Conversation From the Future with QSTN
Humans, cyborgs, robots, Decepticons, Autobots, terminators, conscious entities! This is a fascinating interview with Orrin, the cyborg from the future, about his project on NEAR Protocol.
Enjoy!
Basic Personal Background
CQ: Please identify yourself:
A: My name is Orrin Campbell and I am the founder and CEO of QSTN; we operate out of the United States (New York City).
CQ: NYC!!! The city that never sleeps. No wonder you are in crypto: the domain where the sun never sets. And how long have you been with NEAR Protocol?
A: We have been building on the NEAR Protocol for about 6 months, initially introduced by Mintbase almost a year ago.
CQ: Awesome! I have met several collaborators through Mintbase also. It’s an amazing platform on NEAR Protocol. Could you please elaborate on how Mintbase introduced you to NEAR?
A: Mintbase introduced us to NEAR in (March) 2021 when we decided to release our MUTANT mixtape as an NFT on their marketplace — this release was celebrated with a Cryptovoxels party where over 1,000 users came to celebrate [hosted by Vandal Digital].
CQ: I see. You seem to have been in crypto for quite a while now. How long have you been in the crypto universe?
A: Starting in 2016, we began to learn about Ethereum and the entire blockchain space; since then our interest has gradually grown from passive investor, to public speaking (e.g. Dragonchain, Mic Network) and now building our own protocol on NEAR Protocol.
CQ: Amazing! Now let us talk about the project.
Project Information
CQ: What is QSTN trying to solve?
A: QSTN is an emerging Web3 data platform looking to disrupt the advertising industry by giving individuals power over their data. Launching an application on NEAR Protocol that focuses on consumer privacy is paramount to the future of web security and internet data regulations.
CQ: That is profound, indeed. I wonder what the genesis story is behind the formation of QSTN. Was it a gradual process or a spur-of-the-moment “aha” event?
A: After appearing on Dr. Phil as a “cyborg from the future”, Orrin began a YouTube series where he interviewed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; during this episode, Neil cautions that data is a human rights issue and large corporations should pay us for our personal information.
CQ: We could do a whole episode on Neil deGrasse Tyson. Man, that episode was epic! Many in the comments section of that episode were astounded at how you guys were able to have Neil on the show. So my next question is, when did QSTN officially launch?
A: We incorporated QSTN in December 2020 but did not officially open the waitlist until after NEARCON; in November 2021, with our current timeline expecting us to release the beta application in June 2022.
CQ: Looking forward to that! (but to all of you who are reading this after June 2022,… “Looking backwards to that”) Speaking of looking backwards, what was the main obstacle that QSTN had to overcome?
A: The biggest hurdle is creating a compliant system which incentivizes users for data aggregation while still offering the privacy and security allowed within a Web3, permissionless system; to address this users will earn at a different rate depending on their KYC level.
CQ: I can only imagine how you were able to pull that off. Moving on, let us talk about the humans and, in your case, Orrin, the cyborg behind QSTN. I guess I should do an infinite A.M.A. series on asking you, a cyborg from the future, about what is going to happen in crypto space, or even in outer space. But that’s a concept for the “future.”
Core Team
CQ: Please tell us about your collective core team.
A; The core team consists of Orrin Campbell (CEO & Founder), Eugen Pyatygin (Lead Developer), Anibal Suriel (Legal), Jose Suriel (CTO).
CQ: Now that’s a pillar core. 4 team members. Please tell us more about each and their role(s)?
A: Orrin Campbell is our lead and ideates the blockchain architecture, Eugen is our developer and codes the actual platform + NFT platform in Rust while working with other NEAR projects for integration, Anibal is our head legal and his twin brother Jose assists with product development.
CQ: Fantastic! What do you appreciate the most about each one of them? You could mention one outstanding quality of each, something that you appreciate.
