Crypto Society AMA with The HUSL — 21st August 2021
The HUSL is a new platform that is going to revolutionize the NFT world and the way celebrities interact with their fans. The App will enable musicians to create, curate and sell NFT collectable items directly to their fans.
HUSL CEO — (CRYPTO STEVE URKKEL)
Bilo | Crypto Society
CryptoSteveUrkel It’s our pleasure to have you with us today. I would like to welcome you here on behalf of our entire community.
Crypto Steve Urkel
Hi guys, thanks so much for having me! I am really looking forward to this.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Should we begin with a brief history of yourself and your team, and your roles at HUSL and what you were doing before HUSL?
Bilo | Crypto Society
You look very familiar btw. have we met before? 🤨
Crypto Steve Urkel
Yeah sure. So, my name is not really Crypto Steve Urkel (although it would be cool if it was. great show). Its Varun. And I am the CEO of the HUSL
I have been in the crypto space for a long time. Since 2013 and got immediately dumped on like 2 months later and thought this whole market was a scam lol. But in 2017 I really fell in love with this space and have been entrenched since.
My real-life job is an attorney but I quit that too run this company.
And lastly, about my team: we have a team filed with absolute chads. Guys who are amazing at what they do. We have people with great business acumen and also others who are musicians themselves. and not to mention great support from key crypto people 🙂
Bilo | Crypto Society
Wow, that’s dedication! I am sure you made an excellent choice
You have the one and only Busta Rhymes on your advisory/ambassador panel. There’s gotta be a really cool story behind this. Tell us how that happened?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Yes, we do! So, one of my cofounders is @sapphireadizes. H is awesome. if you don’t know him you really should. look up the sax battle on YouTube in the NYC subway.
Crypto Steve Urkel
So anyways he is heavily entrenched in the music world and made the introduction to the rifkind family. Alex is now a part of our day-to-day team, and his dad is a music legend.
Crypto Steve Urkel
Long story short we met Busta, loved his energy and his dedication of wanting to learn more about crypto and learn more about the industry and we knew he would be a great fit for what we want to do.
He’s a great person to have on our team and someone who will be really influential in getting his peers to join the digital asset revolution.
Bilo | Crypto Society
That’s for sure. Thanks for the back story.
How and where did you first encounter the music industry yourself?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Very random story. In 2020 I discovered NFT and defi (shoutout to yfi in the summer) and thought it was so damn cool. The whole web 3 wallets, using eth to buy NFT’S etc. At the time I knew nothing about the music industry, but I knew a lot about crypto, and NFT’S and was one of the few to sort of establish a name for himself outside the crypto realm and in the real world.
Fast forward to March 2021, beeple mania hit and the entire NFT landscape and normies started hitting me up. Two in particular were the guys behind too short and e40 (very well-known rap legends). From there I developed the idea for the HUSL and I ran with it and my foray into the music world began> It literally was by chance I got into music, but I am glad I did!
Bilo | Crypto Society
Brilliant — we will now go a little deeper
Can you tell us about why you thought music and more specifically artists known and unknown needed to be integrated into Crypto?
Crypto Steve Urkel
The answer is easy. Music artists are taken advantage of. plain and simple. 88% of music revenue goes to non-artists. can you believe that??!? Once everyone gets their cut, the artist themselves are left with very little. Traditional dsps like spotify and apple music pay pennies to the dollar per stream. It’s really disgusting if you ask me.
Bilo | Crypto Society
I was really hoping that would be your answer ❤️
Crypto Steve Urkel
So, enter blockchain and NFT’S. A method in which artists can seize control back and truly monetize their worth. Tech that can now enable them to interact with who they want, when they want, and sell what they want without worrying about getting taken advantage of.
It’s a merging technology that empowers artists. It’s just a matter of time for these artists to understands what’s abatable to them. The digital music revolution is upon us.
Bilo | Crypto Society
How do You see HUSL’s contribution to the adoption of Blockchain Technology within the music industry?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Well for one, we are going to shed awareness of what blockchain and NFT’S can do for artists. If you speak to those in the music industry especially in hip hop, 99.4% are truly unaware of what’s taking place or what is actually going on.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Wow that’s a very high number — I’m surprised.
Crypto Steve Urkel
The HUSL is going to be the go-to conduit that shows the world what this tech can do. And once they see the results, they will flock to our site. People need to see results. But once they do, they will want to get on the train as no one wants to be left behind.
Bilo | Crypto Society
My mother always said I have a nice voice. Can I be famous too?
Crypto Steve Urkel
I’ll give you a shot 🙂
Bilo | Crypto Society
A singing bear — We will be rich
Crypto Steve Urkel
Our goal is also to get a music label apart of this. huge opportunity there. The thing they don’t understand is YOU NEED TO HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE CRYPTO WORLD to do well.
We are our own little industry. It’s not easy to break in this world. A mega giant company can’t develop the crypto connections we have. They may be better funded but they don’t have our special sauce.
