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Edge Of NYC, June 2022: Josh Leidolf (TRAN$PARENT) And Ben Yurcisin & Miles Colon (BeYu Labs), Plus: WeDream AR Demo And Inspiration From Robby Yung (Animoca Brands), Ronghui Gu (CertiK) & Geoffrey Woo (Anti Fund)
Jeff Kelley, Eathan Janney, and Josh Kriger are coming to you from New York for NFT NYC Week. In this episode, they share a series of interviews with people doing interesting in the space. Listen to their fun conversation with Josh Leidolf, aka TRAN$PARENT, as he explains he is using his art to promote and advocate for transparency in the financial sector. They also chat with Ben Yurcisin and Miles Colon of BeYu Labs about the collaborative space that is Web3. Plus, stay tuned for important announcements from the people who sponsored an incredible industry rooftop mixer: Robby Yung of Animoca Brands, Ronghui Gu of CertiK, and Geoffrey of Woo of Anti Fund. Lastly, look out for a demo of the WeDream AR, where a volunteer gets to tour a virtual art gallery and purchase NFTs on the spot.
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Edge Of NYC, June 2022: Josh Leidolf (TRAN$PARENT) And Ben Yurcisin & Miles Colon (BeYu Labs), Plus: WeDream AR Demo And Inspiration From Robby Yung (Animoca Brands), Ronghui Gu (CertiK) & Geoffrey Woo (Anti Fund)
This is a special episode of the show coming to you from New York City for NFT NYC Week. In this special episode, we’re going to bring you a series of short interviews, fun, and conversations with some of the people doing those interesting things in the space, so stay tuned. We’ll cut from one interview to the next like you’re here with us. I hope you enjoy it.
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For this particular interview, I’m here with my good friend, Josh, and we’ve seen each other quite a bit at various NFT events in Miami and New York. I’ve caught you even before we met at that various events and parties. I’ve seen your art around. It’s a privilege to have the chance to sit down and talk with you for some recorded content and let more people know about what you’re doing. We’ll kick the interview off by asking you to introduce yourself and a little bit about what you’re generally up to, and we’ll dive into some questions.
Thanks a lot, Eathan. I appreciate that. My name is Josh but I go by Transparent Artist in the art world. I’ve been involved in Web3 and NFTs for a few years. I’ve been an artist my whole life, but I started depicting transparent currency and commodity art years ago as a protest against the Central Banks and more clearly with what’s happening now with inflation. I don’t think quantitative easing and fractional reserve lending are the best roadmaps for future humans leading forward.
I’m trying to do what I can from an artist’s perspective to protest that a little bit and bring my message to the humanity of truth and transparency. That’s what my art is all about. It’s transparent currency and commodity art as a metaphor for truth and transparency, specifically in the financial sector, because every human is directly affected by that unless you live in some indigenous culture not affected by modern economics.
I’ve been living in this strange space as someone who’s creative but also interested in finance and things like this. I always love running into people. Especially I’ve found so many people in the NFT space who are like me, who are curious and care about finance and money but also are creative. Sometimes, in the past, those things haven’t seemed to go together. I love that about you. We’re in New York City and we’re in this interesting space.
We’ve partnered with a project called Soho Technique and they’re doing a gallery art walk in five spaces here in the Soho area. It’s augmented reality art. We’re going to do a VIP Live show recording. You’re an artist and we’re in an art space. NFTs grew out like a currency space. Tell us why you come to New York. Have you been here for NFT NYC 2021, and what do you look forward to being here?
This is my first time at NFT NYC Week. Obviously, I was just with you at NFT LA, Miami. I’m speaking at NFT Seattle and coming up here soon. I’m pretty excited about that but it’s my first time here. I’m excited to be here. One of the main reasons I came was because of the Spirit Seeds. As a fellow artist, thank you for that. This event is going to be cool. I also came up to see what other artists are working on, some future drops, and what the future of the NFT space in general looks like regardless of market cycles. A lot of things that I dive I put my heart into. I put them in there for multi decades, not multi-years or months.
I’m not a short-term flipper trader guy. I also came up here to promote some of my own projects that I’ve been working on and things like that. I do a little networking and have some fun. I love the food in Manhattan. I love the people. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I love this city a lot. I’m trying to make it a little vacation and a little work thing out of it.
