The following transcript was created using artificial intelligence. There will be some grammatical errors below. 

00:00:12:03 – 00:00:40:07

Richard Carthon: What’s up, everyone? Your host here, Richard Carthon, of course, we have our COO, Steve Miller. And we have our new friend Jerome, who we are all at the Miami Crypto Experience, having an amazing time. All kinds of different speakers we heard today, as well as workshops. He actually is helping be a part of that, but through conversations that we randomly had about NFTs and all kinds of things today have been able to explore and learn more about what he’s working on in the virtual world. So, Jerome, how are you doing today? 

00:00:40:11 – 00:00:53:13

Jerome: Doing great, guys. Thank you so much for coming out to Miami and being a part of our community. I got into the Miami Crypto community around 2018, but I’ve been in Bitcoin and paying attention to the space since 2011. 

00:00:54:03 – 00:01:07:14

Steven Miller: Awesome. Well, Jerome, if you could just give us a little bit of background on the projects that you’re involved with outside of Miami Crypto Experience before we dive back into that a little bit later. I think that there’s a lot of clarity that our listeners could take from your specific world. 

00:01:08:10 – 00:02:17:07

Jerome: So, I am a big proponent of virtual reality. I want to make sure that, you know, the entire Crypto community is in VR being able to connect with one another, whether it’s coming to a physical event and seeing one another and then going back home and being able to continue that connection in virtual reality or, you know, just being able to put on a VR headset and connect with someone that you’ve never met before that’s doing something else amazing in this space and give them a platform to really inform others about what they’re doing or what their visions are for this community, because everybody has their own niche. Everybody has their own thing that they’re interested in. And for me, it’s virtual reality, it’s gaming, it’s connecting with others and networking. And that’s one of the things that I really enjoy. So, I have a social platform that I’m building in virtual reality called Blockchain UniVRse. And there’s a lot of different virtual platforms that are out there, so, I would say, you know, if you’re in the Crypto space, you’re probably used to hearing names like Cryptovoxels, Decentraland, maybe even Somnium Space. 

00:02:17:09 – 00:03:11:09

Jerome: And, you know, just to break it down a little bit, like Cryptovoxels, I’ll say, is like level one in social immersion so that, you know, voxel art, it reminds me a lot of like Minecraft and games like that. Not my cup of tea, you know what I mean? I like where they’re going with it and I think for the different applications that are out there, it’s great to be able to utilize it. I have some amazing friends that are artists that use Cryptovoxels and just will send me the link, go check this out and I could be able to jump in and, you know, see their parcel and the art that they have on there. And then I’m out, but I’m not really utilizing it to socialize and connect with other people in Cryptovoxels. And then I’ll have people that tell me, Yo come check out my talk in Decentraland. Great, and I’ll jump in and then I’ll see a bunch of people texting each other and then they’ll say, Oh, join the Discord to listen to me. What kind of nonsense is this? You know? 

00:03:11:11 – 00:03:54:28

Jerome: And then I’ll give props to Somnium Space who’s already working on a VR platform. And, you know, a couple of the developers in the group is in the Blockchain and they decided, Yo, let’s put Blockchain in our VR app. And they’re one of the first that I would say that made a really great VR Blockchain application. However, you know, because this is still a niche within a niche, you’re not going to have a lot of people on the platform as itself. So, you know, they try to do a lot of pushes and I want more people. If you’re watching this and you’ve never seen Somnium Space, please go check it out. You know, great project. Still, you know, I don’t see it being that push to mass adoption to bring the Crypto community in a virtual reality, so, you got to go where the platforms are at. 

00:03:55:01 – 00:04:05:15

Jerome: People are using Facebook because people are on it. People use Twitter because people are on it. You know? I got sucked into Clubhouse recently because people are on it. So, you got to go where the people are at. 