Bilo | Crypto Society
How will HUSL generate profits?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Couple ways. And this is why we are unique. Obviously, the token aspect is one thing. But we also have a real business and will generate real revenue from the sales of the NFT’s themselves. Think nifty gateway, open sea, etc.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Thanks — that’s good to know. How did HUSL start and when is the launch?
Crypto Steve Urkel
HUSL started after I met those music execs at the end of March. I ended up leaving them to do my own thing and we brought together a group of absolute studs and we been at it full time since.
We been working on this thing for 4 months. Crazy to think about it, but like the saying goes, Rome isn’t built in a day. Lot of work involved to get to where we are now.
Bilo | Crypto Society
ofc
Crypto Steve Urkel
As for the launch, the plan was to do the end of august, but we want to ensure a perfect launch. There’s no reason to rush into something. We are in talks with a lot of ido platforms and just want to finalize something with them. Worst case scenario we launch mid sept but hopefully sooner.
If you are an ido platform reading this, hit me up! lol
We could easily stealth launch on uni but the whole point of the ido platform is to allow the community around the world the chance to participate, and not get front run by bots.
Our platform is ready to go. we are in the middle of our audits. our tech is done. our private round is close to being oversubscribed at this point. now we just want to get the ido.
Bilo | Crypto Society
yes, pls no rush — make sure it’s done right… So many projects rushing that resulted in their demise.
Crypto Steve Urkel
ofc
Bilo | Crypto Society
Very excited — can’t wait 🔥
Crypto Steve Urkel
And if someone is impatient about the launch, then honestly, they NGMI.
Bilo | Crypto Society
So now just to make sure to drive this home; How would you describe HUSL’s integration into the world of Crypto if you were talking to someone unfamiliar with digital assets?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Hmm. I would say to them. Are you fed up with how things are going on? Do you feel you aren’t capturing the value of your true worth? Do you feel others are making money off of you that shouldn’t?
Join us at the HUSL and experience the NFT revolution. We will change all that.
We have a technology available to us that allows you to interact with fans all around the world anytime of the day. And you no longer need to worry about being taken advantage of.
Bilo | Crypto Society
What chain is HUSL being built on and why did you make that choice
Crypto Steve Urkel
ETH. to start. Simply because of network effect. If the goal is to bring real world artists on board, we have to go on the chain that is the biggest and easiest to do. Sure, gas fees such. But what’s more important is onboarding. We do have plans to bridge to other chains. Polygon will be on the roadmap
Bilo | Crypto Society
Sure. — love Eth
Polygon — nice!!
What is the HUSL token used for? Can you describe the Tokenomics?
Crypto Steve Urkel
The HUSL token is what will be used to power the platform. There are lots of ways to give it utility but from day one, we will allow holders to stake the token on our platform to generate rewards in the form of some token (we haven’t thought of the name, we may actually let the community get to vote)
Bilo | Crypto Society
Nice idea
Crypto Steve Urkel
This token is then used to redeem some really cool stuff. NFT’s music, merch, experiences (ig sessions, twitter spaces with their fav celeb).
The more you stake, the more cool things you can redeem for free. Also, will introduce lottery systems, we really will gamify this thing too to make it fun and exciting for all.
Bilo | Crypto Society
So, this seems kinda obvious now given the Q/A above but here goes anyway
Is The HUSL disruptive and how so?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Of course. Its disruptive in the sense it’s shaking up the traditional model of music as we know it,
that is what NFT’s are doing. It’s disrupting ever industry out there and will only continue to do so as we get more people knowledgeable about this space.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Perfect segue to the next question; Can you tell us how your NFT platform works and what types of NFT’s there will be?
Crypto Steve Urkel
To get an idea how our platform works, check out our website.
A video of our mvp is there to give you an idea of how it will look and the process.
As for NFT’s it depends on what the artist wants to do. We will have all sorts of things. Images, experiences, music. Whatever the artist wants to do, we will let them.
The goal is to empower the artist! and we will do just that.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Excellent!
Do you consider your project to be DEFI and if so, why?
Crypto Steve Urkel
No, we are a NFT project. however, we will introduce defi concepts such as staking for NFT’s on the platform. We aren’t doing anything with buying or lending but in the future could be very cool to do that with NFT itself. maybe we can make that happen!
Bilo | Crypto Society
Sure, hope so. would be very cool
So can anyone basically become an investor in an unknown artist and reap rewards from that artists success similar to how a record producer would? is this how we are too understand this?
Crypto Steve Urkel
In a way you are investing in an unknown artist if you buy their NFT’s. You are technically investing in their journey and by nature you will be them in their career and watch as they grow.
The earlier pieces you buy when they are unknown to hopefully when they get mainstream appeal will do very well. look at beeple for instance.
If you bought his pieces last summer you got them for literally nothing, now it’s worth life changing amounts. same applies for musical artists.
Bilo | Crypto Society
So, can I start telling my friends I’m a music producer?
Love the concept! really brilliant.
