Could you tell us more about yourself, such as your age, where you’re from, your job, and hobbies? Most importantly, can you share with our readers how and when you became familiar with crypto and NFTs?
I’m 31 years old and I’m from Italy! I got into crypto in 2018 when I started buying random shitcoins on eToro (lol). Only a few friends know that my first buy was in $XRP, so please don’t bully me now. I remember (vaguely) buying it at $0.15 before it went 20x in just three weeks.
Anyway, I went all-in on crypto three years ago when I quit my web2 career, which was becoming more monotonous with each passing day, despite being in the IT field.
Since then, I have learned more about crypto by lurking on Twitter, joining communities, and understanding the basics (as well as by losing money in several scams/slow rugs, learning the hard way).
FireFly
Cool! You could say you jumped on the boat early. What’s your favorite thing about the web3 world, and what simple tips would you give to newbies?
Tone
Overall, I love being able to transact value in a fast, frictionless, decentralized, and uncensorable manner. In terms of use cases and technological applications, NFTs are definitely my favorite subject of all. The immutable scarcity applied to generative art with trait statistics and rarities is a match made in heaven.
As a tip for newbies, in my humble opinion, it’s crucial to understand the difference in value proposition between web3 and web2 and how to sell it. Simply put, in web2, you first ship products and then seek out (build or find) an audience to sell to. In web3, you build your reputation by gaining the community’s trust first. Then, you can solve problems or build things alongside your community members, trying to reach other communities and onboard new members into yours. It’s about building a community of members, not just customers!
FireFly
Could you please tell us in more detail how you became acquainted with the Sama ecosystem, and what specifically interested you in it?
Tone
It all started with a friend of mine shilling Kusama to me, and we started setting up $DOT and $KSM validator nodes, which led to ForklessNation, a group of five people maintaining Dotsama nodes (with the Polkadot one currently securing over 1 million delegated $DOT and active in the W3F 1k Programme).
So, I started following influential people and learned about Donnie and his strong community. I missed the Moonsama ‘OG’ airdrop and the mint itself, but started buying and flipping. I even bought #1 for a whopping $20,000. Those were the good old crazy $MOVR days. Anyway, I became increasingly engaged within the community, and it became one of the main focuses of my crypto journey, thanks to its beautiful members, many of whom I became great friends with!
FireFly
Wow, that’s cool! So, you’re a top validator! Are you still bullish on the DotSama ecosystem? Although we can safely say that the parachain system is not ideal from an economic perspective, the number of developers in the DotSama system is constantly growing. From your perspective, does this mean that the DotSama era simply hasn’t had enough time to develop and achieve great success?
Tone
Not top! But it’s well ranked into the 1kV Programme, being up and running for quite a long time now, and flawlessly.
I’m bullish on Dotsama, Gavin’s vision. It’s more of a marathon than a sprint race, and everyone knows that multi-chain interoperability is where we’re headed. From an economic perspective, we can’t deny that we witnessed a few shitshows with certain crowdloans. Moreover, there have been some bottlenecks on both UX and marketing sides that have affected the ecosystem’s growth, at least in terms of market appreciation.
Also, let’s not forget that the Moonsama ecosystem is getting its slot later this month, bringing the biggest NFT/gaming parachain to Polkadot!
FireFly
Could you please tell us how you came up with the idea to create your NFT collection? And tell us more about the Rareships NFT collection?
Tone
I was inspired by Moonsama/Donnie (and other projects/people), and had wanted to create my own NFT project for a long time. I enjoyed having the opportunity to lay the foundation for my own NFT project, putting effort into creativity, community management, economics, and all things related to an NFT project.
To be honest, before Raresama fully launched two months ago, I had planned to establish my collection in the broader Ethereum landscape (specifically OpenSea), which I was about to go for.
The original project name was ‘spaceships.wtf’. Of course, building on ETH would have been totally different (with both its pros and cons), but in the end, I’m happy to be able to build within a community I’m already familiar with.
Rareships wants to be a community-focused gaming NFT project fully inspired by the Moonsama culture. Everything is tailored to the Moonsama community, from the collection’s supply to specific trait/layer names. Many things will remind you of the Moonsama ecosystem’s history, vibes, and memes.
The collection’s traits are never causal, as they carry a specific meaning, such as special perks or certain buffs to be revealed in due time.
On top of all this, we’re building our web3 gaming protocol, leveraging Lore, Governance, and whatever aspect we think is good to experiment on. All of this will take time, and we’re not going to make any significant promises at this current stage, as we prefer to underpromise rather than underdeliver.
Meanwhile, we also host ‘classic’ web2 games within our community, which we plan to include and integrate structurally.
FireFly
When creating your collection, are you relying on the fact that the main part of the community is already established, and you want to attract new users to the existing community? Or do you plan to build a completely new community around your project? Can we say that the bottom line is to develop a play-to-earn project?
Tone
Definitely the former. Not at all, I don’t believe in play-to-earn, as it’s notoriously not sustainable in the long term. When it’s ready, our economy is going to be based on play-to-craft mechanisms, be it driven by lore, governance or other perks.