00:04:05:20 – 00:04:38:15

Jerome: And for me, that virtual platform that already exists and it’s free was called Altspace and then Microsoft bought them. And I really started utilizing it more and more and just having conversations with people in there about Bitcoin. And after a while, someone is like, you should do Crypto events in here and I’m like. Yeah, you’re right. I should, why not? Nobody else is doing it. And then I found out, yeah, there actually was someone else doing it, so me and him linked up together and his name is Block D Central, he’s been doing events in alt space since like 2017 and we started working together. 

00:04:38:17 – 00:05:25:17

Jerome: I’ve been doing events out here in Miami and, you know, part of the community, like I said, and we’ve been going to conferences and hosting conferences and, you know, I know a lot of the people that are hosting this event right now. And as I was doing that, I’m helping them and I see what’s going on with the conference space, I’m like there should be a, you know, like, a conference space in virtual reality so we can continue this experience without being here. So, I made a conference hall in VR with four different rooms and like, I’ll have one room as a NFT gallery and other rooms as an Expo Room where we can have booths set up. So, you know, you guys can have a Crypto Current booth and educate the VR enthusiasts about, you know, your platform. Show them your website, stuff like that, all within a virtual space that we can connect with. And my goal is to make it 24/7 events this year. 

00:05:26:09 – 00:05:56:28

Richard Carthon: You know, that’s really impressive. And, you know, I want to unpack a couple of things that you kind of touched on. So, quickly, going back to this Cryptovoxels and the Decentraland, so, I think when you were kind of describing it to me. It was kind of like it was meant for like being on a computer, but then they put the word virtual reality on it, rght? So, for a non-understanding, ignorant person in virtual reality, can you explain to me, like the differences or the nuances of virtual reality and also even augmented reality? 

00:05:58:00 – 00:06:25:07

Jerome: Alright so, we’ll start with we all get with 2D is, everything’s flat. You know? You’re not really immersed, you’re looking at it from a box in front of you, whereas when something is virtual, you’re in that box. So, no matter where I move my head, I’m fully immersed in that experience. And then when something is augmented, that box is then in your eye and your space. So, you know, I’m still seeing the real world, but I can see that digital object wherever I put it. 

00:06:25:09 – 00:07:49:07

Jerome: So in Pokémon Go, they made it a gamified experience where I can be able to collect Pokemon as I walk around and, you know, exert energy. And I think it’s a great idea. You know, there’s been some copycats in the Crypto space like AIRcoin and I can’t remember a couple of other names, but I love looking at how, you know, all of these different companies in the space are trying to replicate things that are already done and trying to gamify it in a Crypto way where you can make earnings, so, it’s an interesting way to go about it. But there’s, I guess, multiple different layers to your immersion. And I think that having an immersion that, you know, not only is something that I can see, no matter where I’m looking at I can see it, no matter what I listen to, if you have, like, headphones on, you know, you’re fully locked in. And have that three, 60 audio, so, if you’re, you know, talking to me on my right, I hear you from my right and I can hear someone on the left. And you know, that to me is that full immersion that I love about Alt Space, where you don’t get that in something like Decentraland, you don’t get that like in something like Cryptovoxels. And I will say, you know, Somnium Space has that and they even have one feature that I think is really cool where the time is like on a four hour shift, so, if you’re in the app for eight hours, you go through a whole day. 

00:07:50:05 – 00:08:19:17

Steven Miller: That’s pretty wild. So, one of the things that at least I’m getting out of what you’ve explained so far about all these different platforms is this shortcoming is that they’re not connecting one of the most important things about engagement. They’re seeing it from the transaction side. Every single engagement that you have within that VR landscape, it’s a transaction. It’s you’re going there to do one thing and you get that one piece of enjoyment out of it and then you’re out. But the reality of communities and the platforms that last is that they build it around interaction. 

00:08:19:21 – 00:08:20:10

Jerome: Absolutely. 

