This is a transcript from our weekly YouTube live AMA:

SPEAKERS: Anita Mlakar, Sandi Bitenc, Hilina Damte, Cross Okonkwo and Laurin Bylica.

About AMA: An exciting AMA with @illuviumio and get your secret code for the Illuvium Christmas Quest with Laurin Bylica | Illuvium - Sandi Bitenc | 3air - Hilina Damte | PayWay - Cross Okonkwo @crossdabossike

AMA Duration: 01:01:07

Introduction:

Anita Mlakar: 00:23

Hello, everybody, and welcome to 3air’s AMA, it is the 7th of December. Such a nice time. I hope you’re enjoying it because we are. Anita Mlakar is my name. I am the host of this AMA, and we are inviting you to be live with us every Wednesday at 5pm Central European Time. By the way, thank you for being with us. Thank you for being a part of this AMA and please do use the opportunity to of course, ask questions during our conversation, today we have really interesting guests coming up and do write some comments. I would also like to invite you to be a part of our communities. We are very active on Telegram, on Discord, on Twitter, and you are welcome of course to be a part of our communities.

01:13

Before we start this AMA, I would like to invite you to get involved of course to participate. You can click like if you enjoy today’s AMA or dislike if you don’t, of course, we will appreciate every comment and please hit the bell icon to get informed every time we are going live on our YouTube channel. Do subscribe to it or share with somebody and of course, since we are live right now, don’t hesitate to ask questions as I said earlier. I will be following the chat all the time, you will be a part of this conversation. And I always do a short introduction of our project and 3air at the beginning and this is how it goes.

02:00

3air is a blockchain based startup, we will leverage the power of decentralization to provide internet connectivity to consumers in Africa and provide the physical infrastructure to support this through its partnership with K3 Telecom. Let me just remind you that only 20% of people on the African continent are active Internet users with less than 1% have an access to broadband. Compare this with a 60% of the world population that are active Internet users, and it quickly becomes evident that African nations have quite a distance to go in order to fully benefit from the World Wide Web.

02:41

3air’s vision is to make broadband connectivity available to the masses that is easy to access through its blockchain based platform. So 3air is not only about connecting the unconnected, but it’s also about banking, the unbanked and giving people of developing countries equal opportunities. And all this time, we are also educating people and that is the real empowerment. So again, thank you very much for being with us. And we have a very special AMA with some guests coming up. And I do hope that also the CEO of 3air Sandi Bitenc will be joining us. Let’s see if he is here and say hello to him. Oh, yes, he is.

Sandi Bitenc, CEO of 3air Joins the AMA

Anita Mlakar: 03:22

Sandi, hello.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:25

Hello. Hello. Can you hear me?

Anita Mlakar: 03:28

Yes, we can hear you. We can also see you, Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:32

Okay. I’m actually in Puerto Rico right now. So, the plans changed a bit. There is actually the Blockchain Week in Puerto Rico and blockchain is happening here. So, things came together pretty unexpectedly, let’s say it like this. So, I should have been back on my flight to Dubai. So, I should not be on the AMA today but on the flight back to Dubai because I should be flying to Egypt tomorrow, but the event Egypt actually got postponed till March. So, because it got postponed. I said, okay, let’s take advantage and stay a bit longer in Miami and the area and we are right now in Miami Puerto Rico. Things happened really fast, and it’s been really amazing. So, we took a boat here. And guess who I met on the boat? Like totally. There was no plan to it. One day before we actually left Miami and then the next day, I find somebody on the boat.

Anita Mlakar: 05:08

Who did you meet?

Sandi Bitenc: 05:10

We had Max on our show, 2-3 weeks ago or something like that.

Anita Mlakar: 05:26

Amazing. It’s a small world. Like they say.

Sandi Bitenc: 05:32

Yes, it is. Exactly. I also stumbled about a few people here in Puerto Rico just down the street from the blockchain space. It’s a really nice place here. So, if you haven’t been yet, I would really recommend I’m really positively surprised. It’s a really nice city and the weather is nice. It’s actually quite cool. People are so nice, really nice and the blockchain community is really present here.

Anita Mlakar: 06:13

Okay. So do enjoy staying in Puerto Rico by Business or pleasure, whatever it is. Enjoy the weather and all the surroundings. I have talked to Petra earlier and it is really beautiful. But now Sandi, we do have a couple of guests coming up today to our AMA. I’m really looking forward to that, the conversation that is following so let them invite in. Okay?

