Totem | Web3 OS

I was fascinated with blockchain and how tokenization could be a solution for various distribution, ownership, and democratization of micro-economies. My partner and I envisioned a small eco-city project, in the jungle, that operated off a token, using a ring to sort of 'applepay' for things and not need to carry a phone around. Also imagined how influencers could launch their own tokens and create memberships with them. Then I got busy with the day to day of an agency in NYC…

After spending a few years getting familiar working with tech, talent, brand, and social/digital marketing. My previous team, partners, and I began to explore how the blockchain could solve problems with ownership and how you could distribute tokens that were somehow connected to physical assets. We were collecting physical assets like rare crystals and gold. We were curious how a token could be attached uniquely to an asset. That's where we (by accident & pure interest) discovered NFT technology before the masses did. We were straight to the punch. Launching an NFT marketplace called Obtainable at the peak of the NFT hurricane.

We launched a collection with Post Malone, golden 'Posty Cups', Ping pong ball, Gauntlet, Sword with the barbwire / snake, etc.

Then we began to launch with other artists. It was exciting and busy. 😓

We spoke with Polygon and got the attention of the founder of Polygon, and the ceo of Polygon Studios. They asked me if I was planning to launch a marketplace token, saying they would invest and help us launch. I was hesitant to be another marketplace token, knowing the utility was a bit 'silly'.

I came up with this idea: a token that people could easily connect with and understand, from the name, the utility and even the tokenomics.

CTZN: The Metaversal Coin

Totem: The Metaverse & Web3 OS

I sent a few page doc to the polygon team and spoke to them on the phone right after and they said "Sandeep (the founder of Polygon) loved this proposal, he turned to the team after reading it for a long time and said "God will love this team, don't lose this deal" we'd like to invest".

They invested and connected us with various players in the game.

We launched a token months later after going VERY viral in investor networks. I had hundreds (literally) of people texting me in a few days, each offerings a few hundreds thousand dollars, up to a million. We closed the round at just a few million and launched an NFT collection that sold out. The token hit a $250M market cap for a brief moment and just flatlined over time.

Huge overhead, a hemorrhaging token liquidity pool, bloated team, misaligned partnerships, and lack of delivery from various contractors all lead to the project wrapping up. But we made significant headway into what a social / utility ecosystem could be.