00:08:20:12 – 00:08:39:10

Steven Miller: So, when we think about that and it can be something we get into in our talk tomorrow, not to be pitching our talk on this chat, because that’s not what it’s about. But we hope, at least from what we’re hearing from you, because it sounds like you’ve got a really amazing concept here, that that community and that interaction base layer really does come together the way that you envision because it could be really powerful, man. 

00:08:40:24 – 00:08:41:09

Jerome: Absolutely.

00:08:41:11 – 00:08:41:26

Steven Miller: Yeah.

00:08:41:28 – 00:08:50:24

Richard Carthon: And on that, you know, the Miami Experience has been great so far, you know, how have you been enjoying it? And what are some things that you’re looking forward to? 

00:08:51:11 – 00:09:31:12

Jerome: I have been loving this experience. It’s amazing. You know, especially after the last year, last Crypto conference I went to before the pandemic was probably TNABC in January of 2019 or 2020 maybe. I can’t even remember anymore, it feels like it’s all a blur. I’m pretty certain it was January 2020. And then like, no, I’m sorry, I forgot NFT NYC. It was not supposedly a conference, they called it a meet up, but yeah it was like the last big Crypto meetup that we had. A couple of hundred people showed up, everybody, you know, talking about NFTs, great experience, loved it and then shut down. 

00:09:31:14 – 00:10:22:08

Jerome: And it’s like, you know, if you’re not on Twitter, if you’re not, you know, there talking to people or on Telegram all the time, you know, it’s easy to like, forget people, or forget what they’re working on. And there’s just so many faces in the space where it’s just like I want to be more immersed than just seeing a picture avatar in a chat. I love that Clubhouse came out and, you know, started getting connected with a lot of my Crypto friends. And, you know, if I see you in Clubhouse in a group, I’m going to try and jump in and, you know, chit chat, see what you’re up to, see if I get on stage and, you know, talk about what’s going on and all of the immersive technologies. You know, it’s another thing that I’m really glad about with the space is that there’s so many early adopters and not just an early adopter to Crypto, but early adopters to you know, XR, augmented reality, VR technology. 

00:10:24:20 – 00:11:31:25

Jerome: Ahead of the trends when it comes to things like quantum technology, AI, you know, there’s so many different fields that keep growing and I love that there are new Blockchain projects that are really connecting into these new emerging technologies. And it’s just like how do we stay ahead of the trend of all of these different projects? How do you stay connected? And honestly, that’s one of the next things that I’m really working on in the roadmap is to just be able to have the right events that’s more kind of like a R&D team where you can kind of come and sit down and, like, pay attention to some of the new tokens together and kind of go on that hunting mission to inform the largest audience or the largest group within VR. And I want to say, like, one of my favorite ways of learning is regurgitating it to someone. You know, you teach me something, then I go back and tell it to someone else and have them tell it to someone else. And that’s how you really know you learned it if your explanation was correct to that person, you know? So, I want to hear more about what’s Crypto Current up to.

00:11:31:27 – 00:12:03:03

Richard Carthon: Well, a couple of things. Interesting uou bring that up. I use that reference a lot, like, we try to make things very simple so that people can go back in and share it and empower people and do all that. We actually do have a Clubhouse that we do every Wednesday at seven p.m. Central Time. If you ever want to join us, we’re happy to have you on there. But you know, we’re continuing to grow our community, we are continuing to produce content. We went from one day a week to two times a week, and we have a lot of other, like, really exciting things along the way as well. 

00:12:03:05 – 00:12:58:06

Steven Miller: Yeah. We’re right now being actually really aggressive behind the scenes and growing not just the podcast platform, but our YouTube platform and trying to make sure that we’re giving more like, active engagement opportunities back to the community, because to us it’s about empowering at a broader scale than just, you know, Crypto. We want to bring in more people, we want to be a part of the group that is bringing the outsider in. We’re really fortunate that we actually just got done connecting with Joel Nagel and we’re going to be on his show in the next day or so where we’re going to be speaking frankly, to a lot of boomers who frankly, I mean, I imagine you’ve had at least a little bit of exposure here in the ecosystem where you’re seeing people knocking on the door and being like, what’s a Bitcoin and where can I go pick one up? Like, it’s those individuals we want to bring in, so we’re going to have the opportunity to reach some of those people, but also looking at Gen Z, the millennials and the people that want exposure in the space. 