Sandi Bitenc: 06:40

Absolutely!

Anita Mlakar: 06:40

Let’s go from the beginning. Laurin Bylica, the Director of Partnership and Illuvium, is with us. So, let’s invite Him in first.

Laurin Bylica Joins the AMA

Anita Mlakar: 06:51

Hello, and welcome.

Laurin Bylica: 06:52

Hi, Anita. Hi, Sandi. It’s nice to be here. Very happy to see you virtually, again Sandi. I think we met in Malta two weeks ago. More or less, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 07:08

Yeah.

Anita Mlakar: 07:08

Yes, all of us would really like to hear more about that.

Laurin Bylica: 07:13

Wonderful.

Sandi Bitenc: 07:16

We were actually introduced through Max. So yeah, the guy that I bumped into on the boat.

Laurin Bylica: 07:26

Oh, that Max. Oh, really.

Sandi Bitenc: 07:30

Yeah, I cannot imagine. Yeah

Laurin Bylica: 07:37

Yeah, crazy. Cool!

Anita Mlakar: 07:41

Okay, let’s invite also our next guest. I’m looking forward to that. Hilina Damte is also with us.

Hilina Damte joins the AMA

Anita Mlakar: 07:48

Hello, Hilina from before.

Hilina Damte: 07:53

Hi, guys. How are you?

Anita Mlakar: 07:54

It’s nice to have you here.

Hilina Damte: 07:57

Thank you for having me.

Sandi Bitenc: 07:58

We are great. How are you? By the way, Hilina was facilitating all the communication between the 3air and the Illuvium and set up all those things up. So, thanks Hilina.

Hilina Damte: 08:17

Welcome.

Anita Mlakar: 08:19

Yes. Hilina, you’re always great at connecting people and businesses. So, thank you very much. And we have another guest coming up. Really happy to have him back again. So, we have cross the boss- Cross Okonkwo here with us.

Cross Joins the AMA

Anita Mlakar: 08:37

Hello and welcome.

Cross Okonkwo: 08:48

Hi! How are you doing? Hi Sandi. How’s everyone doing?

Sandi Bitenc: 08:55

Hey, Cross. What did you do with your hair? I like it.

Cross Okonkwo: 09:00

I was waiting for you to see it.

Sandi Bitenc: 09:04

I want to have hair like you. Can you help me out or something like that?

Cross Okonkwo: 09:11

When you come to Ethiopia, I’ll get you one.

Sandi Bitenc: 09:18

With some special glue or something like that.

Cross Okonkwo: 09:22

Don’t worry about that.

Anita Mlakar: 09:27

We will arrange that. Cross, you do have a little bad connection, but I think it will be better now. I hope so. So that we will be able to hear you and also hear your opinion and maybe some answers to the questions that will be arriving. So, thank you very much all for being with us today.

Cross Okonkwo: 09:47

Thank you!

Laurin’s Story:

Anita Mlakar: 09:48

I would like to introduce each of you and of course invite you to help me with that. So maybe Laurin, we would like to start with you. I did say that you are Director of Partnerships in Illuvium. But you are also, of course, working in so many fields Entrepreneur FinTech Visionary management consultant, you have an outstanding track record of driving tech project from start to finish, and so on and so on. Do tell us a little more about you and your story.

Laurin Bylica: 10:22

Yeah, thank you, Anita. Yeah, where should I start? My story starts with me finding crypto. So, I was doing master’s degree in economics, and I came around this weird internet currency called Bitcoin. This is back 2014. The community back in the days was very different. It was a bunch of guys having very libertarian ideas sitting around virtual and in person tables, over beer, usually, and discussing how crypto will change the world for the better. So that was a time that was really ground setting for me in terms of my future career. Once I got hooked on Bitcoin, and I got hooked on crypto and everything else that follows.

11:19

Then professionally, I started working 2017 in crypto for a company called block one at that time. I was one of the first hires in the financial department was really working with the team on various topics, including a lot of venture capital deals, and early investments into crypto projects. So, this whole 2017-2018, ICO boom happening. At that time, I was like, pretty shocked how things turned for some of the crypto space from being really like going after highly beneficial, like well, beneficial ideas to transitioning over to like quick business models. Which I was not a big fan of, I must say, but the space really recovered. And I think we are getting over those cycles of hypes and hope that we mature in that way.

