Enjin and Efinity’s NFT gaming ecosystem and metaverse fund

0:01i'm ashton addison from block west capital for investmentpitch media and the cryptocoin show and today on blockchain interviews we have caleb applegate ceo and brianna cordendeck vp of communications at engine both of you welcome to the show and thank you so much for taking the time to come on hey ashley thanks for joining us you're very welcome i would love to dive

0:23into the world of nfts and affinity and there's so much that engine's been working on but there's also a lot to catch up on as well for those who aren't familiar with the engine ecosystem and all of the great things that your team's working on maybe you guys could start by explaining a little bit about the ecosystem at a high level before we jump into the details

0:46yeah absolutely um so engine we are kind of a an nft ecosystem developer we've been around as a company since 2009 um but we've been building in the blockchain space since 2017 um so at a very high level we have a full tech stack um dedicated to integrating blockchain and nfts into games and apps um so we have everything from a blockchain wallet um to an nft minting

1:11platform explorer marketplace and i'm scaling solutions that we're working on with effinity which i think will hit on later but really everything that a game or app developer needs to integrate this technology and allow their players to use it without kind of issues amazing yeah thanks brianna for that background and yeah there is a lot to digest because engine it seems like

1:35the team is working on so many different things especially with nfts exploding so quickly and it's hard to keep up to the industry and i know i feel like engine was one of the first ones in nfts i believe the team pioneered the erc 1155 nft standard if i'm not wrong maybe you can talk about at that time when nfts were just emerging you know getting involved then

2:00and how it's changed from until now yeah so engine was founded in 2009 um our co-founder maximum b tech started building a social gaming platform um it was called the engine network it still exists um but it was really a dedicated platform where gaming communities could host their websites and kind of gather together so if you had a minecraft server you could host your community

2:22there through their work they grew that to over 20 million users and across 250 000 gaming communities but through those experiences you know vtecker cto he's really a gamer at heart and he started to see some of the issues that those communities were experiencing as it relates to you know the existing centralized technologies um so in 2017 vtec coded one of the first ever nfts

2:48this was pre 721 pre 11 55 um so that was kind of around the crypto punks cryptokitties time and then um later on he published the erc 1155 tokens standard so this was really meant to solve some of the issues with usability and fees and just efficiency of erc 721 so since then we have kind of developed like i said this whole ecosystem of products based on erc 1155 and we've

3:17grown to over 100 developers within our own ecosystem there have been billions of blockchain assets minted you know on openc on our own platform using this token standard so it's been a pretty exciting journey and we're really glad to be one of the first kind of contributors in the space definitely and yeah thanks for that background um bringing us closer to up to speed now

3:42uh although nfts continue to explode i know engine is working on a platform that is i feel like revolutionary that i think people especially in the gaming space don't really know what's coming and it's going to come quickly maybe we can talk a little bit about 2022 with engine and affinity what do you see as you know the main objectives for engine and solutions that you're continuing to

4:08grow and to bring into the space this year yeah i'll take that one ashton so right now 2022 we're focused on what we call our core our core um kind of funnels into one primary product and that's the infiniti next generation blockchain built on polka dot um effinity it's kind of the heartbeat it's it's the um

4:34yeah it's the super highway transacting all nft transactions and it's it's it's we like to say it's kind of the roads between all the cities that are popping up so right now our entire product ecosystem is live infinity though is the missing piece um we're looking at mid-march where we get our parachain slot but but outside of being fully focused on affinity part of

4:59our core is our marketplace that we're launching which is nft.io as well as our new wallet and it's just a one for one updated version of our wallet with additional features um and a heavy heavy emphasis on usability engineering where we we take a deep dive into what's working what's not working how do users use wallets and apps and tried to create an

5:23experience that's really easy accessible very simple to get started with amazing caleb and yeah they're the the final missing piece and i i'm seeing this transition from you talk about the erc nft standard which is on ethereum now there's affinity getting a polka dot parachain slot different block chains communicating together as well as we continue to grow out

5:49affinity is working on getting a pair of chain slot or how exactly does that work and you mentioned like in march coming up something big is going to happen for affinity yeah great question so we actually won a parachain slot in in batch two we won the first slot so this was a monumental task uh we're really excited and grateful to to have a pair of chain slot now that we've secured