00:12:58:09 – 00:13:34:17

Steven Miller: It’s about getting to them in a more creative way and providing more high touch opportunities. And honestly, it’s even stuff like this being at experiences like the Miami Crypto Experience. We’re going out there and we’re actively trying to provide press opportunities so that, you know, people at different conferences can have an outlet to start getting their stuff featured in Google News, get in front of the right types of people, so, that we can start expanding the knowledge base. So, in terms of where we’re headed, that’s a little bit of the behind the scenes for Crypto Current and what we’re doing. But it’s going to be an exciting rest of the year, regardless whether you’re looking at us, you or just the Crypto space at large. 

00:13:34:19 – 00:14:09:15

Steven Miller: There’s a lot of exciting stuff going on, that’s made super apparent here at Miami Crypto Experience. So, I think with one last question in mind, I want to ask you, because you’re the local, right? You know, you’ve been in this ecosystem for a while. What draws people to Miami, in your opinion? Because, again, it’s a very broad question. It’s very opinion based. But the Crypto ecosystem is gravitating towards this city. And I not only feel that when I land here and I step onto the conference floor, but when I interact with people, there’s so much love and culture and hype behind this city, so. 

00:14:09:23 – 00:14:10:18

Richard Carthon: Energy.

00:14:10:20 – 00:14:14:22

Steven Miller: Where do you sit with it? What is it in your perspective that’s drawing people here? 

00:14:19:17 – 00:14:49:20

Jerome: Word  of mouth, honestly. This community is just. It’s a grassroots movement. You know, there’s so much just people here that, you know, of course, there’s going to be those token holders. And after a while, those token holders kind of found each other using apps like MeetUp and Eventbrite. And, you know, once they started getting together and kept posting more and more meetups, you know, the groups will get larger and larger. 

00:14:49:25 – 00:15:20:00

Jerome: And somebody like me who’s a loner in the Crypto space and just paying attention and reading articles, but not really getting fully engaged, sees a meet up one day and decided, Yo, I’m going to make sure I’m not working at that time. Let me go check this out and see what’s the deal. And I showed up and, you know, kind of never looked back. It’s an amazing experience. I’ve, you know, lifelong friends, I’d say, like a lot of these people I look at as family ohana, you know, and Ken’s group, bro bros. 

00:15:20:03 – 00:15:20:18

Steven Miller: Bro bros.

00:15:20:20 – 00:16:05:09

Jerome: I mean, like everybody is, a bro bro that I can sit down and have an intellectual conversation. And, you know, I love that in this space, you know, it’s rare for me to need to explain something to somebody, you know what I mean? And like, I love what you guys are doing with connecting, like Boomers and Gen Z. I’m also aiming more for the Gen Z group. But, you know, that group isn’t really paying attention that much to this space, so, it’s great to put on the events and help other people learn about Cryptocurrency and get into the space, but it’s also great to have your click, your group of people that you always want to be around to, you know, throw, bounce ideas off of each other and help each other thrive. 

00:16:06:05 – 00:16:35:23

Jerome: And if you are on Telegram, you know, join the different communities that are in there. I love that Telegram’s trying to compete with Clubhouse now utilizing some of these voice chat features. So, you know, if you join Ken’s group chat, my group chat, you know, there’s so many different groups that you can be a part of or start your own and, you know, really bring together a community. That’s what I really think this is all about. It’s great to be able to make money off of this, but at the end of the day, it’s even better to make a community out of this. 