12:29

So, my personal career took me then 2020 towards more, I would say, traditional business, but still crypto so I got into, took over a position as Head of Business Development for one of the first crypto Precious Metals Exchanges in the world and together with the team, we came up to set to build the stable coin protocol, fully backed by digital and physical assets. With that idea born, we build a team, we built both projects the exchange further as well as this one.

13:13

Two years later, things took a different course for me. I decided to go with my passion, which was gaming. So, I dropped all of that and went with Illuvium out of my passion for crypto as well as gaming combined into one. Illuvium is Web3 game focusing on really building games that are playable, enjoyable, and fun. Of course, that will also create really, like, bring top tier gaming into Web3 and finally, we will see a Web3 project in the gaming space competing with the Web2 gaming space that is mostly dominant as of now. So, we’re going to be launching three AAA gaming titles next year. It’s a very interesting time for us. I just recently joined the team, but I see the passion. I see the great people that I’m working with. It’s really fun. I’m really looking forward to next year and opening the doors basically, for the Web2 gamers to come in and check out Web3 gaming. So that’s about me. Happy to have you hear the word.

What is so special about games?

Anita Mlakar: 14:27

Wow, that’s amazing. I see how thrilled you are. This is really your passion. I can see that, that you like it. You know, I think that a lot of people would envy you, games and business or doing business and games. That’s just amazing. But just tell me what is so special for you about gaming and games?

Laurin Bylica: 14:54

I’ve been a gamer since a kid. So, I always play all different kinds of computers games as well as consoles. So, it’s like, for me, it was always my like, safe spot and it’s where find my meditation, and it’s where I just calm down after a stressful day. Like in the last few years, I saw that gaming is really becoming not only a hobby, but also a profession for many people. But this is just for the really top people in that space that can make a living out of gaming. It doesn’t have to be like this, it doesn’t have to be that a lot of people waste hours and hours inside a game like I did with World of Warcraft, or other games and do not extract any value out of this. So, at the end of the day, you create a new fight literally in this world, in this different universes for those assets, but they don’t belong to you, although you put the work in.

15:59

So, Web3 is giving this twists and allowing people to take ownerships of the digital assets that they craft, find by whatever. But true ownership and one day, if, for example, people decide to exit the game, those assets have a value and they can be sold, they can be gifted, they can be handed over to someone else who has a better use for them. So at the end of the day, it’s not only about the play to earn factor that really drives or could drive the future of the Web3 gaming industry, it’s more the ownership and really the ownership of assets and what people can decide to do with them, after they, for example, exit again.

16:47

That changes the whole gaming industry because nowadays, like I believe that gamers will have more power will be more empowered in the future when it comes to owning those assets. But also, people that are not highly professional can start earning power passive income or an active income, with the component of pay to play to earn games.

17:18

The thing is that most of these play to earn games that we saw in the in the last years, one year basically really to collapse and not performed well, the major reason for my opinion is that they were just focusing on the play to earn component of the game. However, the real demand is coming from gamers that are actually enjoying and casually playing the game to buy those assets. So, if you simply focus on Play to earn components without building a really great game that people enjoy playing, I don’t believe that this will be a sustainable business model. That’s why I’m really a big fan of what we are building, but not just as I’m part of the team, but also that it’s so much love than the eye for detail and so much creativity that went into that game to build fantastic gameplay, like we see and we give the 30,000 beta testers, the ability to see what we have built. It’s just incredible and outstanding in that space. And I think this is really needed to change the perspective for a pure play to earn perspective to a more holistic perspective that can involve also the Web2 gamers to check out Web3 and enjoy playing a Web3 games. I think there’s a lot of good projects going towards that direction. I think it’s a clear shift towards building in Web3 top tier gaming titles that will really make the move for the Web2 gamers to come over.

Anita Mlakar: 19:07

Great. We will be talking about that.