6:12that slot i think they'll be distributed mid-march so we'll be able to go live uh with effinity at that point so yeah yeah this was a this was this is how we spent our christmas and new year's rally in the community in retail so yeah it was uh it turned out to be a huge win all the way around so amazing and with nfts and especially gaming and you guys

6:35sort of hinted at like the gaming ecosystem and making a holistic solution where you guys have everything a big part of gaming i feel like is going to be the metaverse i know engine is working on a fund for the metaverse maybe you can just talk about engine's vision for the metaverse and how the team is getting involved yeah look we did we announced 100

6:59million dollar fund several months ago i want to say last fall and the whole purpose is to incubate and help uh projects that want to enter the blockchain space utilize blockchain tools um within our ecosystem specifically engine tools so we announced 100 million dollar fund that will be deployed over the next five years and that fund specifically funnels into

7:24ecosystem projects and so uh one of our our main tasks uh bryana and myself as well as our colleague renee an engine is to build out the ecosystem so not only are we hiring within the ecosystem team a newly formed team that's dedicated to these projects coming in um we're also rapidly expanding so we're we're multiplying at an accelerated rate in terms of projects that are coming in i

7:52think it it's it's a known thing now that the metaverse is a thing right last year it was about nfts what are nfts will they be sticky now it's all pushing into the metaverse the metaverse really is all about your digital identity so you've got a digital universe of these different worlds that are popping up whether it's games or lifestyle brands or even influencers

8:20that have spaces right you can go in and socialize at meta you know you can jump over to roblox and play their game within the metaverse and the the concept of the metaverse is really just breaking down walls you're creating this interoperable beautiful experience all centered around your digital identity so that's what we believe the metaverse is it's it's something that you

8:47enter into you experience you engage you interact with new communities but it's really it's about your digital identity and i think that when it comes to building out that vision that's really what affinity is meant to do so right now the metaverse is fragmented you know nft projects are spread across different blockchains um when we talk about true interoperability we're not

9:14quite there yet yes you might be able to take your erc-1155 assets from game to game like some of our own engine power games have done but making things truly interoperable means there are no walls or barriers for you to take that digital identity across all of these projects and so we really see effinity as the way for all of these projects to speak to

9:34one another if you are in a virtual world on finance smart change and you want to move over to a project that's on ethereum or polygon you can use affinity to cross that bridge um it's really it's going to support nfts from every single blockchain we'll be building bridges between all different projects and that's also something the meta first fund is for you

9:56know we want all these projects to be integrating affinity we want to support dapps and games and you know other entities within the space that are looking to create that you know interoperable seamless experience that we envision yeah a great addition briana as well and thanks for that caleb i'm curious about this fund it sounds incredible to create

10:17a 100 million dollar fund just for the metaverse uh and you know i feel like there's a lot to be still spoken about with infinity and what's going to happen after it launches and what are the focuses but in terms of that fund and metaverse's current metaverses and future metaverses as well it is engine planning on you know there's this money is used to

10:39incubate new projects that maybe are a new metaverse or maybe just a game um that connects to the metaverse or maybe an engine starting a partial metaverse themselves or also uh having land inside of other metaverses maybe you can hint at like is it all of these or some of them yeah so we're creating we're creating the infrastructure i think briana said

11:02it best earlier in our conversation we're creating the full nft stack right so we're the underlying infrastructure that facilitates all these nft transactions you know again we've got the wallet we've got an engine does have a wallet right now uh we're significantly updating that wallet and that release will be coming out here very shortly but we've got a full marketplace that's

11:25launching and again infiniti which is kind of our flagship next generation blockchain to do exactly what briana just just added so um yeah that that's our contribution at least in this stage is building that infrastructure you can't build a house without the foundation and while all these different projects uh explore entering into the metaverse are building their slice

11:52of the metaverse once they all start interconnecting that's where affinity comes in in a very powerful effective way yeah i think so many different brands and businesses and they have their different vision for what the metaverse is our goal building infrastructure is just to make it possible for them we realize that not everything is going to be fully open and decentralized although

