The Top Three Takeaways from Aryeh B. Bourkoff’s Conversation with Sorare CEO and Co-Founder Nicolas Julia
Between bitcoin, NFTs, the metaverse, and the gradual recovery from COVID-19, the world currently stands at the precipice of a revolution comparable to the initial invention of the internet. New companies are formed every day that are positioned to tackle challenges and seize opportunities in the increasingly connected global economy, with all attempting to find their niche in the digital space. One such company is Paris-based Sorare, a fantasy game of football (aka soccer), where players buy, sell, trade, and manage a virtual team with digital player cards. The startup was founded in 2018 by Adrien Montfort and current CEO Nicolas Julia, who shared his insights on the future of NFTs, gaming, and Web3 with LionTree and Kindred Media CEO and founder Aryeh B. Bourkoff on a recent episode of KindredCast. While the entire forty-minute conversation is well worth a listen, here are three key takeaways that illuminate this exciting evolution of the internet.
- Art and Gaming Stand at the Forefront of New Business Models
Twenty years ago, it would have been hard to imagine anybody making a living off of playing Space Invaders. Thanks to the growing creator economy, gamers are able to earn an income through live streams and partnerships in addition to opportunities that are quickly presenting themselves with new blockchain technology. Sorare is combining fantasy sports with NFTs and sports betting to capitalize on growing trends across the sports industry, unlocking a new world of possibilities for fans across the globe.
Nicolas Julia: I like to think about NFTs as a way to authenticate and secure anything digital and like starting at Web 2.0, the old web, we could copy everything, right? Like photos, music videos, there was no notion of uniqueness in the old web, as we know it. And with NFT, we come with a tool, with a technology where we can authenticate and secure something digital. And with that, it unlocks totally new business models, totally new industries that are going to be built on top of it. And so art and gaming are at the forefront of it, but it’s going to be like, anything of value, that’s going to be an NFT in the web of tomorrow. And this is something that we are very excited about because now the web is going to be owned by people. We’re going to move from Web 2.0 where it was owned by Big Tech to a new web that is going to be owned by people. And this is something we are fascinated about.
Aryeh B. Bourkoff: I think that’s the word you mentioned in that statement was unlock. So this concept of the Web 2.0 or life for the prior generation, or my generation or generation beforehand, although I like to think of myself as part of the bridge generation, is locked in the sense that people built up these assets or the Web 2.0, because it was for the benefit of companies or the B2B ecosystem. And now we are unlocking for infinite value into the B2C world, not just consumers, but individualism or individual expression or individual ownership of assets and not just ownership of assets, but the actual images themselves, whether it’s art or players or music can be actually identified and verified and being asset themselves, and that can be tradeable or identified, or even become a currency of some ways.
Nicolas Julia: Yeah, exactly. And what I’m also excited about this shift is the fact that in this old web, people were creating things, but Big Tech was benefiting from it. Web 3.0, people are creating things and are benefiting directly from it. And we are not monetizing its attention anymore. We are monetizing the creation and the power of creation of the people. And this is a shift that is for me, fascinating again.
2. The Metaverse Will be Owned by the People
As the elusive metaverse continues to expand, so does growing concern over current ownership of the platform. While there are several companies building metaverse technology (like gaming platform Roblox), the past ten years have proven that online monopolies pose incredible dangers to society. Thus, the metaverse creates a new call for economic competition online.
Nicolas Julia: I think that maybe we are already in the metaverse, right? We spent a lot of time in digital environment(s). So I don’t know if, “oh, it’s going to look like” … “In five years it’s going to be really different?” I don’t know. I think one clear boundary is, for this metaverse conversation is, do we want a metaverse that is owned by a centralized company? Or do we want a metaverse that is owned by the people, in the form of NFTs?
3. NFTs Do Translate to the Physical World
Possibly the greatest criticism of NFTs comes from those who understand digital art to be nothing more than an expensive JPEG. However, NFTs can and do unlock real experiences in the physical world. The concept of NFT ownership is still new, and both creators and consumers will determine their ultimate value.
Nicolas Julia: Now, we are bridging the other way around. When you own an NFT, you can access a stadium, you can meet the player. Because you own an NFT, you can go to the physical world and do something cool. So yeah, I want a world where we are not stuck scrolling in front of screens, right?
Aryeh B. Bourkoff: Yeah.
Nicolas Julia: So I like this bridge and that’s always (how) I like our company to operate. And that’s the reason why we picked fantasy as well, because you are not stuck in front of a screen playing fantasy. You compose your team, then it plays, right?
Aryeh B. Bourkoff: Right.
Nicolas Julia: And you can enjoy doing something else, right?
Aryeh B. Bourkoff: Exactly.
As we enter into the next phase of our digital lives, there is an endless world of possibilities — NFTs and cryptocurrency have the potential to create an equitable economy that works for the many, not the few. While there is still so much that is unknown about the future of the digital economy, it is in that unknown space that we can create a world beyond the scarcity of the physical, if only we are brave enough to go there.
To see the full conversation, you can watch here on YouTube or listen wherever podcasts are found.