Sandi about Laurin and gaming

Sandi Bitenc: 19:11

I fully agree on Laurin, and he really explained very nice with experience and introspective, by the way when Laurin presented himself, he was being really modest. He’s done so much in the space but anyways in regards to gaming components right now there will be out only games that are being played because people are trying to earn out of it and people will be playing it until they’re made and then everyone else also stops making money out of it. For now, listed don’t have really big games in, that people will literally want to go and play because they want to play the games and the gaming industry is huge. But I do see a lot of the base also coming into the space. And I’m pretty sure that all the games are going to have a blockchain components somewhere in the future. There is a process to that, because development of games, it really takes quite a few years. Maybe Laurin knows, but I know that there are games that are being developed for three or five years. And this is where I think after five years, we’ll have a majority of the games actually having a blockchain component, it adds additional value to the layer, but I don’t think it takes really a lot of weight from the producer of the game. I think the producer of the game does still make a lot of money. Maybe they won’t even be reducing any of their income, you know, adding to it because the assets that are created, they have their own economy. So, I think everything is going from the gaming aspects everything is coming on blockchain.

Laurin Bylica: 21:24

Yeah, I agree.

Hilina’s introduction

Anita Mlakar: 21:26

Thank you, Sandi, for giving your opinion and we will continue with that. But I would also like to of course include Hilina and Cross to talk about that. First Hilina, let me just say a sentence about you. You are a co-founder of G&H Blockchain and Managing Partner at PayWay Ethiopia and an expert in technology entrepreneurship FinTech and Blockchain. Hilina, please you were with us. We were together a couple of times. We also had, as I remember, women’s evening or something, if you remember here on AMA one time, and it was also Christmas last year when we had a special edition. But Hilina, please just a short introduction of you and your work to people who are with us.

Hilina Damte: 22:19

Thank you, Anita. It’s always fun to be here. Actually, I was here also for the Christmas special AMA. So again, this year, very nice. Thank you for the intro. I’ve been based in this in this region, kind of like working on different sectors, FinTech, blockchain, so about PayWay, what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to simplify making and receiving payments because most times, and a lot of countries here in Ethiopia, Uganda, other countries for people to pay their utility bill, it’s super time consuming and convenient, and cash based. With our solution, we try to make people’s lives easier. So, they don’t have to stand in line and wait for hours. We kind of tried to make the payment process seamless by making it instant, convenient and customizable, for also the service providers. With that I do really see now, the crypto adoption rate in this region is really massive. There’s a lot of people now coming and receiving like crypto payments, for remittances people are using it for everyday trading, p2p trading, to also like, import goods, because there’s a lot of like, foreign currency shortage.

23:49

I’m definitely like a crypto enthusiasts, Web3 enthusiast, trying to figure ways to like onboard people to Web3 and just to kind of add on to what Sandi said, about play to earn, for sure, like I’ve seen in this region, also, like play to earn has become very popular because people do want an easier way to earn passive income and you do see that. But we have to kind of like, see how we can build on that because, for example, there were some, PTE play to earn gaming that didn’t like really to succeed. Kind of like, you have to figure out a way so people keep earning money also kind of have a space for them to use where they can have access to internet which is super important. Yeah, so just add on to that.

Cross’s introduction

Anita Mlakar: 24:48

Thank you, Hilina. So, let’s invite also Cross into our conversation. Cross, of course, Nigerian fitness enthusiast, entrepreneur, reality TV star, influencer with so many I think it’s in millions followers. Cross we are really happy to have you here again, you were also our guests once before. Let’s just do a short introduction of you from your side. So where are you? What are you doing right now, Cross?

Cross Okonkwo: 25:22

Hi, everyone, how y’all doing? So, my name is Cross. I from Nigeria, Africa. Right now, I am in Johannesburg. I decided to come have a holiday. My sister’s getting married in Cape Town, in the next two days. So, I am taking a break. Just relaxing. Taking a walk-in nature. As you can see my dog is still sleeping and take time from the world and relax a bit. So, yeah, I am up to this right now.

Anita Mlakar: 26:21

Okay, thank you, Cross. Thank you very much. You’re having a little problem with your connection. How is everyone else? Do you understand him normally? Maybe it is just me or are we having a little problem with connection?

Laurin Bylica: 26:36

Yeah, unfortunately, I think I couldn’t hear every word, but I did understand most of it. Sorry about that, Cross.