What are you currently working on, and can you describe your future roadmap?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Well, we are currently working on successfully launching. I would think everyone would agree that is our number 1 goal.
We are trying to onboard two superstars as well before launch to really give the world a lot of excitement. Then after we launch, we will show the world what the HUSL is about.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Very excited — can’t wait!
Could you please provide us with some challenges HUSL has faced but overcome?
Crypto Steve Urkel
A huge challenge was raising money. It was very difficult in July. We had an amazing concept but without funding you are going to fail. Bitcoin and the markets looked terrible. Lot of investors were taking a risk off approach, and I understand but it was a scary time.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Yes — lots of projects looking to raise fund suffered with this.
Crypto Steve Urkel
I was probably one of 20 people left on CT who was a permbull for this cycle. No way we top out at 64k or whatever. But we overcame this, and the markets have blessed us.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Fully agree — we have been boooolish as well.
Crypto Steve Urkel
And we are close to finishing our private round (any day now). we are very fortunate.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Do you have any other well-known artists or musicians being onboarded into your project? You mentioned there will be 2 above — We won’t tell anyone — it will stay just between us 🤫
Crypto Steve Urkel
Publicly we have busta, yung bleu (has a top 15 album and had number one song with drake), a collection from carlos suarez akas spiff tv (big music producer), pvlace and gunboi and a few others we are close to finalizing.
And the others are HUGE. a little alpha for those reading this ama.
Crypto Steve Urkel
Oh and I’ll throw this name out here…
Michael Jackson
I won’t say anything else, do with that info as you will.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Ummmmm Elvis?
Bilo | Crypto Society
Have you attended any of our AMA’s before @CryptoSteveUrkel ?
Or maybe read the recaps?
Crypto Steve Urkel
I honestly can say I have not (don’t get upset)!
It’s a little tough to find free time running this project.
Bilo | Crypto Society
This is about the time where I ask for exclusive breaking news. I get very sensitive and sometimes violent if I don’t get what I ask.
Crypto Steve Urkel
I literally work 15 hours a day
Bilo | Crypto Society
That all? huh
Crypto Steve Urkel
I know, I am a slacker.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Is there any exclusive breaking news about HUSL that you could share with us here today?
Crypto Steve Urkel
Yeah, I did
remember the name Michael Jackson. No one has heard that actually outside of my team.
You guys are the first!
Not even @LBecks or @Bussi4Nicole knew!
Bilo | Crypto Society
Who are they? never heard of them. Ha ha
Crypto Steve Urkel
I will have more to share next week but you guys gonna have to wait for that.
L B
❤️🙏
Bilo | Crypto Society
You’re such a tease
Crypto Steve Urkel
Yup
Crypto Steve Urkel
When I was single, ladies loved it lol
Sorry ladies, I’m a married man now
Bilo | Crypto Society
Is that a hint? that must be a hint…
Just dm me the answer — plssss I need this job
“ A Single is about to get released” ??? am I right?
Bilo | Crypto Society
I thought I was getting my breaking news…
But they will fire me if I don’t get it.
Crypto Steve Urkel
Sorry, I hope you can keep your job
But my lips are sealed
@LBecks is a nice guy. I don’t think he will fire you.
Bilo | Crypto Society
Ask him to commit to this publicly pls
Do you wish to let us know anything else that was not covered in the questions above?
Rana
Where does the project name come from? What does it mean for you and why did you choose that name for your project?
Crypto Steve Urkel
I actually love this question. The HUSL has deep meaning. If you are invested in the crypto space…you are hustling. If you have a job…you are hustling. If you want to make a better life for yourself…you are hustling.
The HUSL is something everyone can relate to. We all want the best for ourselves. It not a word that only famous people relate to. It is something that embodies all of us. I honestly wish this question is asked more. Great question mate
Crypto Society
Good day sir,
Do you have AUDIT certificates, or are you working to AUDIT your project, to make it more secure and reliable?
Crypto Steve Urkel
We actually have an audit in progress from Hacken. Should have results next week.
Security is our number one concern
Nairobi
We as investors are thinking about how to win fast, especially novice users. So, what are my advantages if holding your token in the long term?
Crypto Steve Urkel
This is a good question. Thx for taking the time to tag me. Advantages for long term holders are through the staking mechanism. We encourage this because you will be able to get more rewards and cool experiences and NFT’s for free!
Anyways thanks for taking the time to have me on guys 🔥🔥🔥
Bilo | Crypto Society
Thanks for your time, bud. Was a pleasure to have you.
Crypto Steve Urkel
Likewise
Please join our telegram if you haven’t already!
Cheers
LINKS
⚜️ HUSL Website :https://thehusl.io/
⚜️ HUSL Telegram: https://t.me/TheHUSL
⚜️ HUSL Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_husl
⚜️ Crypto Society Twitter : https://twitter.com/cryptosocietytg
⚜️ Crypto Society Chat: https://t.me/cryptosocietyy
⚜️ Crypto Society Announcements: https://t.me/CryptoSocietyyy