Are you in LA right now?
I’m in Miami.
You’re an East Coaster, but you’re a Midwest guy originally. Where are you from again?
I was raised in Southern Indiana, in Evansville.
A Michigander fellow Midwestern boy. Tell us what you specifically are working on now. Anything you’re excited about, something on the edge of what’s coming out for you, partnership, projects, or whatever. What’s going on?
As far as a physical art, I’m excited to announce I’m working on a second piece for Steve Aoki. He commissioned me for a second piece already. He’s one of my favorite musicians and I love the fact that he’s in this space so heavily. He’s so loud-spoken and outspoken about it. It gives me a lot of motivation and inspiration to keep moving forward, especially because I look up to him so highly. Also, I’m working on a piece for Post Malone and Dave Matthews’ charity. It’s funny Matthew’s song was playing, but I’m working on a South African run with the rhino on it. His charity is all about saving the rhinos.
I’m a huge fan of animals in general. You name it. I love respecting life. I think it’s so delicate and difficult to formulate. When it’s here, you must protect it and cherish it. Anyway, I’m happy to say that I’m a part of that. As far as on the digital side of things, I painted a painting 30,000 feet above this city in the Zero-G plane.
I haven’t heard of that. What’s that?
It’s like an astronaut experience where you float weightless and they commissioned me to paint a painting while I was floating. I had 450 seconds in Zero-G to do it. Now, they want me to digitize the painting into 55 NFT for their ticket sales. I’m also doing a collaboration with a pretty famous Marine artist in South Florida named Steve Diossy. He designs Florida license plates and stuff. He’s pretty high up there. He’s like Guy Harvey.
He and I did an original painting called Shark Tank inspired by the Sharks of the TV show Shark Tank with Cuban, O’Leary, and those guys. It got to where he commissioned us to do a series of NFTs. He wanted our shark shooting across $100 to go eat Mark Cuban. I said, “No, we’re not going to start this war because then you’re going to want to have Barbara and Robert wants to eat this.” It’s pretty cool. We’re excited to launch that NFT project.
I’ve done some NFT animations on the physical pieces I’ve done for Aoki with Alex3D. Who Alex3D launched a Method Man’s first-ever drop on the flow chart in Dapper Labs. I’m very blessed to be working with people that are smarter than me nad more experienced. I’m learning from them. It’s very humbling and exciting at the same time.
NFT NYC: Web3 is a really collaborative space.
That’s a lot of stuff. I thought you were going to say, “We got this one thing happening. Here’s what it is.”
I have way too much energy for one thing. I’m excited.
I liked that you mentioned that long-term thinking. Again, it’s so funny. It’s such an interesting juxtaposition of things here in the Web3 and NFT space because it looks like something that’s very short-term, a flash in the pan, or a greater fool type of stuff. There are so many people that do have a way longer time frame in the way that they think than the average person. With that said, you have to predict the long-term future. How do you think about the future when you think of Web3 3 to 5 years down the space, or in general, 10, 20, or whatever timescales you’re thinking of?
When it comes to the art, which most people call, you and I are obviously pretty versed in this space, so we understand that the art itself isn’t the NFT. That’s the art. The NFT is just a digital certificate of authentication. I believe NFTs and the technology behind them are by far here to stay. Now, will the artwork that we’ve been seeing as far as some of the major drops that have been dropping into the blue-chip NFTs hold their value forever? They may play like a baseball card collectible game, where they go up and down over time but they have a historical significance in our culture now. If you try to buy a Board Ape 50 years from now, it will probably be worth several multi-tens of millions of dollars each for its price.
There may be a decade after that where they’re not that expensive and they go back up and down. It’s like baseball cards. I’m 40 years old in 2022 and I’ve been able to watch some cycles of various things in my life. I’m a collector myself. My father was a collector of various things. I’ve seen the cycles of markets go up and down, but it’s the person who’s not afraid to buy their house at a higher interest rate because they know they’re going to own it for the rest of their life. They don’t care if they had to buy it at the height of the market. They’re like, “Who cares if I’m paying an extra $100,000 to $200,000 for this. I’m literally going to own it for the next 40 to 50 years.”