NFT and gaming

Anita Mlakar: 26:54

We are losing some words and then we’re just trying to figure out what’s Cross is saying, but okay Cross, we’re really happy to have you here. I also see that Sandi is out right now but let’s continue our conversation. Of course, you’re welcome, everybody to ask questions. If you have any questions to this subject, I think it is very interesting one, so gaming and earning on one way and then of course, like we said, there’s much more to it. This is really an interesting subject. So, what we did recently, in our 3air community, we did a pool, about where NFTs will have the biggest impact and almost 80% voted for gaming, not for art and collectibles or digital ownership, but gaming. So, what I would like to hear from you, do you agree with that? Do you disagree with that? And how do you explain this? Maybe Laurin for beginning?

Laurin Bylica: 27:57

Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. Definitely, because NFTs have a big use case, big utility inside the gaming space but NFTs, that’s always my point about crypto, and all of that hype. NFT is just another word, another hype word, that gets a lot of value, but describes at the end of technology. So the technology behind this is super powerful and NFT as a technology are really powerful in many different ways. Yes, having in game items as an NFT, that gives you true ownership or for example, a digital sward that you can sell on secondary markets, or you can give to someone who’s actually very enthusiastic player of a certain game that is all beautiful and that is made possible through the NFT technology. But proving, for example, creativity, and the ownership of a certain art piece using the same technology is also a very interesting use case. There are so many more to this technology that we haven’t even explored and thought of yet. So yeah, NFTs I totally agree with the research that you guys have gotten or the feedback from your community here are having a very strong use case in gaming. That’s going to be definitely my opinion, the driver for the next adoption cycle of blockchain technology. I have no doubt about that.

29:43

However, there’s so many more different use cases to NFTs as well that are just beautiful. If you put now all together, you can even start erasing lines and borders between different actually the real life and digital universes because certain NFTs can have also realized utility. You can start erasing borders between countries on a digital level here by making them directly peer to peer spendable and transactable. And all of this, like there’s really so much to NFT technology that I think will come in the future. So, I’m very much looking forward to this to come as well.

Anita Mlakar: 30:38

Sandi, about the results, did that surprise you?

Sandi Bitenc: 30:48

No, they did not. If you think about it, how many people in the world are actually playing games? And how many are actually collecting art? You will see. There’s a big favor for gaming. So, this is why I think there will be far more users in the gaming space for the NFTs and we could probably argue where most of them value would be, that would be something interesting. I think art is just getting some crazy valuations, but also the gaming space has a lot of value in it. But I think whatever will come out of the NFTs, most of the real world assets can be created as NFTs and it can be digitized. And it makes sense and making it liquid and tradable in that I think a really huge market will be the real estate that we need some good regulations. Also why I think that right now everyone’s just thinking about NFTs because it is easier, right? There is coding needed actually. As for the game, you need the NFT to be usable. So, there is a lot of work to be done. If it’s not just an image or a video, this is why I think that art for now was the one that is picking up the top because it is easiest to do but everything else is coming in the near future.

Anita Mlakar: 32:52

Thank you, Sandi. Hilina and Laurin, maybe you want to add something?

Hilina Damte: 32:58

Yeah, I can add something here. I mean, to be honest, I recently found out about like, GameStop wallet where you know exactly what Laurin was talking about. You can buy NFTs like as in game assets, where people can get early access pass, weapons, items to swap. It’s pretty cool. I do think that’s going to be the next big thing for sure. I think probably why NFTs are more popular, as far as like digital art is, just because of marketing and a lot more people are doing it. But gamers in general, gaming is a big industry. I think definitely this would be a good way to onboard more people.

Anita Mlakar: 33:52

Okay, right now, only a small percentage of gamers are into NFTs and also game ownership. How could that change? Laurin, maybe? Is it about educating people? Is it’s about bringing them closer to that way of NFTs and gaming. What do you think?

Laurin Bylica: 34:16

Yeah, so the NFTs got a pretty bad reputation inside the gaming space. It’s again, it’s just a technology, it’s a little bit silly just because you use a certain technology to really define your whole product based on that one factor. So, I think the big adoption and Web3 gaming will come as soon as the technology will go a little bit into the background and becomes about really the core of what gaming is about, which is the game.

