Interview with Snape, founder of DIG: Believe that decentralization is the future, insist on being a Builder of Web3

Having just finished working with game designers at the game studio Wild Thunder in Vietnam, Haydn Snape rushed to the airport non-stop to attend a blockchain summit in Singapore. After giving a speech on stage, he set off for the United States, where Snape arranged a meeting with BRON Digital, a well-known Hollywood media production company, to discuss the promotion of an NFT project. Tight schedule, high-frequency travel, business across time zones, "every hour is different every day", this is the daily life of Haydn Snape, founder of Decentralized Investment Group (DIG).

Founded in 2011, DIG is a company headquartered in Dubai, with subsidiaries in North America and Southeast Asia. The world's first 3A-level P2E massively multiplayer online role-playing game Realms of Ethernity, and the world's first P2E 3D kart racing game Kart Racing League are both masterpieces of DIG.

Recently, DIG founder and CEO Haydn Snape accepted an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph Chinese, sharing his blockchain story with DIG.

Focus on building, firmly believe that decentralization is the future

With a background in economics and finance, Haydn Snape has been deeply involved in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry since its inception 10 years ago. "Blockchain, a technology that enables anonymous and trusted financial transactions through a distributed ledger system, immediately attracted me," recalls Snape.

As a result, Snape founded a consulting company dedicated to providing services to traditional enterprises, helping them understand the underlying technology of the blockchain, and the role of the blockchain in improving productivity and promoting the fair distribution of wealth.

With the development of the industry and its own business, in 2021, Snape officially established DIG. Open the official website of DIG, and you will see this sentence: "As a digital pioneer, we firmly believe that decentralization is the future, and creating decentralized products will bring individual and economic freedom to people all over the world." Focus on NFT DIG not only creates products directly for C-end users, but also actively cooperates with many B-end companies that intend to enter the blockchain industry.

DIG has a number of subsidiaries, including metaverse game company XYZZY, blockchain game studio Wild Thunder, digital marketing and startup company Rook Digital, NFT data company Hidden Whales, and blockchain investment agency DIG Foundation, among others. The P2E massively multiplayer online role-playing game Realms of Ethernity and the kart racing game Kart Racing League are jointly created by its subsidiaries XYZZY, Wild Thunder and Rook Digital.

Although the current encryption market is in a cold winter, DIG is still working contentedly. Snape said that he positions himself as a Web3 Builder, and the core concept of DIG is also Build, and the bear market is a good opportunity for growth and development. DIG has been cooperating with leading investors and expert consultants in the industry to ensure a solid foundation and a safe start when undertaking new projects. When financing a new project is required, usually DIG can obtain the required funds through the project itself.

"There are many opportunities in the blockchain industry, but we only do what we are sure of and can succeed, and we are more willing to cooperate with long-term investors who are optimistic about long-term value."

Dubai will become a global crypto hub in 10-20 years

The United Arab Emirates has been one of the most supportive and embracing blockchain countries in the world. According to local news reports in the UAE, the country is home to more than 1,400 blockchain and crypto startups with a combined valuation of AED90 billion ($24.5 billion). More than 90 investment funds and 12 business incubators are also supporting the country's digital industry, according to government data.

For Snape, which is headquartered in Dubai, he is particularly confident in this new blockchain capital. Snape said that, frankly speaking, Dubai is still very "young" compared to established technology centers, but such a "young" Dubai still attracts so many blockchain companies, investors and industry experts. "The UAE is a land of opportunities, with unlimited potential and possibilities for entrepreneurs and investors."

Of course, the success of Dubai’s encryption industry cannot be separated from the support of the government. Snape pointed out that in Dubai, companies like DIG have many opportunities to communicate and communicate with government officials and key policy decision makers, making Dubai a very suitable environment for blockchain business. At the same time, Dubai is also actively learning from some existing encryption gathering centers, drawing on its strengths, avoiding mistakes, and striving to create a real safe haven for entrepreneurs and investors.

"In a maximum of 10 to 20 years, I believe Dubai will become the encryption center of the world. In the future, Dubai will become the Silicon Valley of the encryption industry."

While based in Dubai, Snape is also looking at the world. Looking at the subsidiaries of DIG, XYZZY is located in Miami, USA, Wild Thunder is in Vietnam, Rook Digital is in the Philippines, and there is a blockchain development company in India. Regarding China, Snape also emphasized that it would be a huge mistake not to enter the Chinese market. Currently, DIG is also actively looking for cooperation opportunities in China.

It is worth mentioning that DIG is very concerned about the Southeast Asian market. According to Snape, Southeast Asia is a booming market with a large population base and a young population structure, and has a strong interest in nascent technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency.

"Young people are willing to understand and recognize the value of blockchain, and they are also willing to try new things, which is very good for the development of Web3. More and more entrepreneurs and investors are flocking here .”

NFT, games, DeFi - the troika driving the development of DIG

NFT, games, and DeFi are the core businesses of DIG. Snape also has his own thinking and practice on the development of the three fields.

For Gamefi, which has been on fire for the past two years, Snape believes that Gamefi is the next stage of game evolution and has become the most popular and hottest concept in the current game and blockchain industries. It will completely change the $175 billion global electronics industry. game market. P2E games allow players to earn money while playing, and the time invested in the game can be converted into income, which has brought several rounds of upsurge. With the addition of more and more capital, users, and developers, the game interactivity and mechanism are constantly upgraded. The excellent game experience and high-degree-of-freedom in-game economic system will usher in rapid development in the Gamefi field.

In fact, DIG has really put a lot of effort into Gamefi. In addition to the aforementioned Realms of Ethernity and Kart Racing League, the metaverse game platform Black Magic Network is also a major product of DIG. The platform includes governance tokens that enjoy BMC revenue sharing, NFT dApp ecology, game studios, markets, DEX aggregators, Launchpad, and wallets. It integrates the three major areas of NFT, games, and DeFi.

In terms of NFT, I have to mention the cooperation between XYZZY, a subsidiary of DIG, and BRON Digital in the United States. BRON Studios is a Canadian film company established in 2010. It is a subsidiary of BRON Media Company. It has participated in the production of many well-known films such as "Joker" and "Super Expendables", and has won 32 Oscar nominations And won 6 times. "Gossamer" is an animation series produced by BRON, with a total of 8 episodes and each episode is 30 minutes long. XYZZY will cooperate with it to launch related NFTs, with a total of 10,000, including various characters in the play. At the same time, the two parties are also advancing the P2E game based on the play. This also makes "Gossamer" the first batch of dramas to appear simultaneously in the TV, cinema, and Web3 worlds.

Finally, for DeFi, Snape believes that in order for DeFi to become a real competitor of traditional finance, it must solve security issues and ensure the safety of users' funds is fully guaranteed. Despite the current downturn, DeFi is by no means a flash in the pan. It will continue to stimulate innovation in the industry, allowing more existing market infrastructure to rethink the current system and continuously improve efficiency.

"The development of DeFi is unstoppable. The bear market just screens out those unqualified products or applications, so as to welcome excellent products that are more suitable for the market. What we have to do now is to build together. The crypto winter will eventually pass."