I’m not saying that I wouldn’t try to acquire a 30% under market value but it’s that kind of thinking. I do believe that technology is here to stay. I’m super excited to see where the metaverse and all that space goes. Ready Player One is one of my favorite movies. I view that as our artificial future moving forward but as we were talking about before this interview, the most important thing is for humans to please understand that it is an ancillary part of your life. Don’t get trapped into these eight hours on Instagram all day. Don’t spend 8, 12, 14, or 16 hours a day in the Oasis with your Oculus on.
It’s important to go out and get sunlight, exercise, and socialize with real humans. Those things are important for the development of your brain, body, and everything. I hope people don’t get trapped in that because of the entertainment factor. Get in there like an educational platform. Somehow, absorb some visually stimulating audiobooks, learn a bunch of cool things, and meet some cool people, but definitely live your life in the real world and try not to get stuck in there.
That makes a lot of sense. Again, it’s a very interesting theme. A good friend of ours, Hrish Lotlikar of Super World, is creating an augmented reality overlay on top of the entire globe. That’s also one of the things that he cares about. It’s getting out and into space. Augmented reality will offer beyond the metaverse and a lot of opportunities. It’s a great theme for us being in this space for Soho technique and WeDream. It’s been great talking to you. I know you’ve got a lot of events you need to get to and mixing and mingling to do. Before we jet, we want to make sure we get socials, websites, whatever so people can follow you and keep up with you.
Thanks a lot. I appreciate that. My website is TransparentArtists.com. The Instagram is @TransparentArtists. Unfortunately, I don’t know why but ever since I linked my Twitter to my OpenSea account, it doesn’t work. It’s @TransparentArt3, but it doesn’t work. I literally can’t make tweets. I’ve emailed them 50 times. If you know anybody on Twitter, please help me out. I know Twitter is a big social media platform for the NFT space, and I literally can’t access my own Twitter. I’ve tried everything, including emailing them directly 50 times. I don’t know what’s going on.
I heard that’s first on Elon’s list of things to take care of. Don’t worry about it.
Thank you, Elon. I appreciate that.
Anything else you want to throw in there or did you get everything in there?
I wanted to say how much I like your show. Edge of NFT is super cool and you guys are awesome. I’ve enjoyed all the conversations I’ve had with you guys, so keep it up.
Thanks so much. Great to see you.
Thank you.
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Here we are in NYC again for NFT NYC Week. Lots of interesting stuff going on in the city. We are partnering with the Soho Technique event and WeDream. We’re creating an awesome augmented reality experience. I’ve got some cool partners and we’re taking a minute to chat with folks as part of this episode. I’ve got two interesting guys here. They’re going to intro themselves, and we’ll chat a little bit about what they’re up to. Let’s start with you.
Ben Yurcisin, Founder of BeYu Labs. We’re basically building a hub to empower Web3 entrepreneurship by connecting artists, developers, and investors. We’re helping people figure out the resources needed to build out their dreams. I’ll leave it at that.
My name is Miles Colon. I’m a Product Manager in the early days of Web3, co-founder of BeYu Labs, and also a fellow dgen collector. It’s always great to see these stuffs.
We always do various things with our content. Some of this will be audio and if you’re interested, we are in an interesting art gallery space here. We’ve got some digital art on the walls. We went through a little bit of the obstacles to putting digital art on walls, which is more power to you for making it happen. As you described the space, I’ll say it’s cool that Soho pop-up space with a little fireplace lit by neon light and folks chit-chatting, some fun couches, and art on the wall. It’s a great environment. Tell me about the NFT NYC Week. What brings you here? Why did you feel like it was necessary to take part in these types of events?
NFTs and the technology behind them are here to stay. Click To Tweet
Conferences always have a big play in our whole journey as creators and builders. It allows you to find partners and people to network and build with. That’s what we’re all back in NFT LA, which is an incredible experience. We made some awesome connections there and we ended up chatting with and brainstorming about ideas for what we could do together, which I think Web3 is a collaborative space. Through a lot of challenges, we pushed through. We’re here and collaborating with some amazing people and putting ourselves. It’s exciting to be here and see the energy in the air from New York City.
We heard from your girlfriend that she found the Edge of NFT. You listened to Edge of NFT out of a referral from her, or she at least claimed that.
I can’t deny the fact that my girlfriend shared it with me, but I certainly loved it enough to go out to LA. She wasn’t in LA. I was. That should be known here.