34:57

So as soon as you see good games launching, games that happen, it takes time, we earlier said it takes time to build good gaming title, it takes years of development, it takes a whole team to really build this. That’s not just two people. So, it really takes a lot of resources as well as time to build a blockbuster, great gaming title. So that time we wasn’t there yet, we didn’t have the time. In that space, where people were really building games on NFTs because again, it takes years. Now, with Illuvium, being one of the first ones really releasing a triple or raising three even AAA gaming titles, I think you will see a lot of the things about like the bad reputation of NFT is going away, and people will be more focused on the game and the component of the NFT technology to it what will become secondary. And people will more focused on the games. This will really drive people to transition over from Web2 to Web3 gaming.

36:22

Also, we need to make their hurdles like we need to lower the hurdles to enter the Web3 space. Because I recently installed Meta Mask on my mom’s iPhone. There was such a learning curve that we had to go through, starting with the seed phrase and the importance and how to properly store it. I mean, Meta Mask makes it pretty easy with an explanatory video, make some pic here, but people are not used to that thinking yet. They’re not used to having a wallet and storing their assets in that wallet that is on their phone, but also that you can connect to certain adapts, and all of that space is slow, but it’s so blurry and there’s so much to learn. So, as long as we create the hurdles, the learning curve, so high and so stiff, I think the adoption of the Web3 in general, will just be as low as it was in the last years.

37:30

Most people that got into Web3 through a centralized exchange and that’s it. They never went further. They never tried DAPS, they never tried like a lot of people just never exited decentralized exchange. So basically, they were in for buying the crypto and holding the crypto, but they never got really into Web3. Because Web3 is outside, though is happening outside those exchanges. These are applications that actually work. It’s not only about holding a token and hoping the price appreciates, that’s so much more but all the rest is not happening in the masses yet, I would say because people log into exchange, this is what they know, and this is where they stay.

38:21

I think now that’s my personal opinion. Again, it’s the same for the gaming space the same for DeFi the same for a lot of this other different industries in our crypto industry. It’s lowering the hurdles for the mass to participate on a level that they understand and that gives people the Easy Start. Because people once they’re in and once they understand the added value for the technology. People start really using or I would believe people will start using those applications. We have to lower the hurdles. We have to make it more appealing, build products that can compete with Web2 products. And we will see people transitioning over.

Importance of education about NFTs

Anita Mlakar: 39:16

Yes, that’s interesting thinking. Hilina, you are working a lot with connecting schools also to internet and of course to have ability to get data to get information. If we talk about NFTs, if we talk about what Laurin was just saying how important is that are adopting people or learning or giving them knowledge about that in schools?

Hilina Damte: 39:47

I think that would definitely be a good place to start. If you are able to kind of teach people about NFTs in schools. However, I don’t know how possible that would be. Especially with the governments here and the curriculum, they’re super strict about it, and then solely Ministry of Education that actually approves it. I think if you actually have like educational campaigns, that could be an option. Just you don’t have to have like in this in school learning, but kind of have like, some fun way to kind of educate people about NFTs help them with the use cases. I think also what Lauren said, like to kind of like have people use Web3 or onboard them. It has to be easy and also it should kind of like solve a problem that they’re having. So, you see crypto adoption like for example in Nigeria and Kenya and other places because actually people needed a way to kind of hedge against inflation. Is there a way to transact, borderless so if you can, one definitely educates people for sure. Whether it’s in schools or out of schools, if you are able to do it in schools, but also like making sure you’re having a solution to a problem that people are having. That would also be a very good way to onboard people.

Laurin- About the Illuvium Quest

Anita Mlakar: 45:23

Now, we have, like 10 more minutes or 15 more minutes left, so that we don’t forget, we would also like to give today away a secret code, right? We have some secret code for those who are with us today. And we will be talking about this Christmas Quest that is coming up. Laurin, could you just tell us a little more about it? Because of course, it’s connected to you.

Laurin Bylica: 45:52

Yeah, so we had an idea to work with different of our Web3 allies on a Christmas campaign, where we allow people to do certain quests to get familiar with the different projects that are being built in the space, we have some really cool projects like yourself participating in that campaign. And every day, there’s a price that is given by the partner and to earn this price people have to different quests. Some of them are educational, some of them are more promotional and ready to really get familiar with the different projects participating. That’s every day, basically, until I think two days after Christmas or so there will be prizes to earn, and to get when participating and the Illuvium Christmas Campaign. It’s also with a third party with a partner company of RSD Quest, set up that campaign, big shout out to the team. But also, a big shout out to all the other projects participating as well as yourself and thank you for the support. I think teaming up with top projects in that space could also really make an impact by getting the eyes of the mass on our space and to get more people involved into Web3 and that was the thinking behind the Christmas idea. The Christmas campaign.

