Last week, I spoke with Oleg Boytsov, the CEO at Artyfact, a GameFi metaverse with an NFT economy. He explained to me what makes his project special and shared his view on the future of metaverses. Let’s dive into the interview!
U.Today: Tell us about your first encounter with cryptocurrency. Why did you make the decision to work in this particular field?
Oleg Boytsov: I was always interested in modern technology and so at university I chose a specialty connected with IT. I originally heard about Bitcoin in 2016 and was immediately inspired by the idea of decentralization. I began to study blockchain technology and started to quite actively supplement my portfolio with various cryptocurrencies.
Then in 2017 I opened my own crypto fund, which is still successfully operating to this day and, in general, the only thing I regret is not finding out about Bitcoin and blockchain earlier. Besides this, basically I believe in this technology, blockchain decentralization, I reckon that this is the future. With every passing year this industry is becoming more popular and it’s obvious that the world is heading in the right direction and is not obstructing the development of this technology.
U.Today: All of us regret that we did not find out about it a bit earlier! Tell us a bit more about your project. What is your role in it?
Oleg Boytsov: I am the CEO and creator of the idea. Artyfact is a GameFi metaverse with an NFT economy. Artyfact is a virtual world of the future divided into urban and game zones. In the urban zones, Artyfact citizens can visit NFT exhibitions, 3D marketplaces, buy and sell NFTs, virtual lands, property, clothes and also take part in various events including concerts, socials, virtual fashion shows, training seminars, etc. Game zones act as arenas where Artyfact citizens can play various play-to-earn games. The games are divided into 3 types: Battle Royale (this is multiplayer, where you can play against multiple players), as well as racing and adventure.
U.Today: What sets Artyfact apart from the metaverses of the past generation?
Oleg Boytsov: Besides the standard features of metaverses which I mentioned earlier, such as purchasing lands and assets, using avatars, holding events etc., our metaverse has some distinctive features or, one might even say, advantages. We can start with the fact that Artyfact is built on the innovative game engine, Unreal Engine 5. This engine provides the highest level of detail and immersion in the virtual world. I also reckon that NFT games are one of our distinctive features. In order to participate in these games, the player needs to make a contribution in NFTs or ARTY, the native token of the Artyfact metaverse. The winner of the game will receive contributions from all participants. I mean that you can earn money by playing existing AAA quality games.
Besides games, Artyfact also has the ability to create 3D NFT marketplaces. This, you can say, is the next generation of marketplaces where 3D NFTs will be located in space, in three-dimensional form. I can also just briefly elaborate on the distinctive features for influencers and brands such as co-operative gaming, event sponsorship, virtual merch creation, and much more. Artyfact will also have virtual billboards and VR technology support.
U.Today: Could you talk more about the ARTY token?
Oleg Boytsov: Yes. Like I already said earlier, ARTY is a native token of the Artyfact metaverse but it’s also the governance token in our ecosystem. A total of 100 million ARTY tokens have been issued. ARTY is used for all service payments within our ecosystem, for receiving in-game rewards and for voting in the Artyfact DAO. Besides this, you can earn rewards for staking ARTY and receive various privileges. I want to add that recently we launched the first round of our ICO on our Launchpad, which is located on our website, and we have already reached the soft cap of our project. I also want to mention that participants in the current round will get the opportunity to buy ARTY at the lowest price.
U.Today: Tell us about the main achievements of the project so far and which of them is the most significant for you personally?
Oleg Boytsov: In two months we have been able to get over 100 thousand subscribers in our multilingual social networks. We also negotiated partnerships with Eternity, X8 Fund, Blockchain Invest, Ulfin Investment, BTT Group SA Investment, Merehead and this is only just the beginning. But I reckon that the creation of a fully-fledged MVP of our universe is the main achievement. Unlike most projects, which start development after the ICO or IDO, we already have a working product and our development is in full swing.
U.Today: What are your main plans for the current year?
Oleg Boytsov: The main one is to launch the beta version of our metaverse. We will also have a lot of high-profile announcements, partnerships and contests, to be made public a bit later. Besides this, adding the ARTY token to major exchanges is also on the list of main plans. We will also be holding lots of competitions between NFT artists and gamers. All in all, we will be trying to do everything we can to create one of the most innovative and exciting metaverse and also to let the world find out about us.
U.Today: It seems to me that metaverses are the most high-profile subject of the year.
Oleg Boytsov: I agree.
U.Today: How do you see the metaverses and NFTs continuing to develop and how do you think it will influence the entire cryptocurrency industry?
Oleg Boytsov: I would start by saying that with every passing year all mankind is being immersed more deeply into the digital. I reckon that the development of metaverses is the next step in this immersion into the digital world. Many even reckon that in the future this technology will develop to the point where the virtual world can no longer be distinguished from the real one, and metaverses can even replace our real world. But this is still at least a few decades away. In the immediate future, I think that we will see the emergence of a new generation of metaverses, these metaverses will not only have highly detailed AAA graphics and VR support, but will provide additional opportunities for gamers, NFT artists, collectors, influencers, brands, marketers and event creators. These metaverses will have full Web 3.0 support and an NFT-based economy. I reckon that these technologies, Web 3.0 and NFT, are an integral part of metaverses and for that reason they will evolve together. And as far as the Artyfact metaverse is concerned, I reckon that we’re moving in step with the times and we are exactly one of those projects which I mentioned above.
U.Today: How much are you personally interested in NFTs? Do you have any works of digital art, favorite artists or projects?
Oleg Boytsov: Yes, in general I really love art. In the past I used to draw a lot, I was also fascinated with fashion photography as a hobby and I still sometimes, when time allows, do fashion shoots. Like many people, I like the work of Beeple, Philip Colbert and Sam Pratt. In my collection there are works by artists like Shavonne Wong, Kideight, Chuvabak and others. I also wanted to add that we are planning to release our own NFT collection soon, which will allow NFT holders to have additional privileges in terms of using our metaverse.
U.Today: Do you have a crypto portfolio? If so, what are the main cryptocurrencies?
Oleg Boytsov: Of course I have a portfolio. I prefer to keep approximately half of my funds in Bitcoin, Binance Coin and Ethereum. And the rest I divide between projects which seem to be promising and which I try to invest in at an early stage, i.e. at the ICO or IDO stages. Of the recent ones, I can mention Colizeum. I also have invested in Sandbox, Blocktopia, My Neighbor Alice and others.
U.Today: And the final question: What do you reckon the price of Bitcoin will be at the end of this year?
Oleg Boytsov: In general, I reckon, that even based on technical analysis, if you look at the monthly graph of Bitcoin, the last price drop to $33,000 was nothing but a correction. On the monthly chart, Bitcoin is still in a bullish trend and, in general, I reckon that if Bitcoin doesn’t fall below $30,000 in the near future, then we might see a movement towards the ATH or even higher.
U.Today: Let’s hope so! Thank you for the interview, Oleg.