FireFly
Very interesting! So, the bottom line is that it won’t be a standalone game app but more of a social project where you can contribute to the community and get rewarded, right? So, you will take the path of collaboration managers, alpha callers, and community builders, right?
Tone
No, not exactly. Gaming remains the focus, but we’re not going for the ‘Earn’ route, meaning it doesn’t rely on rewards with never-ending inflation, which usually and eventually dilutes and destroys the gaming economy as soon as the inflow of new people declines.
There are a few ways to accomplish such a goal, such as incentivizing resource burn into crafting mechanisms, relying on sustainable revenue streams (such as a rake system for specific games or using the treasury to invest in yield-bearing assets, etc.)
FireFly
Could you please tell us more about the artists in your project? I saw some great 3D models of your ships on Twitter! Crazy!
Tone
Very proud to have with us NinjaMzfk
Unrivaled 3D skills! He recently worked on the super successful AKCB (A Kid Called Beast), which launched last December on OpenSea and pulled crazy numbers, still being one of the top trendy collections across the entire Ethereum NFT landscape. He’s a top-notch 3D modeler but also a humble guy. We are truly blessed to have him with us!
FireFly
He’s an amazing artist! I interviewed him quite a while ago, and he’s a very nice and funny guy. As for his skills, I can only say one thing — you’re really lucky to have him on your team. You guys are great! I wish you fruitful work together!
Could you elaborate on the figures and details for your upcoming NFT collection? When do you plan to mint it? What will be the supply and minting price? How can we get on the whitelist, and what will be the stages of the initial sale? Please tell our readers everything they need to know. Also, let’s talk about the roadmap.
Tone
The collection mint is happening this month on our website, with trading starting on Raresama soon after.
The supply will consist of 1000 pieces, with 150 staying in the treasury for future uses, 100 being distributed as airdrops to the community’s OGs and contest/event winners, 550 being distributed via the whitelist, and 200 going for public sale. We are committed to launching with the highest possible number of unique holders, (targeting 500, which is an outstanding achievement if you ask me).
The WL mint price is 2k $SAMA, and the public price TBA. Unfortunately, all WLs are already taken, as we received more than 2k requests for 550 WLs. It’s been overwhelming!
However, we have committed to our community to not sell any of the raised $SAMA, as we are very bullish on the future token’s appreciation, while also being loyal and supportive towards the whole ecosystem and Moonsama team. We take transparency very seriously, key value to us.
We don’t have a detailed roadmap. Instead, we will follow a community “mindmap” (more details to come).
FireFly
This is a great idea because everyone is tired of empty promises in roadmaps! You’re leaving it up to yourself and the community to choose the direction for the future. But can you tell us a secret? What is your dream for the collection and the community? How would you like it to develop and in what direction?
Tone
Yes, roadmaps are feasible when short-term focused, imho. I dream of delivering something people will always recognize as a Raresama / Moonsama Network’s OG collection for years. The goal is to create a balanced gaming economy and sustainable stream revenues for Rareships’ treasury. The community will always drive our efforts and shape the project’s future.
FireFly
Can you please list your favorite NFT projects outside of the Sama network? And can you tell us more about why they are your favorites?
Tone
Definitely CryptoPunks and Azuki. Punks because they are the very first OG, timeless collection. Azuki because I love their design and overall chill vibes.
FireFly
Cool! And now for the last question before our quick blitz poll: what do you think will be the next big trend in web3? Now it’s obviously EVM networks, we’ve all caught ICO trends, play-to-earn, NFT, Defi! What new trends do you see emerging in the web3 world?
Tone
I think RWA tokenization hasn’t really taken off yet but has the potential to be a perfect match for NFTs in terms of yield generation and governance access.
I believe EVM is still dominating in general, but multi-chain interoperability will gain more and more traction, and protocols such as LayerZero are getting massive interest and funding from VCs.
I am quite positive towards L2 solutions aiming to scale Ethereum, such as Arbitrum (super trendy nowadays due to the $ARB token launch) and zkSync, which will be launching later this year.
I am consistently bullish on NFTs and their integration with DeFi, with a particular focus on lending protocols and money markets involving NFTs, which are still very early and somewhat illiquid.
FireFly
Here’s a quick survey! You can answer the questions you’re interested in more detail! And just answer the others briefly:
Tony’s answers will be in bold text
New Year / Christmas
Mountains / Sea
For retirement — Ethereum / Bitcoin (both)
Audiobook / Regular book
Telegram / Discord
Football / Hockey (Although in general I prefer tennis)
Beer / Whiskey
Anonymity and decentralization / Clear regulation
Star Wars / Marvel
Public blockchain / Private blockchain
Hardware wallet / Software wallet
ICOs / Airdrops
FireFly
I really want to thank you for this interview! It was very interesting to talk to you, and I think our readers will be interested too!
Tone
Thank you FireFly. It was quite interesting for me too.
p.s. (from the author) — if you liked the interview , leave a comment and subscribe to my twitter !
you can also support me with a donation — so that such interviews will be published as often as possible — my EVM adress (0x8f1209bd9b15B593f4Df37874dF95715E34F4883)