I appreciate you coming. You did say you legitimately loved the event and made some awesome connections there. That’s why we did it. We’re glad to hear that.
I’m going to say one more thing about NFT LA. It was truly one of the best weeks of my life, and lifelong real business relationships were formed there. It was not only business connections, but it was just so much fun and such positive energy. I want to shout out that event again because it meant so much to me. It changed the whole trajectory of my life.
You guys have some authentic things to save for. I appreciate that. Now, we’re in a very interesting time and space here. In the markets, things are dipping quite a bit. There are still a lot of people that are excited. NFT NYC is a huge event and people are passionate. Can you tell us a little about how you’re thinking about building and growing in this type of market?
I think we’re all in a plenty place where we’re dealing with the pros and cons every time we talk about it. Let’s talk about all the great things that are happening, then let’s also keep in mind all the very negative stuff. That’s very real but it’s also a time, the more negative it gets, the great thing about this whole economy in NFTs. Everyone shines on the fun stuff. We’re all here like, “Everything is now in the dumps but everyone who’s still here is going to have a blast. We’re all going to come out for it anyway.” You can see the dedication in the space and everyone who’s here are looking to build.
It’s a nice reminder. We definitely need more of these in these times.
People came out to NYC no matter what. It didn’t stop the people.
There are people wrapped around three different city blocks waiting in line to get registered. It’s incredible. I would love to hear about what you guys are building now or what you’re working on. What’s on the roadmap? Would you like to take that one?
I’ll take it a little bit of that one. I want to give it to Miles also. Next is building an NFT collection. With that, we’re trying to connect different types of characters in the NFT space. People like developers, investors, artists, and marketing people. Figure out ways of creatively bringing them together so whenever they have an idea or a vision, they can bring it to life. One big piece of that is by throwing a lot of events. That’s why we love events like this because we think this is the way that helps facilitate connections between people who are building. Besides that, we’re building a job board for Web3, which I want to pass to Miles because he’s the master of it.
The other way, I became the master of John boards, but I love it. We realized throwing events is a great step one of creating these relationships. It is fantastic for an entry like beating people. We also want us to create that level of our virtual users and how they can say, “I’m looking for XYZ people to hang out, create this project with us, and function a way to connect all the communities in some way.” That’s what we’re building on the back end now.
We’re getting a lot of great context with you guys. We’re excited about what you’re building. I do think that is a powerful thing. What we could do is connect folks and bring them together. Again, we’re passionate about that within NFT LA and so forth. What are you guys looking forward to within what you’re doing or the things that excite you about the future at Web3?
People come together, forming business relationships but also lifelong friendships where they have fun doing what they’re doing with their life, not just feeling stuck in Web2 or corporate mindset of having to do something day in and day out. Different types of creators, different types of people, business-minded, art-minded, creative, hanging out, being friends, and building unique, cool stuff that solved the problems of now that’ll onboard more people in the Web3.
Miles, anything to say on that?
As soon as you asked, I can’t wait until frictionless where the most ridiculous things are. I want to create a project. When you have so many great ideas, it’s not the impossible thing to come out. Once you start getting to it and you have a good idea, it’s somewhat simpler to bring into action, get the right people, execute, and it works. That’s when Web3 is going to start getting fun because all these great ideas everyone has on the table.
I’m going to wrap up soon. You guys got a lot of stuff to do but before we run, let’s get some socials and websites. Tell people how they can get involved in what you guys are up to.
BeYu_Labs is our business and Nexus Voyagers is the collection. That’s the differentiator right there. BeYu Labs, everywhere. BeYuLabs.io and NexusVoyagers.com. Find me @BeYuWorldwide. You can find Miles at?
At BeYu_Labs. I’ll be commenting on all that stuff too.
NFT NYC: We’re really trying to connect different types of characters in the NFT space.
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How’s everyone doing? Happy to be here.
I’m getting what I came for. How nice.
I’m happy to be your guinea pig.
I have to move a little bit.
Can I purchase this?
Yes.
I’m literally in the art gallery now.
I bought a new NFT, everyone.
Is that all it is?
No, this is what you were promised, I believe.
There are stuff everywhere.
Describe what you see again. What is that?
It is shooting the purple laser out of it.
Everywhere I look, there are lasers.
