Transcripts from RJ Mark’s recent AMA with KuCoin Japan
Welcome to the Ask Me Anything, Mark. Please introduce yourself to our audience and how you launched Verasity.
I’m a successful entrepreneur and technologist. Since 1996, I’ve been developing software and hardware for a variety of platforms, including PC/ Mac, Android and iOS mobile devices, that are still used by a wide variety of users. And I have more than 20 years of experience in the management, development and release of related well-known products.
I developed a cloud service for online video playback that maintains the quality of the data stream, including low latency, low buffering, and higher quality data streams. I founded a software company that provides a new way to broadcast online and stream video content across multi-user platforms, while reducing bandwidth and infrastructure costs. This application can be used for online games, as well as any live or VOD streaming media.
I have many patents to my name. Some in gaming and in video streaming and content delivery. I am in the process of assigning all the relevant ones to Verasity which will be actively converted to products.
Verasity’s management and development team consists of 25 people who have been working together in the online AD space for more than 7 years, and we have an in-depth understanding of the issues that exist in the current ecosystem of brands, AD networks, AD exchange platforms and video publishers.
2. Please explain to us: what does the Verasity eco-system look like? How do esports, and Esports Fight Club, fit into this?
Esports has over 500M users with more than half being in the Asia Pacific. The audience is mostly male, between the ages of 18–30 — almost identical to that of crypto.
We know there are a lot of gamers in crypto and vice versa, but most of the gaming in crypto is small. If you look at the quality of esports, the graphics, the user experience and the complexity of the tournaments — they are top of the line…. yet most crypto games are very simple, with limited graphics and poor UX. Verasity, and specifically Esports Fight Club, aren’t looking to rebuild the wheel — we are looking to improve it.
Rather than recreate the gaming industry on the blockchain, we are looking to improve it by offering crypto rewards for participating in already existing global tournaments. Recently we’ve partnered with some of the subsidiaries of Tencent Games, the largest gaming company in the world.
This system is designed based on our Proof of View technology — which also benefits publishers. Proof of View ensures every view is by a human, cutting out all the bots and fake views — which can make up to 40% of views or $140B in lost revenue.
3. Tell us more about Esports Fight Club
Esports Fight Club is a completely new concept in gaming. We are partnering with the biggest names, like Riot Games, HUYA, PUBGm (Krafton) owned by Tencent, and more. We are bringing the biggest esports tournaments and offering viewers and participants rewards to engage with them. How cool is that? You’re doing something you love and getting rewards for it.
For Verasity, Esports Fight Club is the proof that our technology, Proof of View not only works, but it helps drive engagement. People like rewards. You can apply that to any type of video content and not only ensure that the viewers are in fact human, and not bots, but that they are actively engaged with your content.
4. Can you explain Proof-of-View in some more detail?
Verasity developed Proof of View to solve the following two separate problems.
Testing — The current standard is to analyze content after delivery (usually near the end of the campaign). With Verasity, our technology can detect AD fraud in a timely manner. Using 200 monitoring points and AI, Verasity can determine with high probability whether a robot or a human is watching an AD or content in real time. No longer waiting for post-delivery fraud analysis or issuing a request for a refund from the publisher — advertising fraud is instantly detected and filtered.
The Proof of View system also prevents bad actors from trying to use multiple methods to increase the number of views and fake the number of views. Once the POV proves that the viewer is human, we need to solve the second part of the problem — accounting for the valid ads.
In order to achieve individual accountability, and thus improve the transparency of the PoV, a unique identifier is issued to all interested parties. When a viewer creates an account, it is assigned an anonymous hash ID and then marked with the number of times the user-generated video has been viewed. We view “viewing behavior” as a transaction that can be done on the blockchain.
Verasity’s technology uses advanced methods to ensure that only PoV-verified “viewing behavior” is counted. Verified “watch behavior” is added to a publicly accessible database that contains anonymous data.
5. How does VeraWallet play into all of this?
VeraWallet is essentially our central hub. All roads lead back to VeraWallet. Of course, it’s where you can buy and stake Verasity’s token $VRA. We offer 25.5% staking rewards — probably one of the highest, if not the highest out there right now. It’s also where you can earn your crypto rewards from Esports Fight Club.
VeraWallet is designed for security. It’s a cold wallet, and impossible to hack. In fact, we guarantee against any hacks to the wallet and promise to reimburse any lost $VRA. We have yet to have a single case yet — with over 170,000 users.
6. What are your plans for the global market? How do you plan on expanding?
With esports being so big in Asia Pacific, we have focused heavily on the market here and will continue to do so — but Verasity is a global company and we are looking to grow internationally. We have our telegram channel in 14 languages with socials of 500k followers. Our technology can be adopted anywhere in the world, and so we are looking to expand globally as much as we can.
7. And how about Japan? What is Verasity planning for the market?
Japan is an exciting market for Verasity. With so many young people into esports and crypto — it’s just a natural fit. We recently hired a community manager based out of Tokyo and are excited to really grow across the country. We hope to have some cool in person events and tournaments in the future — so be sure to follow us and stay up to date with our latest news.
8. How do you plan on increasing the value of $VRA? Can you tell us your strategy?
We’ve recently hired a team of talented executives to lead each faction of the company — from product to sales and marketing. Justin Wenczka, joins the Verasity team as Chief Revenue Officer to lead the commercial strategy. He comes with 10+ years of experience in adtech, focusing on advertising security and performance.
Most notably, Justin was the Co-Founder and CEO of Pubguard which revolutionised in-app ad verification and aided app developers to automatically identify harmful advertising and increase ad revenue.
Maryam Mahjoub has joined as Chief Marketing Officer — coming from some of the largest names in blockchain including Consensys, Cardano and Soramitsu.
They are both focused on improving our brand awareness, product quality and market share — all leading to an increased valuation of VRA.
Can we take a few questions from the audience? Let’s start with this:
I think the world of games will continue to expand in the future. In such a situation, do you always plan to continue to improve Esports Fight Club as a wheel? Or do you plan to have different wheels for different genres?
We will add more features and games to EFC so that it becomes a hub for both Esports as well as more casual games, along with variety games — and we have plans for events in Japan as well!
What method do you use to identify someone is watching a video with AI? Wouldn’t the viewer leave if there was a need to take some sort of action or click on an ad?
There is no intrusive need to click on an ad for Proof of View to work. It works silently in the background.
Currently attracting real users and mass adoption is a problem for many blockchain projects. So how do you plan on resolving this issue?
Through esports tournaments in the real world. With over 10m viewers, we have already achieved that. We aren’t building a fresh audience, we are leveraging a huge gaming audience and introducing them to crypto rewards through gamification.
How will VRA change the world? Do you have any prospects or future visions that may make us excited?
Proof of View is a patented technology that changes the entire world of ad tech for brands and video platforms. Advertising isn’t going anywhere. By ensuring the validity of human views, we can help small businesses make sure every dollar they have to spend on video ads is being properly spent, and not wasted on fake views by bots. With our rewards programs, where advertisers can provide VRA rewards for ad views, we are giving the average viewer an opportunity to earn rewards while giving their time to advertisers and content creators. Not only does this help businesses gain more engaged viewers, it providers their viewers with an opportunity to earn some passive income. The impact of Verasity’s vision is global, significant, and for both businesses and consumers.