Illuvium Quest Code

Anita Mlakar: 47:37

Wow, and we do have to give away the Illuvium quest code, right? Secret codes in order for people to be able to be participants in this Christmas quest. So here it is. Okay, “INTERNET” is the code. I do hope that you have written it down so that you will be able to participate in this. This very special Christmas quest. Thank you very much.

Sandi Bitenc: 48:19

Maybe Hilina can also talk a bit about it because she was the one organizing it for us.

Anita Mlakar: 48:26

Of course, Hilina. Yeah.

Hilina- About the Quest

Hilina Damte: 48:31

So, the quest seems super fun. Like Laurin said, the quests looks super fun and people can win some cool prizes. Things going on for a few days and good luck, everyone. I don’t know so much about the quest exactly.

Sandi Bitenc: 48:52

Our quest is tomorrow, right?

Hilina Damte: 48:56

Yeah.

Sandi Bitenc: 48:57

Yeah, our request starts tomorrow but people should for sure. Check it out every day because every day is something new. There’s something really cool to also win.

Laurin about 3air

Anita Mlakar: 49:12

Okay, thank you. Now, I would like to ask something else. Of course, Laurin and Sandi. We were talking at the beginning. Actually, how you got to know each other and where it was in Malta? And Laurin, I would like to hear from you. What was it that attracted you to 3air or the project of 3air?

Laurin Bylica: 49:37

Yeah, it’s a lot of different things. First of all, the team we met, and I think we had some really good conversation with Hilina as well as Sandi. We had really long conversations about the space itself, about the different like ambitions in the space and if you meet people with the same mindset and the same vision, it’s pretty quick that you connect on a different level. Which is really surprising, very interesting to me to see that a lot of different people from all different regions of the world come together but share a certain vision. That’s really awesome.

50:27

I think the team was in the first place, where I was like, wow, those guys are awesome. Then they started telling me about 3air and I thought immediately wow, that’s a pretty cool idea. It’s pretty ambitious, as well, like, coming from the crypto space, and going after hardware. So going outside the digital space, is always a very challenging task. So far as I have experienced. So, I’m having that vision to bring not only the software, but also the hardware within the 3air to Africa to help to support building internet connections for those millions of people that are really not having the opportunity to get connected to the wider world via internet, it’s just something that is so needed.

51:27

Honestly, for me, it’s sometimes shocking that there is such a big part of the world. There are so many different places, also in Asia, also in other parts of the world, that are not connected to the internet, or where people are having a really hard time to even like, because most of the trade trading, most of the businesses are digital. So if you are not able to connect with those businesses, you’re actually excluded from the economy. So this is a big solution that 3air is working on that is very much needed. I’m very much looking forward to see this evolve, for every new connected person to the internet means also being connected to the worldwide economy and that’s a big task. That’s a big problem that we are solving. So, I love this part about the project, in particular.

Hilina about 3air

Hilina Damte: 52:35

Yeah, if I can also actually add on. Laurin, for sure, it was super amazing to meet you. We really had super good conversations. Just to add on to what you said, like, it’s really amazing the amount of people that don’t have access to internet. Last week’s AMA, I think Markos was also on there and he said, even in Ethiopia, I think 10 years ago, the internet penetration was like 1% on now it’s getting a bit better. But still, most people are not connected in this region. This is due to lack of infrastructure because there isn’t fiber already laid down and that takes a lot of time, super expensive and with 3air, it’s perfect, because you don’t need to basically lay down fiber just with one tower, you can connect cities, to the internet, and it’s super-fast, super-efficient and I think it could really now change the connectivity percentage in this region. It’s amazing.

Laurin Bylica: 53:39

Definitely.

What is the plan from Illuvium to build a truly scalable gaming platform and what is a truly scalable and user-friendly game to you?

Anita Mlakar: 53:40

Thank you, Hilina. Thank you. We also give opportunities for participants to ask questions. There is a question too, for Laurin- Lowering hurdle, this is great. That being said, what is the plan for Illuvium to build a truly scalable gaming platform? And what is a truly scalable and user-friendly game to you?

