the curious newcomers for just discovering the space and the thought leaders who are shaping its future. All opinions expressed by Richard Carthon , the crypto current team, and their guests on this show, are exclusively their own opinions on this show, and any other crypto content production is exclusively for informational purposes.