I love this.
I haven’t seen this yet.
Did we deliver something that you want?
Why does it say that he’s the dude?
Anywhere he points his phone.
I feel like I’ve seen the future. This is nuts.
I was aligned behind your child.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
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Throwing events is a great step one of creating these relationships. Click To Tweet
Important Links
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@TransparentArtists – Instagram
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@BeYuWorldwide – Twitter
About Ben Yurcisin
I am a serial entrepreneur with a passion for helping businesses and brands discover and amplify their authentic voice. As founder and CEO of BeYu Media, I lead initiatives to create social media content, build online presence, and strategize growth for creative brands.
I have a degree in Engineering & background in IT Project Management, having worked with Fortune 500 companies and more to successfully deliver complex construction projects and offer IT Business Solutions.
My Project Management background has translated over to the startup world, where I got my foot in the door assisting with the Propelify Innovation Festival in Hoboken, NJ as the Community Outreach Ambassador, working to get local communities involved and promote the event to the tech world.
As the leader of the Jersey City Tech Meetup, I am a master of creating community and connecting the right people to bridge gaps between needs and skills. I am the energetic, charismatic Host and MC of these monthly events covering diverse topics in tech, moderating panel discussions and creating a hub for innovation.
As a world traveler with a never-ending curiosity in life, I have a YES attitude towards new opportunities, experiences and learning potential. I spend my free time jamming the guitar, snowboarding, and inspiring those around me to live a life of positivity.
About Miles Colon
Systems Analyst with a passion for Product and User Experience. Skilled in Design, Communication, Relationship Building, Team Building, and Management. Looking to expand and grow PM skillset with the next step.
About Robby Yung
I have started several businesses in China and Hong Kong, including those in mobile telecoms and software applications, cable television, internet services, outdoor advertising, and publishing. I have raised many rounds of private and institutional venture capital for these businesses as well as done four IPO’s, several trade sales, follow on financings, and lots of M&A.
About Geoffrey Woo
Geoffrey Woo earned a BS with Honors and Distinction in Computer Science from Stanford University. He holds 5 US Patents and is co-author of 3 peer-reviewed science papers. He is co-founder of Archive (archive.com), Health Via Modern Nutrition (hvmn.com), and Anti Fund Investment Fund (antifund.vc).
About Josh Leidolf
South Florida based Josh Leidolf, also known as the gallery award winning fine commodities artist TRAN$PARENT is also an Entrepreneur, Humanitarian, World Traveler and Journalist. While painting and drawing since an early age, collecting rare international currency, and exploring creative photography in over 50 countries in his lifetime, he always had the dream of making the world’s currency as vibrant as the people who use it. He always felt like art should evolve with the times and with the people, so he set out to do something revolutionary that no other money artist on the planet is doing.
He specializes in museum quality, ultra-fine TRAN$PARENT commodities art. Specifically Crypto Currency, Credit Cards and American denominations from the $1 to the $10,000 bill and with special granted requests the Million Dollar Bill. He also specializes in various rare and well-known international currencies like the Pound Sterling, Yuan, Pesos, Shekels, Rubles and Euros. Creating game changing revolutionary art has been his life’s passion and he illustrates it beautifully in his TRAN$PARENT artwork depicting the front, back and middle security features of his bills and coins. His TRAN$PARENT Art is a metaphor for being TRAN$PARENT with your loved ones, with your business associates, but most importantly with yourself, especially while making your living.
About Ronghui Gu
Ronghui Gu is the inaugural Tang Family Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. His thesis work on building certified OS kernels received the Yale Doctoral Dissertation Award and was nominated for the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award. He is the primary designer and developer of CertiKOS, the first verified concurrent OS kernel, and SeKVM, the first verified commodity cloud hypervisor–major milestones toward building safe and secure systems software. Gu also co-founded CertiK, a Web3 cybersecurity unicorn startup valued at $2 billion and backed by Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Sequoia, Coatue, and Goldman Sachs. CertiK has collectively served more than 3,200 enterprise clients and secured more than $300 billion worth of assets in cryptocurrency. For his work in systems verification, Gu received: an OSDI Jay Lepreau Best Paper Award, three Amazon Research Awards, an SOSP Best Paper Award, and a CACM Research Highlight. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Yale University in 2016 and bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University in 2011.