Laurin Bylica: 54:10

Yeah, so the different titles that we are launching next year, we’ll have a free to play components. So, it’s not necessary to get familiar with wallets at that point. It’s not necessary to get familiar with the whole Web3 space and to learn about NFTs blockchain technology, all of that. It is possible to just come and play and check out the game because it’s a game in the first place. So this free to play components will be in all three games, of course, certain parts that are more towards like earning/holding NFTs. All of that is then cut out because if you don’t have a wallet, it will be difficult. But also, for this there are solutions. Like for example, a custodial wallet in a short term where people just get familiar with the space or in the first NFTs and if they want to migrate them out into a noncustodial wallet, that will be easily possible. So, all of these are hurdles that the space has to take out and to lower, to allow the mass to come in, because any barrier will just make it more difficult to grow the gameplay space basically. Yeah, Illuvium- again, free to play. Play the game, check it out, have fun. The other technology that we’re building to lower those barriers as well. It’s pretty cool. I believe in pretty handy for those that are not familiar with crypto.

How to find Laurin?

Anita Mlakar: 55:56

Laurin, if anyone would like to get to know you better or your work, where can they follow you? Where can they see you? Look you up.

Laurin Bylica: 56:08

So Illuvium.io we can post the website here. There you will find all the information about the project, follow us on Twitter, follow us there’s always a lot of things happening. If you want to get really the latest news, join our Discord, there’s a lot of leaks happening that are very interesting to see as well. So yeah, please come into the Illuvium channels, all different ones, whatever social media platform you guys prefer, we are there, follow, like, subscribe, whatever. But let’s stay in touch definitely and if you have any questions after this AMA, I’m always happy to answer so you can also get in touch with me you, you can find me on LinkedIn, potentially the easiest way or on Twitter, get in touch ask me your question and if I cannot answer it now, I’ll answer a follow up on LinkedIn promise.

Anita Mlakar: 57:12

Thank you very much. Hilina and Sandi also Cross, of course, if you would like to add something?

Cross Okonkwo: 57:37

It’s an honor to always be here. Probably next time with good internet.

Anita Mlakar: 57:41

Okay, Cross next time, we promise to have better connection with you, and we will have an AMA where you will be our guest. And we will be talking more about that. Okay? So, thank you very much for being with us today. Thank you. I’m sorry that we could not hear more from you. Sandi, you are still here. Do we hear you?

Sandi- About buying NFT for schools

Sandi Bitenc: 58:08

Yes. Yeah, I’m still here. So, what I would like to add, I want to thank all our guests to take part and we had a beautiful AMA here, it was really amazing having you on and all the people watching either live now or later on, replay on YouTube. If you want to support 3air and support some children with internet in Africa, there is an option that you go to app.3air.io and buy connectivity NFT and send it to a school, of your choosing, we’re gonna add some schools, some additional schools, we are gathering all the images and we will add those in the next week. So, there’ll be more to donate in Africa, so you can spare something and just send some internet connectivity to some children in Africa and buy them a future.

How to find Hilina?

Anita Mlakar: 59:27

Thank you, Sandi. And of course, be a part of this Christmas quest. Also, we did give away code once again, that will help you to participate. Hilina?

Hilina Damte: 59:41

thank you, guys, for having me. It’s fun as usual and everyone good luck on the games you guys do to participate and also happy holidays because Christmas is coming.

Sandi Bitenc: 59:57

Happy holidays. Hilina, where can we find you?

Hilina Damte: 1:00:02

You can find me on Twitter @decentralizeEA and also on LinkedIn- Hilina Damte as well. Yeah, but Twitter definitely is probably the better way.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:00:21

We will add Cross’s social in the description.

Anita Mlakar: 1:00:28

Yes, we will. We will add all the connections also on our channels. Thank you very much all of you for being with us. Thank you, all the participants, for being with us for the questions, for the comments. And of course, stay tuned. We will be here next week on Wednesday also the same time and in the meantime, be a part of our channels, our community on Discord, on Twitter, and on Telegram. We’re looking forward to that. Thank you very much all of you. Have nice holidays and nice December. Okay. Thank you.

Laurin Bylica: 1:01:02

Thank you, guys.

Anita Mlakar: 1:01:05

Bye.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:01:05

Bye.

Cross Okonkwo: 1:01:06

Bye.

Hilina Damte: 1:01:07

Bye.

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