00:16:35:25 – 00:16:59:01

Steven Miller: Yeah, for sure. I mean, look, you can’t get lost in the fact that Crypto is often interpreted by the masses as a bunch of ones and zeros. This is not a black and white space by any stretch of the imagination, this is a vibrant scene. And I think that to me, that’s why they come to Miami, because this is a vibrant community. It’s growing. There’s a tension on it. And as Richard said, there’s an energy here.

00:16:59:03 – 00:17:31:01

Richard Carthon: It is, man. You can feel it. It’s electrifying and it’s been nothing but like solid energy since we’ve been here. And when I was next to you, so, you know, he’s been working some of the technical stuff during the day and we’ve been next to him covering a lot of different things and like, we passionately started having a conversation and I was like, Man, I  just want to get to know you, right? And through the conversation, I was like, Man, we got to interview. And so, it’s just crazy how quickly all that came together. And, you know, I’m really impressed by you, excited to learn more about you. What are ways that people can learn more about what you have going on and can connect with you? 

00:17:32:22 – 00:17:51:15

Jerome: Best way to connect with me, Telegram honestly. It’s either Telegram or VR. I’m on other apps, but like people always talk to me about, like, how come it takes so long? If you don’t talk to me on Telegram, I’m not going to see your message for a while. So, I’m on Telegram, Token Gamer. You’ll see Rome BNT, guy with a rocket ship. 

00:17:51:21 – 00:18:11:13

Jerome: On Twitter, I’ll check that periodically. That’s JRome128. Outside of that Blockchain UniVRse is the best way to check out a lot of my stuff. I spell universe a little different. It’s U-N-I-V-R-S-E. But yeah, I’m on all platforms. 

00:18:11:19 – 00:19:06:12

Jerome: Check out my Linktree link, Linktree/UniVRse, U-N-I-V-R-S-E and you can see all of the things that I’m working on. Just a quick recap of what we’ve done this year, we did a VR art gallery with Lover Worldwide, Alissa Christine. She makes amazing VR art pieces, put her art and a bunch of other artists are into a VR gallery and people got to walk around, auction some of the pieces as well as we’ve done like live paintings where she was painting in VR and put it in the virtual world for people to check that out, hosted a bunch of different events. I’m big on gaming. I’m more so in it for gaming. I want more gaming NFTs, so I’m trying to grow more of a gaming community. Not a lot of Blockchain games that I like to play per say, so right now it’s just more so like let’s get together and, you know, meet up, talk about Crypto while we play other games. 

00:19:06:21 – 00:19:30:21

Jerome: But I will say I’m getting more and more enticed with some of these games to come back and play. Right now. Miss Teen Crypto, who was here, got me playing Chain Games with her. We’ve been playing CHAINO and then Ken’s pushing them to get Apex Legends meeting and we’ll talk about Crypto while playing Apex Legends. So with that, for those that are probably wondering, like how do you guys get Apex Legends into Crypto? Like what? I’m confused. 

00:19:31:09 – 00:19:53:06

Jerome: Basically Chain Games allows you to be able to log into your PlayStation or Xbox account and then basically take your stats from the live updates and that API and connect it to the Blockchain. So, you could do things like waggner each other I’ll bet you I’ll kill you at least 10 times in Call of Duty or in Apex and being able to play a game together, I can bet that I’ll make more kills in you and stuff like.

00:19:53:08 – 00:19:53:24

Richard Carthon: Wow.

00:19:53:26 – 00:19:55:16

Jerome: Whoever wins the wager takes the Crypto. 

00:19:55:18 – 00:19:56:03

Richard Carthon: Yeah. 

00:19:56:05 – 00:19:58:09

Steven Miller: Yeah, you would win that bet almost every time. 

00:20:00:06 – 00:20:06:27

Richard Carthon: Well, that’s awesome, man. Well, thank you for dropping all that and looking forward to learning more about you. And of course, for everyone listening, stay Crypto Current.