Ishan Pandey: Hi Ray, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please tell us about yourself and the story behind Bit.Country?
Ray Lu: I started entrepreneurship in 2012; the first startup was IndustryConnect.org, which helps people kick-start their tech career by solving the problem that recent graduates lack industrial experience. Currently, Industry Connect has operations in most English-speaking countries, approved by SG IMDA. Having graduates working for more than 500 companies.
With the top students that Ray Lu selected, they also work together at MVP STUDIO, a startup incubator. Over the years, LG Trust Real estate (BI enabled property investment company), GlobalTalent.io, and the Bit.Country / Metaverse.Network.
The culture is a journey together. Business is created based on accelerating individual growth by providing a lifetime roadmap, for example, top students, employees, managerial roles, and co-founders and CEO of their own startups. Bit.Country & Metaverse. The network was also founded the same way with three other co-founders who were students at IndustryConnect.org many years ago.
Ishan Pandey: What are your views on the metaverse? Further, what future do you see in the next 2 years for the metaverse industry?
Ray Lu: Since we registered Bit.country on Jan 22nd, 2018, we envisaged that the blockchain-backed virtual world (now metaverse) would become a medium for crypto to be used for mainstream use. There will be new native supply and demand in the metaverse and creating new career opportunities.
Humans have never stopped expanding their consciousness and sphere of exploration. We are composing a new chapter in the web3.0 paradigm for mass adoption with sustainable technologies.
Ever since the internet came into our lives, we have benefited from the high speed of information exchange, and then blockchain networks provided us with a trustless flow of value. We now envisage that the metaverse will bring civilization a highway of imagination, happiness, and opportunities.
Ishan Pandey: Please tell us a bit of Bit.country and how users can create their metaverse?
Ray Lu: Everyone can start their metaverse for their people with the 3D world, NFTs, play-to-earn & build communities to earn, and takes community engagement to a new dimension on web3.0.
With at least one land block, users can launch a metaverse with a map engine, 3D world, local governance, and marketplace. Metaverse owner can invite their community to check out their design and culture. The land block is subdivided into land units or estates, and users can buy the land units and become a stakeholder in the metaverse.
User with the land has mining power to earn in-game current BIT used as base material or energy source.
Users can join various earning opportunities in the community, such as participating in tasks or games created by users.
Ishan Pandey: According to you, what are some of the primary ways metaverse will alter users’ lives?
Ray Lu:
• Connect with people in a metaverse native way.
• A new identity with new personal traits reflected in their avatar, e.g. MetaSoul
• Earn through new supply and demand native to the metaverse
• The community can be perpetuated and governed by stakeholders that can last as long as bitcoin exists.
Ishan Pandey: Researchers are now concerned about the human mind’s ability to process competing binaries while maintaining equilibrium in the natural and digital world. Is the metaverse weakening our ties to the real world?
Ray Lu: Humans have never stopped expanding their consciousness and sphere of exploration. We are composing a new chapter in the web3.0 paradigm with sustainable technologies. To a certain extent, the digital world brings efficiency and less environmentally impactful activities. Nowadays, the digital world has already become the main medium for people to learn, connect and entertain.
Metaverse’s role will bring the current web2.0 experience to a new level with open economies and governance. Just as what web2.0 had brought to the world, we believe web3/metaverse will create exponential opportunities for people for better living.
Education has always been our passion. We are also launching an initiative through IndustryConnect.org, the global tech career academy, to bring education efficiency into the metaverse and web3.0.
Is the metaverse weakening our ties to the real world? It may or may not. We see it as an extension to the real world and potentially make it better.
Ishan Pandey: Some argue that the metaverse is little more than marketing hype, while others argue it will revolutionize civilization. According to you, what are the major hurdles in the industry which may impact the Metaverse ecosystem?
Ray Lu: Our view is metaverse will bring our civilization to a new level. While blockchain technology unlocks the trustless flow of value, a medium built on the blockchain is the new place for opportunities regardless of their location and nationalities. A private key is a key to a career and the door to many opportunities.
Protocols used in the metaverse will act as the business rules and it does not care who you are and where you are from. It is a fair system to give the same opportunities to everyone willing to learn and put the effort in.
For example, the rich will create new demand in the metaverse, such as growing their influence, and metaverse will unlock more opportunities for the new demand and make them available to those who need it regardless of where they are.
Ishan Pandey: Brands have developed arenas, services, and branded characters inside games as some of the more exciting Metaverse deployments. According to you, will we soon witness mass shifts across all sectors to this digital world? Further, why are brands building in the metaverse?
Ray Lu: Brand accessibility in metaverse can be much easier than in the real world. That is why Brands are now considering building up the presence and providing services in the metaverse. This has happened already on web2.0 e.g. websites, social channels. If metaverse brings the next level of user experience, the trend is inevitable.
We are disrupting the current creators’ value system built by web2.0, as traditional social platforms are harvesting the value from the community’s time, only distributing a portion of the profits to the creators. At the same time, members are only being entertained but not rewarded.
We are building a future for metaverse owners to have the ability to grow exponentially while letting the members take ownership and earn through a variety of opportunities, benefitting directly from the development of the metaverses they are in.
We see community owners and big brands on web2.0 have a huge desire to build up their metaverse.
Ishan Pandey: What role has the pandemic and the persistent lockdown across the globe affected in the development of the blockchain industry and what will the scenario look like in the post-pandemic era?
Ray Lu: Pandemic forced people to stay in the same place, and some people had lost their jobs. Metaverse and blockchain technologies had proven for bringing opportunities during the lockdown. From NFT sales to Play2earn protocols, it provided income and brought meals to the families.
In the post-pandemic era, we see the trend will continue, especially some of the existing business models are being shifted during the pandemic, people’s view has changed, they will look for a sustainable solution to operating their business and constantly seek for new opportunities to create value. We believe metaverse/web3 is the solution for the needs.
Ishan Pandey: According to you, what new trends are we going to see in the blockchain industry?
Ray Lu: According to the decentralized nature of blockchain, there will be more and more community-driven business models to come into our life. We envisaged that utility tokens, especially NFTs would be more utilized in the real world. And metaverse is the native place to have these created in the first place before it comes to the real world.
Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to remove informational asymmetry existing today in our digital markets by performing due diligence, asking the right questions, and equipping readers with better opinions to make informed decisions.