A: For Eugen, we appreciate his attention to detail and ability to find new ways to add utility to QSTN; Anibal, has a deep understanding of legal and advises best practice to remain compliant and regulated. Lastly, Jose allows us to perfect the workflow and remain on schedule.
CQ: You are one appreciative cyborg, Orrin! That’s a good quality a leader must have. I bet many people would like to work for you. Are you by any chance hiring any humans or cyborgs?
A: Yes, QSTN is currently hiring; we are looking for a data analyst, social media intern and financial accountant with expertise in blockchain.
CQ: I think a cyborg applicant could be a good candidate for a data analyst, just crunching data in a cold and detached way so as to have an objective appraisal. Let’s talk about what makes QSTN stand out.
Features
CQ: What would you say would be the unique advantage, or advantages, that clients can experience with QSTN?
13. The unique advantage with QSTN is our ability to offer a Web2 and Web3 experience within one platform; allowing each type of user the chance to monetize their personal information, permissionless access and DID solutions without needing to acknowledge the blockchain or gas fees.
CQ: Serving the Web2 market seems to offer you a lion’s share of the market. Nice! So what is QSTN trying to accomplish again?
A: As a data platform, the virtual $ANSR credit allows users to earn rewards in tokenized form each time they answer a question on-chain. Data has become a human rights issue and our goal is to bridge that gap by creating new tools on Web3 which empower end-users.
CQ: That’s fascinating! Tell us more about other benefits please.
A: The token not only incentivizes collaboration between companies and consumers but also creates a sustainable data economy to showcase the true value of data. QSTN is being implemented on NEAR because gas fees for thousands of daily microtasks would be expensive on ETH.
CQ: Way to go! And whom is QSTN trying to serve specifically?
Target Users
CQ: Who’s your ideal users?
A: The ideal users include first time crypto users, data enthusiasts, privacy enthusiasts, web3 users and those seeking passive income.
CQ: I would love to earn passively, too! Do you have any other demographics that you are thinking of serving as well?
17. Before launch, we plan to launch an NFT collection (on Paras) [in May] to better address and engage the NFT community as well as partnering with Greystone to create an educational blockchain course for school children in underprivileged communities.
CQ: That’s a noble initiative, Orrin. You do have a longer time horizon with your perspective here. Oh, yeah; I almost forgot: you are from the future. Great to have a dialogue with someone from the future. Speaking of the future, what is next with QSTN? Any exciting things happening in the NEAR future? Pun intended, of course.
What is Next?
A: Those who are interested can sign up for the waitlist on our website and follow our socials for daily updates, in the meantime..
- We will begin opening up the beta to private tests to local DAOs, protocols and projects within the NEAR Ecosystem [April]
- They should also look forward to our upcoming 3,000 generative QSTN NFT collection being released on Paras (Price: 5N) [May]
- We will be throwing a launch event with NEARHub to celebrate mainnet [June]
CQ: Some visionary leaders in the present can only visualize what lies ahead; but you can seem to see it in finer details. I wish there was a time machine that could bring me to the future, too! But in the meantime, where can non-cyborgs, such as humans, find more information about QSTN?
A: You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Discord, Telegram and Medium (here are ALL social links).
CQ: Orrin, are there any other questions not included here that you wish had been asked? Perhaps an information that you would like to bring up to us human beings here?
A: QSTN has been selected as 1 of 10 participants in the 2022 Filecoin accelerator program after winning 2nd and 4th place in their NFT Hackathon hosted in partnership with Encode Club.
CQ: Brilliant! Any last words to everyone reading this content and those who are going to read this in the future?
A: The community should look forward to testnet invites, which we started to share on Twitter using a special giveaway [enter here].
CQ: They, the community, should look forward to that for sure, as you look backwards to us as someone coming from the future. This has been a great conversation with you, Orrin.
To all non cyborgs out there; please check additional contents from Orrin and QSTN by clicking the links below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay0fsmpgc-A&t=4s&authuser=0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1HofKRfFh8&authuser=0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReRddYVYfHU&t=16s&authuser=0
