Is there anyone who wouldn’t like to visit Australia to grab some sun, immerse in nature, AND hang out with OCM holders? We don’t think so, and we are still amazed by all the stories and experiences brought by Metagood co-founders Amanda Terry and Bill Tai, who had an awesome time in Australia in December and attended 2 incredible conferences there to rep OCM and the DAO.
ACTAI Global: Great Barrier Reef Experience
Our first stop was The Great Barrier Reef Experience, organized by OCM community member and WAVIA co-founder Lisa Andrews for ACTAI Global, a community of Athletes, Conservationists, Technologists, Artists and Innovators (hence the acronym) supporting ocean conservation and economic empowerment via entrepreneurship. The event was focused on the Australian Great Barrier Reef conservation, sustainability, and local innovation in Queensland.
Amanda Terry sharing the story of OnChainMonkey with ACTAI Global attendees
ACTAI Global Great Barrier Reef recap video
We had dinner with Julia Spicer, the Chief Entrepreneur of Queensland, who is tasked with helping founders take their first steps to get their business off the ground, working with government and industry to identify valuable problems that can be solved with innovation, and connecting talent to companies and creating a supportive environment. She spoke about fostering innovation locally in an inclusive manner with Traditional Owners.
Bill Tai and Amanda Terry met with Julia Spicer, the Chief Entrepreneur of Queensland
We brought a custom-made OCM Karma kiteboard designed by OCM member Dave Heavyside and made by Holy Wolf Kiteboards. Holy Wolf makes only a limited number of kiteboards a year (less than 50!), and they found the time to make this beautiful masterpiece funded by the OCM DAO. This sustainable kiteboard is 100% hand-crafted using natural fabric and water-based colors and is going to be auctioned, with the proceeds going to Redkite, Australia’s leading childhood cancer support charity. We’ll share more info about this auction in 2023.
Bill Tai rocking the OCM Karma Kiteboard. Photo: Hayley Neil
We also were able to share more information about the OnChainMonkey DAO and all the great things our community monkeyed about with this year in a panel about “Cutting Edge Conservation and Economic Empowerment” at the Cairns Aquarium. Amanda gave examples of how OnChainMonkey NFT trading revenues have been able to help conservation causes, including funding coral reef restoration in partnership with Coral Vita Conservancy and projecting Alexis André’s NFTs on the Armadillo building during COP26 to inspire a billion people to solve the climate change crisis (see video here).
Amanda and Bill speaking on a panel about cutting edge conservation and OnChainMonkey at the Cairns Aquarium
Metagood will be launching a generative NFT collaboration with Alexis André in 2023, where a portion of proceeds will go toward climate activism. Amanda also shared the origin story of Metagood, when Bill Tai collaborated with Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou to create a special CryptoKitty called Honu Kitty (which stands for “turtle cat” in Hawaiian) that was auctioned off at the Necker Blockchain Summit. The proceeds were then donated to Captain Paul Watson to park a Sea Shepherd boat off the coast of Antigua to protect a turtle nesting area.
Bill Tai’s OCM kite
We also toured a Living Coral Bio Bank, which houses over 170 coral species and was created by marine biologist and founder of the 501c3 Great Barrier Reef Legacy Dr. Dean Miller. We learned that there are roughly 6,000 coral species, and 600 of them live in the Great Barrier Reef, which is showing unexpected but positive signs of “regeneration” despite the threat of climate change. We met and heard from the “godfather of coral,” Dr. Charlie Vernon, who has discovered over 20% of the world’s coral species, about how mass bleaching events have impacted corals globally and how the Great Barrier Reef Legacy is working with Traditional Owners in Cairns and Port Douglas (72 clan groups) to implement this simple and innovative solution of coral biobanking, i.e., taking coral samples, then regrowing and planting corals, to address one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues which have direct links to human-induced climate change and economically empower those local communities.
