Why OnlyFans leaders switch to Web3 avatars with NFT startup Zoop

Together with Tim Stokely and RJ Phillips, he was a big one Fans onlyand now they’re turning their attention to a new startup called Zoop, which makes Web3 game avatars with unchangeable tokens (NFT).

The Zoop platform will allow users to buy, sell, collect and trade 3D digital playing cards of their favorite celebrities. Uses NFTs in blockchain to authenticate unique digital elements. Zoop for sale before the start of summer priority passes.

Stokeli was a co-founder of OnlyFans, and Phillips helped manage the company’s Asian operations. Both will serve as CEOs of Zoop. They hope it will be a step metaverseas in the novels, the universe of virtual worlds, all interconnected Snow accident and Ready player one.

Phillips said the company has gone through a number of ideas and has developed a plan to target Web2 audiences who have no technological knowledge but want to connect with celebrities and influencers using cool-looking avatars. And over time, they will switch to Web3.

“They want to have that sense of community and be able to do everything with the avatars they collect,” Phillips told GamesBeat. “It’s a cool-looking 3D avatar, and a dream could one day be Serena Williams playing Tomb Raider.”

In the meantime, fans can collect avatars and play simple blockchain games and engage in some kind of metaverse.

“We tried to make it very simple, very comprehensive and very accessible,” Phillips said. “At the same time, I hope you can have fun. And it starts with the main part of our product. Today we are all about celebrities and influencers. Tomorrow, we do not discriminate against the sectors from which people work. And finally, our platform will allow everyone to create their own avatar, if it is a great celebrity, influencing through our artificial intelligence program, working with our design team. ”

With Zoop, consumers will be able to make transactions with playing cards based on their favorite influencers or celebrities. These cards will be NFTs that can confirm the uniqueness of digital elements, and they will be in 3D. At Zoop, fans can get a limited number of officially licensed digital cards and sell them on the secondary market.

The idea is to create a closer connection between fans and celebrities. And the cards will give fans access to benefits such as exclusive discounts or access to interest-based communities. In a post-pandemic world where celebrities may not want to do as many face-to-face fan events as they once did, this could be easier. In this case, they can send their avatars to virtual events or place them in games.

The platform will use the Polygon blockchain, a Layer 2 Ethereum chain that has lower transaction costs and is more sustainable. Polygon also invested in Zoop. Zoop plans to issue 500 cards to each affected person for their initial drops, and as a result can activate their own token.

Unlike OnlyFans, which has become a hub for porn and NSFW content, Phillips said the platform will be family-friendly. It will be easier to apply the part related to the creation of authorized avatars, because it uses animated characters. Zoop is gaining capital from the growing blockchain gaming market $ 40 billion industry In 2021. Competitors included Demonswhich also raised a lot of money.

Lessons from Science only

When it comes to lessons from Phillips, OnlyFans, the company knows how to manage marketing and work with celebrities in a way that puts its customers first.

“We will make it inclusive for them, provide great support and ensure that our platform does not exclude people,” he said.

The company targets people 14 years and older. And controls the style of avatars that can be used in Zoop.

“We’ve helped Web2 users access Web3 because there’s a big barrier to access,” Phillips said. “We hope that avatars and usage will increase incredibly. I think the possibilities are endless. “

“We are promoting these micro-communities to the lower classes,” he said.

Where to use avatars

While it’s probably not fun to draw one of these avatars into a fantasy game, there’s a genre of play similar to Ready Player One in which all sorts of famous characters work very well. Fortnite is a good example of this.

“That’s the most interesting thing, the possibilities are endless,” Phillips said.

The company has 14 people spread all over the world. In addition to funding from Polygon, the co-founders have so far funded the project themselves.

In the coming weeks, the influencers will start working with their own cards, and then the main celebrities will come out with 3D cards.

Preliminary transactions will be conducted in US dollars, as focusing on cryptocurrency transactions will limit the potential size of the market.

According to the business model, about 70% of the initial sales revenue will go to celebrities themselves. About 10% go to celebrity affiliates or agents or music labels or similar organizations. About 20% goes to Zoop, which has costs such as operations.

“It’s very similar to our OnlyFans model, where we get paid a small fee to manage the ecosystem,” Phillips said.

Usefulness and interaction

Avatars will be a 3D collection on your smartphone. The more you deal with them and celebrities, the more rewards you can win. Over time, brand partners will intervene and compete to attract the attention of avatar owners. The more valuable the avatars are, the more people will be able to buy them.

Phillips said he understands that some platforms or industries will have different requirements for the technology used in avatars, and so Zoop needs to talk to partners ahead of time to choose the right technology.

Although the platform uses NFTs, the company does not intend to emphasize this in the marketing material, especially since the target audience will not understand it.

“For us, these are really collections supported by NFTs,” he said. “The important thing is that someone is shopping in your ecosystem and then you give them an image that will work where they want to use it.”

The company must be careful against fraud, because the oil market is full of them. And he wants the fans to have a good experience.

As cryptocurrency prices now plummet, Phillips said it will not necessarily be affected as the company closes both Web2 and Web3 operations.

“The vast majority of people we target our products are not those crypto users,” Phillips said. “80% of the population is interested in celebrities and brands, and they are interested in collecting to keep in touch and have fun with these digital avatars. As I said, the word NFT does not appear in marketing.