12:16we're big proponents of that you know we just want every business to be able to work together and collaborate we think there will be different slices with different companies that have their own versions but we want to make it possible for them to work together in a seamless way and that's really what we're trying to build amazing and thank you for that yeah i

12:34think infrastructure and platform obviously are going to be necessary and in the past it's shown that you know the platforms that are able to host uh others are the ones that really have a long-term vision and then they succeed in the long term you know the metaverse isn't an overnight thing where everyone's going to move to the metaverse this is going to be a

12:56multi-multi-year uh project i'm guessing absolutely yeah amazing and and i have another question about the nfts you know we sort of talked about the erc standard polkadot moving forward and there has been some discussion especially from people that aren't really in cryptocurrency about nfts and the carbon footprint and environmental impacts or energy

13:20efficiency i'm curious your take being in that industry deep in there is that an issue or if it and if it is is it something that engine is working on i think with any new technology there's always a concern about what is our impact on the future as we're building it and it's our job to build it responsibly um that's one of the main reasons why we've chosen to build on

13:44polka dot um i think that a lot of the discussion around nfts is heavily based on ethereum's carbon footprint and impact and so we see solutions like polka dot and and we've also built solutions in-house we have an evm chain jump net it's gas free it's carbon negative we offset the very very minor carbon footprint with carbon offset credits um but polka dot was actually

14:11just i think a research report was released that it was the most efficient of all proof of stake networks um consuming just about six and a half times the average electricity of one u.s household per year so that's pretty limited if you think about what i'm consuming in my household today um so that's why we've chosen one of the many reasons why we've chosen to build on

14:32polka dot it's very important to consider how we responsibly build this and the impact we'll have on our world in the future we like to say that engine that planet earth is our most valuable non-fundable asset so we need to take care of it with effinity the goal is to really allow all of these nfts on different chains and blockchain projects to reap

14:52the benefits of you know polka dots uh you know efficiency in terms of cost and carbon efficiency um energy efficiency so anyone who wants to utilize affinity will be able to move bridge their assets over and transact there and then that would minimize if you are an ethereum project um that will certainly minimize your your impact when it comes to energy consumption

15:16very cool i like that and i really i like the analogy to the earth brian that's that's really awesome um so now leading up to affinity the launch of the pair chain now that it's been won um what are the next steps for the community and the people that want to get involved in engine and infinity is there any way that they can come and help or just learn more about the

15:39community and get ready for the launch yeah absolutely um so something that we've been focused on heavily caleb and i on the ecosystem side is really opening up our ecosystem in the past we've had kind of an application-based adapter program we want to open that up and it'll invite any project to get involved so we have a developer-focused discord that we've just launched and we

16:01would invite any projects who are looking to build on affinity to join us there we will be beginning to onboard projects in beta um to affinity towards the end of q1 or very beginning of q2 um and you know our earliest adopters those 100 game developers that i mentioned earlier um they'll be among the first to utilize that along with some other aaa studios that we're working with so

16:25we we want to grow this community we want people to be actively involved so we would invite anyone who is interested in maybe dabbling with nfts or they already are and they're looking for a better solution um to join our ecosystem community and start a conversation with us yeah i just want to add as well ashton that we're going to be launching a podcast to highlight projects uh

16:47specifically using engine technology so we we've actually recorded a few of them already we dropped our first one this week it's called the engine room uh and it's hosted by me and uh yeah it's been a ton of fun just getting to know these founders and what they're working on what they're passionate about and and why they decided to get started using blockchain tools

17:10and specifically engine as their solution yeah very cool a lot to look forward to thank you brana for that community update i'm gonna leave the links for uh developers or projects or just people interested in following along with affinity in the description box below and as well caleb that sounds great about the podcast i will leave the engine room link for the podcast in the

17:33description box below as well i'm glad you're joining the podcast club it is a lot of fun talking to founders uh and just seeing these amazing projects you know like dfinity is working on some amazing uh initiatives right now so thank you both for coming on the show i really appreciate it all the best with the upcoming launch of affinity and let's follow up in the near future

17:54thanks for having us thanks ashton you