Dr. Dean Miller speaking about coral reef restoration at the Cairns Aquarium
Bill Tai with his new kangaroo friend. Photo: Hayley Neil
To wrap up this part of the trip, we visited several organizations working on the preservation of the coral reef and Australian fauna and flora. This drives home everything about why OCM matters – being a force for good starts with protecting our nature and oceans!
West Tech Fest
Straight from the ACTAI Global event, we headed to Perth to join the West Tech Fest Event, a premier tech festival providing opportunities for the local startup and tech community to connect with and hear from global leaders as they share insights into how to grow a successful business.
Bill spoke about Trends for 2023 and had a chance to share more about the amazing work of the OCM DAO at the Powerledger offices: “I’m very proud of the work we’re doing at Metagood. The OCM DAO is really cool and scalable. It’s a way to administer a pool of funds in a decentralized way. Imagine every person in this room holds an OnChainMonkey NFT. From the trading revenues of our NFTs, we can all propose, deliberate, and vote on how these funds will be used. It could be charitable giving, building businesses, or supporting artistic endeavors. This type of structure is essentially creating a large and growing community of interests where you have, at a micro level, the ability just to do good things in an accretive fashion.”
Amanda Terry joined the panel Web3 Forecast – Digital Trends Today Shaping The Future of Tomorrow to talk more about how Web3 communities are empowering creators and building decentralized ecosystems with the president and co-founder of Infinite Reality Rodric David, CTO and co-founder of Ninja Syndicate John Nguyen, and founder and managing director of Pentanet Stephen Cornish. Amanda spoke on the impact the OCM DAO has made in its first season and OCM’s unique bananas economy, which rewards our community for active participation in our Discord and Twitter channels.
Amanda Terry speaking at the West Tech Fest event. Photo: Hayley Neil
Just before we headed to Australia, Bill also shared more info on his prior investments from Australia, including Canva, Powerledger, Liven and Safety Culture with Elise Shaw from Forbes Australia as their cover story- check it out here!
West Tech Co-Founders Bill Tai and Paula Taylor on a Fireside Chat
Metagood investor Gigi Brisson, Metagood chairman and co-founder Bill Tai, main organizers of West Tech Fest: Paula Taylor, Larry Lopez, Rohan McDougall, and Metagood COO and co-founder Amanda Terry
Bill and Amanda also heard from and met Peter Vesterbacka, the founder of Rovio (Angry Birds creator) and Slush, one of the largest tech festivals in Europe. They shared the OCM story with him and gifted him a hat and !RISE socks.
Bill Tai and Amanda Terry with Peter Vesterbacka, founder of Rovio (Angry Birds) and Slush
West Tech Fest was definitely an OCM hangout – we had the chance to connect with Metagood investors Gigi Brisson in addition to community members Grace Wong, co-founder of Liven, Laurie Ann Wofford, founder of Mosaic, and Christina Gerakiteys, founder of Singularity University Australia.
Bill Tai and OCM holder Grace Wong, Co-Founder of Liven, on a panel
Bill Tai after his panel at West Tech Fest with Amanda Terry, Grace Wong of Liven along with Mosaic founder Laurie Ann Wofford, and founder of Singularity University Australia Christina Gerakiteys, who are all OCM holders
OCM Worldwide
We are proud that in a little more than a year, our OCM Community was able to make an impact globally, both online and in the real world! The last day of their trip was Rotto Tech Fest, held on Rottnest Island, which sits just offshore from the city of Perth and is a protected nature reserve. The theme was “Decarbonizing our Future and Tech Solutions on the Road to Net Zero.”
Australian First Nations Group Koolagka’s Kreate performed a traditional Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country on the beach
Bill Tai and Metagood Investor Gigi Brisson, Founder of Ocean Elders discussing ocean conservation
OCM Holders met in Australia! Photo: Coert Du Plessis
OCM Holders met in Australia! Photo: Coert Du Plessis
Our next IRL meet up will be a collaboration with Bright Moments in their Berlin Gallery, where OCM and other generative artists part of the OCM community will be displayed Jan 12-18. