Bridging the Gap Between Art and Crypto with pplpleasr

Host:  Hey everybody.  Welcome back to the Unstoppable Podcast.  I'm your host, Diana Chen and I'm here today with our guest, Pplpleasr.  You guys all heard of her; she sort of rose to fame in a way, when she dropped the UNISWAP v3 video—the launch promo video.  She sold it as an NFT for 310 Ethereum, which at the time of the sale I think it was around half-a-million dollars.  

And another really cool thing about this is that a DAO was formed specifically for the purpose of purchasing this NFT.  And all of the proceeds were donated to AAPI charities.  So I'm really excited to Pplpleasr and ask her about her process and this entire crazy whirlwind journey that she's gone on.  So hey, Pplpleasr.  Thank you so much for being here.

pplpleasr:  Hey, thanks for having me.

Host:  Awesome.  So the first thing—I guess I just want to go back to before this UNISWAP v3 launch promo video exploded, who were you before all of this happened?  How long have you been making videos and arts and when did you start learning into crypto—learning about crypto and NFTs and sort of bridging the gap between art and crypto?

pplpleasr:  So my journey into crypto sort of started in 2017, the ICO boom.  I definitely was holding some—like not DeFi coins back then, so I held some.  I think a lot of people, sort of, introduction into crypto is obviously about—I had known about Bitcoin and Ethereum as well in 2017 and I've know about Bitcoin since college actually, but obviously I never bought any.  

And then in 2017 crypto really caught my attention, but I think a common beginner mistake is thinking that both Bitcoin and Ethereum are either too popular or too expensive and so you go and find the next gem or something and then so that's how I found all these other random 2017 coins, like VeChain, Cardano, IOTA, you name it.  And sO that's sort of how I got interested in crypto and then—I've just since been sitting on the sidelines, sort of speculating since 2017  and then—kind of, you know, it was very, very passive until last summer which was DeFi summer and then, sort of like, the crazy yields and DeFi, kind of, caught my attention again, and then I also at the same time noticed that there was a lack of sort of creative expression and talent within the marketing space of DeFi and crypto in general actually.  

And then so, I thought that, oh well, a great way for me to sort of contribute to the space and also learn about it at the same time would be to put my skill set to good use.  And actually, I've been making art for quite a while before that, so…  I mean I've been making art ever since I was in—well, ever since I was young, I like, love to draw, anything art related, even listening to music and stuff, but I did some painting in High School, but then when I was in college, I had watched Wally in my freshman year and then decided that 3D animation was something that I'd be interested in pursuing.  

So outside of class in the university, I would sort of, go down this rabbit on the internet and what all these tutorials and then teach myself, basically, how to do 3D.  And then so after college, I was pretty much working in the space as an artist ever since, and then so I worked a bunch of visual effects and 3D stuff for movies and feature animation.  And then also I had game cinematic, like for Blizzard.  I've done the - - for cinematic that debut at BlizzCon in 2019 and then—so yeah.  

So that part of the journey was, sort of just really sharpening my skills and learning everything technically that I needed to know and then expressing myself creatively with something independent of that.  I mean, obviously I was helping craft bigger visions for movies and stuff, but in terms of complete creative expression, I didn't start doing it until early 2020 because I was actually supposed to go—I accepted a job at Apple, but I was waiting for them to process my visa and then the pandemic happened.  So USCA has, kind of, shutdown.  

While I was waiting for my visa, I decided to occupy my time by doing something that I always wanted to do, which is make my own artwork and so I created my art Instagram called Pplpleasr.  And so from there I would just start to experiment as a generalist and then just post some personal artwork there and then the visa kind of, just didn't really get anywhere due to the pandemic and everything just being so crazy.  And then so to even further occupy I would just—I thought—I would, basically, want to contribute to the crypto space somehow.  And one of my friends saw—at the time there was a twitter influencer by the name of BlueKhaby [phonetic], who was doing marketing for Your-in-Finance.  

And then so he had sent out a tweet saying that he was interested in speaking to people who were good at doing animations or videos or something, and my friend sent BlueKhaby my art Instagram and then so BlueKhaby saw my stuff and then taught that it was pretty cool.  And then so he reached out to me and asked if I wanted to do something for Euro in Finance.  So that's actually my first that I ever done for any DeFi project was for YF vault, which the video never got released because the product ended up being delayed and stuff, but—yes, so crypto traders actually, never seen my first video.  

And then every since then that kind of, sort of, ignited other things and then I did a video for Pickel Finance and so one thing led to another and now a month later this has, kind of, become my job I guess.

Host:  That is such a cool story.  So were you majoring in art in college or were you completely self-taught?

pplpleasr:  I ended up being in this program called Design Media Arts and they're a little bit, I think diverse, in the sense that you kind of, get to dip your toes into a little of everything, from frontend web development to graphic design and typography, to a little bit, maybe just after effects, but never actually dabbled in any 3D in the major, at least for me.  And then so, everything #d animation related, I had learned outside of class.

Host:  That's so coo that you're—you're pretty much, completely self-made and then it's so cool how you got connected with the people at Your in Finance and then that led to—I saw you did stuff for Ava as well and SushiSwap and all these, you know, now obviously, the big UNISWAP v3.  That's supper cool.  

So as you were, sort of, getting into crypto, like dipping your toes in back in 2017 and then diving in deeper last summer, DeFi summer, what were some of your go to resources for learning about the space, like whether it's books or blogs or Twitter - - obviously, crypto Twitter is super strong?  Like do you have any go-to resources that you'd recommend for people listening who are just starting dip their toes in or starting to want to get serious about learning? 

pplpleasr:  I definitely think that crypto twitter is my main source of information and it's a great place to network as well.  And back in 2017, I was, sort of, lurking—I was getting my information from Reddit, I think.  And while it may not be inaccurate, but I think it definitely is delayed, compared to the frequency that information is shooting out of crypto twitter.  

For example; when I compare it with—but my twitter is quite new, I only made it in September of 2020, so last year basically.  It's like—it's not even—it's about like six months old, but I definitely think that, you know, I've learned so much about crypto just being on twitter and also networking with people and then…  Crypto twitter, kind of, rebirth an extension of discord channels or telegram channels that you can then seek information from as well or just, you know…  And I also—just with my—in real life friends who care about crypto, there's a little group chat that we have going on as well, so those are the main places that I'm sourcing my information.  

Host:  That's awesome.  I'm still trying to make some real life friends that are into crypto or maybe convert some of my friends into the cryptoverse, but there are still people out there who think you can't buy Bitcoin because you don't have $58,000 or 60K or whatever Bitcoin is at now, and it's like, no, you don't have to buy a whole Bitcoin, you can buy $1 of Bitcoin.  That's something, you know, that a lot of people still don't know.  All right.  so I want to —

pplpleasr:  Yeah, definitely.

Host:  — dive into—yeah.  So I want to dive into the actual video that you made for the UNISWAP v3 launch. I guess—you, sort of, already talked about, like, how did this collaboration come about.  You already connected in the field, but like specifically, did UNISWAP reach out to you or was it a referral that, you know, somebody else referred you to them or how did you get connected to them on this project?

pplpleasr:  I think I, you know, at this point, definitely had a little bit of name in the space already, and then also pretty high demand and then—but UNISWAP had actually reached out Taroon Chichra [phonetic], who knows me personally, so somebody over at UNISWAP, I'm pretty sure it was Tayo [phonetic]—reached out to Taroon and asked if he could ask me if I'd be interested in working with them.  And so Taroon shot me a text and then basically told me this and then I said, yeah, sure and then he introduced and then we basically—yeah, that's how it happened.

Host:  That's awesome.  And then how much creative direction did they give you or how much of what went down with, like, first of all, minting it as an NFT and then deciding to donate all the proceeds to charity and then designing the actual video?  Like, how much of that came from you versus from the UNISWAP team?

pplpleasr:  So they were really nice about it.  They gave me pretty much, complete creative freedom and we had a few different ideas to begin with.  I think originally, I was supposed to do a series of very, very short animations, so five to 10 seconds long each or something and then there might have been one for each new concept that was included in the v3 upgrades, but then we, sort of like, pivoted into doing just one hero.  Mainly, due to time constraints then we figured it might be a better idea for me to just focus all of my time and energy on one hero launch vide.  

And then so it served more of the artistic marketing height essentially and the idea to make it an NFT was my idea.  It came up, actually, sort of, halfway through production already, on the video.  I obviously had been devoting a lot of time to making videos for DeFi protocols for the past few months and then as a result didn't really get to try my hand at a lot NFT stuff, especially since the start of it really blowing since January.  I did do a little bit of NFTs last year, I didn't know what I was doing back then, so I would just mint really random stuff and I had—just getting all the wad of, sort of, knowledge around have to evaluate NFTs and stuff.  

Anyway, so yeah, halfway through the UNISWAP video production, I thought that—it actually was also, sort of, always a—not dream, but just aspiration of mine to do an NFT drop where the money was donated to charity.  So in that light, I kind of combined all those concepts and then proposed to the team at UNISWAP and they surprisingly were very supportive and just thought it was a very good idea.  So they were like, yeah, totally, go for it.  So yeah, that's pretty much how it happened.

Host:  That's awesome.  And so I do have a couple of questions for you because I've had some founders of different NFT platforms on the podcast and I've only heard it from that perspective.  I've never heard it from the perspective of an actual creator.  So from your view as a creator, what is—what do you see as the value of NFTs in sort of, in the long run, what that is going to bring about in the community, both for creators and for the public as well?

pplpleasr:  I didn't think for creators, it has shed light unto this new realm of getting rid of the middle man or even—I think previously, you know, a lot of digital creators were just displaying their arts, for example; on social media, Instagram and stuff, without really any expectation, including myself too—without any expectation of monetizing that work or anything.  

It almost serves like a visual diary and also practice, and—yeah, just self-expression, but then I think NFTs sort of, really opened up that Pandora's Box, about being able to monetize this.  Because, I think it was, sort of, already an issue before, where a lot of people would, sort of like, use those images taken from Instagram or something, but with the concept of digital ownership is always very blurred, right?  And then you know a lot of these independent artists, they not like musicians or something, where they have, like, a record company that are going to hunt down copyright laws or something.  So I think NFT sort of, really changed that for them and so that's why it, kind of, really blew up.  

And then in terms of the value of NFTs, I kind of, feel like a broken record, because I always say the same thing on, like, when I go on podcasts or something, but I really believe that—I mean, I obviously think that, sort of, trading of art is great, but I feel like we're actually not the highest point of utility for NFTs yet and I personally believe that where it really is going to, sort of, shine and continue to grow is actually within gaming and the Metaverse, which are currently, restricted by given a hardware or internet or browsing restrictions and stuff, but it's, sort of, as that technology continues to improve, we're going to se NFTs expand into that area as well.  

We're already, kind of, seeing with the Decentraland, but anybody who's ever been on something like the Decentraland will understand the potential.  I think the hardware and everything are—not just specific to Decentraland, but just in our current reality, are not there yet and kind of, similar to how VR is like, completely convincing that you're in another world, but I think it's definitely going to get there and then…  So you can really understand the potential of NFTs expanding beyond just the art trade, but also special abilities and characters, scans, land, events in the Metaverse.  There's just so much that could be done there.

Host:  Very cool, yeah.  I'm not a big gamer and so a lot of that is still pretty new to me, but I've had some people on who are big into the gaming—the blockchain gaming space and hearing you talk about it too, it definitely gets me excited and I'm looking forward to seeing where all that goes.  So going back to the NFT that you made, when you were deciding which platform to sell your NFT on, what was the thought process that went behind that?  You ultimately sold it on Foundation; was there a reason behind that or did you, kind of just say, you know, they're all good, I'll just randomly pick one?

pplpleasr:  It honestly, is closer to the latter and being that Foundation, sort of, advertises themselves as a little bit more decentralized, I think I had a little bit of draw, but also there's other factors like that.  They are a 101 platform, whereas some other platforms like, MakersPlace or - -, those are sometimes like more suitable for open additions as well.  So there was that—that was factored into it and then—but yeah, otherwise, there was just, kind of—I think I had reached out to, like, a couple at the same time and it was, sort of like, who got back to me or like—and then you know what—the other reasons that I've just, sort of, highlighted, but it was—they're all good.  

I don't really have any strong opinion toward any specific one, but I do know that OpenSea, does, sort of like, a gas-free minting program which is really cool and I think it will be really great for artist who are just, sort of like, getting into the space and then if they're not really whether or not there stuff is going to sell, at the very least they're not losing morning by just minting artwork.

Host:  Yeah, for sure.  And it'd be cool to see more platforms move towards that model in the future as well.  Obviously, right now everybody is suffering from the gas problem, but in the future it would be ideal if the gas could be built in, so it's not like if you're minting a piece you have to pay another price on top of it or…  Same thing for consumers, if you're buying a piece, you have pay another gas price.  I don't know.  I don't know what the solution is but—okay, very cool.  

So then with deciding to donate all of the proceeds to charity—a couple of questions here; first of all; I know you're donating to AAPI charities, was there something from your experience, your background that led you to want to donate to these charities?  And then have you decided, like, specifically which charities you'll be donating to?

pplpleasr:  Yes.  So I think part of—I was in New York throughout the worst part of the pandemic essentially and so I was there to sort of witness the downfall of Chinatown and all these Asian-American small business that are really struggling and then also obviously with the recent events that are happening in the United States, I think that really contributed to me making that decision as well.  

I had come across this Instagram post by one of the sons of one of the shooting victims in the Atlanta shooting recently.  And he wrote a very, very—honestly very heartbreaking post about how he feels very unjust about everything that's happening and just wanting to—sort of, the world to be less hateful and then be a better place.  I mean, after I saw the—I was like, oh that's so sad, and then I found his Venmo information, I sent him $100.  I posted about him on my twitter, but—I realized that this wasn't like a huge amount or anything, but for example; something like—hopefully, maybe with my NFT it could be very impactful and then so those are kind of, the reasons that contributed to my decision making there.  And obviously, myself being Asian, I have experienced minor forms of racism and micro-aggression since a young age as well, so yeah.

Host:  Got it.  And then have you decided which charities that, like, specifically, that you will be donating to?

pplpleasr:  Yeah.  So we actually have been working pretty hard with the volunteers over at StandWith agents.  StandWith Agent is actually—they're, sort of like, a decentralized volunteer group.  They're not a charity themselves and then so—but the volunteers, they were awesome and then I've been—so what I've been spending my time doing for the past two weeks at least, is sort of, meeting up with them frequently online and then we would—so they went out and came back with an extensive lists of charities and non-profit organizations related to the cause.  And then we would go over—sort of like, go over the list and talk about which ones we think are more deserving of funds.  

We're also working on getting out a press release so that we can open up applications too, you know, in case there's ones that we didn't find, but they're interested in applying for the grant, they can do that as well.  And then the volunteers have people that they're working with, who are also able to, sort of, keep track of the transparency side for the charities as well, to make sure that these funds are being put to good use.  

And we all are, sort of, unanimously, aree more in support of underdog charities, so let's say, like, national charities or something that have already, probably a lot more resources or access to funds.  And then we're more focusing on underdogs ones, but which also, obviously means that sometimes they swept under the radar or they're a little bit harder to find or, you know, so…  Yeah, it's still in the process, but our goal is to—by the end of the month, so by April 30th, we'll have finalized the list and then be able to send out the funds, but the funds are still in my - - wallet, so everybody can track it and see it there and then we'll ultimately be working on distributing that and then being transparent about that process.

Host:  That's awesome, that you guys are doing so much due diligence and really putting in the time and the research to find the right organizations to donate too, instead of just saying willy-nilly, you know, oh, yeah, this is like the biggest AAPI charity I've heard of, so I'm just going to send it there.  I think that's awesome that you guys are putting so much time and effort into really think through this.  All right.  

So I want to talk about the actual art piece now and I want you to walk us through that, because there was a lot thought that went into it.  There was a lot subtleties.  A lot of symbolism that maybe, people didn't pick up on.   They just saw it once.  And so let's start with the title of the piece; you titled this X*Y=K.  What does that mean, first of all?

pplpleasr:  that's the equation that's been used to determine the price of an asset on the bonding curve and so the piece itself, obviously includes a lot of themes that surround UNISWAP related elements.  So the obvious one, being the unicorn and also the color, pink, you know, there's a lot of other more subtle ones.  

A lot of people were—when the video came out, trying to guess what the little Easter eggs were in the second shot.  I can tell you guys it's—the first one that flows up is Ava and then there's a Unipig which a lot of people were saying that there wasn't—it's on Axie Infinity, but it's actually Unipig for optimism.  And there is MegaMask fox and then a - - thing, which is like the purple ball with a white - - around it and then a rainbow for the rainbow app.  

And the, sort of, noodle-hostile looking things themselves are meant to represent the actual bonding curve.  And then part of UNISWAP v3 or one of the main features is that you can now select your own portion of the—on the price curve to provide—find equity and then so that's why you see the bonding curve being separated, sometimes into sections and then that section could slide around or there's colors thing there to highlight, sort of like, that feature.  And then the colors themselves could also—are representing different tokens that are serving their pull-up assets.  

And the third shot, pretty much the same thing.  It was just meant to be, sort of like, trippy and then you're seeing that the bonding curves are, sort of, colliding with the unicorn.  And then so they, kind of, meet together to find at the end, which is coming together in this environment—cohesive environment, where they work together with Ethereum.  And then there's a consolation above which also has a meaning which is meant to represent the UNISWAP liquidity pool formation, which is this "do your own research page on me by 0XT5."  That maps out the data and how each of the different liquidity pools are all connected with each other.  Yeah, it's pretty much it.

Host:  That is so cool.  I have to admit—I mean, I definitely did not pick up on 90% of that when I watched it at first.  I think I, like, sort of, spotted the MetaMask fox and that—it may be the rainbow wallet and that might have been it, but definitely thought it was, like spaghetti flying around in the air and that was all part of, like, the other worldly Metaverse or whatever the background is.  So you obviously put a lot of thought into this and giving lots of shout-outs to different DeFi protocols in subtle ways through the art, but how did you originally draw inspiration for this piece or get the idea for how to make this?

Like you said, UNISWAP pretty much put it in your hands a 100%, like the creative direction.  I mean, this is just such an awesome piece, like, how did you even start with it?

pplpleasr:  There was definitely a lot of discussion between myself and the designer at UNISWAP.  He's name is Culio [phonetic].  He's awesome and everybody should go check him out on twitter, but yeah.  So he and I bounce a lot of ideas of off each other and then he told me about this short story that had to do with, like, a magical forest and then, sort, of, when he was describing the short story, what I was really seeing in my head was scenes from the Princess Mononoke movie.  And then so that is also a huge inspiration for the piece as well and I highlight all of these in my behind the scenes video, so yeah.

Host:  Got it, got it.

pplpleasr:  And obviously, I go—it's just an ongoing process always, but I started by sort of having that image in my head and then I went and sketched out a rough story board and then—so that, kind of, helps you solidify, sort of like, what is the abstract in your brain into something tangible on paper and then from there you can, sort of, really go even further and start to nail down on details that might help you visualize this image that you have in your head.

Host:  Got it.  And another thing too, just so I note for people listening, you actually show a lot of behind the scenes on you twitter of, like, how you make this stuff, which I think is super cool.  So if you guys listening are interested in Pplpleasr's process and seeing behind the scenes definitely go check out her twitter and you can see all that there.  

So I want to move and talk a little bit about the NFT auction that was, obviously like, a really big part of this journey with a DAO being to purchase your NFT, but before we get into that; when you first listed this as an NFT, what were your expectations for how much it will sell for?

pplpleasr:  It's funny because I was talking with somebody about the reserve price because every piece needs to have a reserve price and then when that reserve price is met then the auction officially kicks off for 24 hours.  And then I wasn't really sure what to set the reserve price as and they suggested to do 8.88 which is, like 88, which good luck in Asian cultures obviously.  And I wasn't going to obviously list it for 888 Ethereum, that's ridiculous.  And the .888 was maybe also an option, but so I was deciding between that and 8.88 and then ultimately decided to go with 8.88, but definitely when I set that initially I was thinking, oh, this is a little bit high.  

And then when I was speaking with a UNISWAP designer, Culio before as well, we were looking at some pieces on Foundation and we found one that sold for 10 ETH and we were like, wow, that's a lot.  This is great.  So I was a little bit nervous that 8.88 was a little bit high for starting price, but pretty crazy that right when I listed it, somebody immediately came in with the first bid at.  So I guess that wasn't an issue, but definitely did not expect it to end at the price where it did.  I am obviously, super grateful and it was just a very, very crazy and humbling experience, I would say.

Host:  Yeah.  It's awesome how it played out.  And then at what point did you find out that a DAO was being formed to purchase your NFT?

pplpleasr:  I remember after kicking off the auction, I was just going about my day and then at some point during the day I had gotten a message from this guy, Jamus [phonetic], who had told me about the Pool Together, co-founder of Leighton Cusack tweet about forming a DAO.  And then Jamus had got in touch because he wanted to know if it would be possible for Foundations to support - - safe because that's, I think, how they were planning to, sort of, handle the treasury and the Multisig stuff and then I honestly—I didn't know - -, you know, I wasn't sure if I could get in touch Foundation in time or something, because the auction was already going, but that's pretty much the extent of which I knew that this thing was happening.  

So I didn't know if they were actually going to bid or if they even ended up succeeding in getting the group together or anything.  So it was pretty surprising because they didn't come out with a bid until less than an hour left in the auction I believe, so yeah.

Host:  Yeah.  So I was going to talk about that next.  So the auction starts and then it's—not that it's not exciting, but it was, kind of, chill for—it hit 100 ETH, which is very exciting already —

pplpleasr:  Oh yeah.

Host:  — and then it, sort of, just stayed quiet for—I think it was like 12 hours or like, all day.  It was pretty quiet and then it wasn't until the last hour of the auction that PleasrDAO placed a bid.  I don't even remember for how much, but then that started a bidding was between PleasrDAO and I think two other people or at least, like two other usernames on Foundation.  They just went back and forth, back and forth from basically, 100 to 310 ETH, which is what it ended up selling for.  So were you watching this in real time and what was it like?  I feel like I would had, like, a heart attack watching that in real time.

pplpleasr:  I was definitely a little bit—I had—because it was morning of my time when that was happening, so I had actually just woken up to, sort of, just catch the last hour of the auction.  So when I woke, I was obviously very confused because given that—because when I initially woke up I was like, oh, it's still at a 100.  I think that's going to be the end of the auction which I was already super happy with and like, exceeded my expectations and then so when the bidding war, kind of, started—I actually also clearly forgot.  I mean, I know that its common practice for auction platforms to reset the short clock for every 15 minutes when a new bid is placed, but I totally forgot that that was a thing.  

So I, you know, it went on for quite a bit longer than I had expected it too and then—it's funny because my parents actually really wanted to go to lunch and they were, like, "what are you doing?" or like "why are you in your room?" and then I was like, wait, this auction thing is so great.  I don't think they really understood what was happening.  And then so—yeah, it was definitely very nerve-racking and I was texting with one of my friends and they were tracking the other—like, the whale wallet that's not in the Dow, so the other wallet—because you can see that they were loading it with 100 ETH every new time that they were bidding from Tornado Cash and it was just—it was pretty wild.  Like, we were just wondering, wow, this person—where are these funds coming from?  It was obviously, very exciting and—yeah.

Host:  Yeah.  I can imagine.  So have you—hopefully, we'll be able to get Leighton on to talk more about the DAO side of things, but just wondering, have you had a chance to talk to him about, like what are the plans for PleasrDAO moving forward?  I know there was—I think they collected like—there are some, like, left over funds in the DAO.  Do you know if they're going to return it to the people that pitched in or if they're going to keep it up and do something with the DAO, I don't know?

pplpleasr:  As far as I know, nobody is interested in getting returned their funds, so they're all just going to keep it in the treasury and then I think they're going to, sort of commit the DAO to further investing into NFTs and art and maybe more specifically, DeFI art.  I'm not really sure.  And I think  they also, maybe were—yes, so they're definitely going to fractionalize the NFT and then maybe, there's, like, so collaborations there or maybe opportunities to have a token involved as well, but yeah, you probably have to talk to Leighton about those details because—they asked if I was interested in being part of the DAO telegram.  I was like, this feels kind of weird, so I think I think I'd rather not be in it.

Host:  Yeah.  I was also wondering, have they put any pressure on you to create more NFTs because they named the DAO, it's called PleasrDAO.  So, you know, it's like, do we only put our money towards Pplpleasr art or any DeFi protocol art or?

pplpleasr:  I definitely think and I hope that it's not just going to be a DAO that's specifically dedicated to collecting my art only and that it will also collect other peoples art as well, which I'm pretty sure is what they're doing and what their goal is.  So I think it was a nice touch that they name it after me as, sort of like, this auction is what, kind of like, inspired or set it off, yeah.

Host:  Got it, got it.  Well, have you gotten pressure from the community at large to create more NFTs?  I'm sure people have been DMing you or commenting on twitter and things like—being like, hey, you're so good at this, why don't you make more NFTs and especially now that you've seen the potential for how much money you can for it.  Like, are you going to make NFTs and sell and profit from it, like, maybe in addition to donating it?  Like, what are your plans for the future?

pplpleasr:  I think I've been, sort of, taking a little bit of time in the past two weeks to also take my time and think about how I'm going to approach next steps.  I would be interested in doing another drop.  That would be, maybe more like open audition as opposed to one of one and because I had gotten a lot of messaged or people expressing interest in owning my NFTs, but saying that they couldn't afford one of one NFT and then so the idea of doing something that's like much more affordable and then more people can have.  It is interesting to me.  

I definitely hope and would think that this would not be my last time doing an NFT drop for auction—sorry, an NFT drop for charity.  After this experience, it just, kind of, really showed me, sort of, the potential of this space and people coming together and coordinating, so that's really exciting to me and hopefully, we can really see our funds make direct impacts as well to the charities that we will eventually be giving them to.  So that would probably make me more motivated to this more in the future as well.

Host:  For sure.  And then if you had to envision where we'll be in 10 years, which I know is impossible because of how fast things are moving even day to day.  What would you envision the situation being in 10 years, in terms of how NFTs are used?  Like is everybody just minting NFTs?  Are people—like, does like everybody own at least one NFT?  Like, what would you envision life being like, in terms of NFTs?

pplpleasr:  I think anything can happen, but yeah, I don't think the technology is going anywhere.  I do think that probably a lot more people will either know about or own NFTs.  And probably in, sort of, the formats that they didn't even know are possible as of current as well, so yeah.  Hopefully, it will expand beyond just, sort of like, what the current sentiment it, which is just owning a GIF or something, which I feel like there's way more potential to expand beyond that.

Host:  For sure.  All right.  Well, thank you so much for being here and sharing all of that with us.  I always like to end every podcast episode with a segment called explain your tweet; where I dive to your twitter and I pull out some interesting or cryptic tweets.  I will say you have some pretty funny tweets and, you know, obviously, like the art stuff is all really cool and then you just got some funny commentary in there as well.  So I'd encourage everybody to go follow you.  One tweet that I'll pull out—this is from earlier this year, January 7th, you tweeted "LOL, I made this shit coin filter as a joke and Instagram actually approved it."  I didn't—I have, like—I've seen those on Instagram obviously, but I didn't know—like how do you make one?  Can anybody just make one of those and like send it out and have people use it?  Or how does that work?

pplpleasr:  Yeah, anybody can make it.  Obviously, you have to know how to use the software and this, sort of, came from my hiatus or that time that I was, sort of, waiting for my visa.  I was experimenting well with all these different programs and then so during that time I also learned how to use Spark AR, which is the main program that was developed by Facebook for people to create filters for Instagram or also Facebook, and then so—yeah.  

I made that filter, like, completely from scratch, but I think there's a lot of tutorials out there now that you can probably go watch - -, you know, if anybody is interested in going through the trouble of making their own filter.  Yeah, so I, kind of, just made it for fun or as a joke and then submitted it to Instagram and then they actually approved it.  So it's like, literally a real, usable filter now.

Host:  Well, that's—I actually love that.  I mean, obviously, like, it's funny.  It's a joke, but I also—I spend a lot of my time thinking about how to bring crypto to the masses and I actually that's a really good way, you know, like fun little things like that.  Where people might see there and they're like, oh, I can get all these options?  Like, what is Cardano?  I never heard of this and they'll Google it and learn more about the space.  So maybe you can keep making more and more of these that are actually - - related —

pplpleasr:  Yeah, I should do a DeFi one.

Host:  — and—you should, yeah.  You totally should.  All right.  And then the other tweet that I pulled out, this is from Christmas actually, of 2020.  You tweeted a photo of your grandpa and you said, "why is my 96-year old grandpa beating me at Mahjong?" and I just wanted to called that out because I thought it was so cute and wholesome and also, I don't know how to play, so my grandparents would for sure, beat me.

pplpleasr:  Yeah.  I mean, I don't know why I'm even surprised, you know.  My 96-year old grandpa who has probably 70 years of experience playing Mahjong over mine obviously and him just being better at Chinese than I am, but it's, sort of, a way for me to spend time with him and doing an activity that we both enjoy.  I think he really loves to play and so—yeah.  

Host:  I love it.  I love it.  All right.  Well, thanks again so much Pplpleasr for being here.  Before you go, I mean, I think most people already know how to find you, PplPleasr1 actually, on twitter.  And is it the same handle on Instagram?

pplpleasr:  It's just Pplpleasr on Instagram and on twitter there's a one because when I was signing up for my Twitter, the regular Pplpleasr was already taken, so that's why there's a one there, but on Instagram it's just Pplpleasr.  And then perhaps, maybe some other parts of the internet as well that are maybe, like, less relevant.  And then they can also find my website which is on my Instagram as well, so…

Host:  Perfect, perfect.  We'll link all that in the show notes.  Have you found the Pplpleasr on twitter by the way or have you reached out and try to get the username?

pplpleasr:  No, I haven't reached out to try and get the user name.  I want to be respectful of that, you know.  I don't think—yeah, this is the same thing like an ENS or something, you know, you don't go around and assume that you deserve this handle more than anybody else, but I just—I feel sorry for her that a lot of times people are tagging me and then they tag the wrong person and they tag her instead.  She probably finds that annoying, so…

Host:  Okay.  So I just looked her up and she has seven followers and is following zero people.  So if it's an inactive account, I feel like it's fair game to DM and say, hey, would you mind, kindly…

pplpleasr:  Yeah, maybe.  We'll see.

Host:  All right.  Well, thanks again so much, Pplpleasr for being here and sharing your story with us.  Thank you, listeners for tuning in and we'll be back again so with another episode of the Unstoppable Podcast.

pplpleasr:  Thanks for having me.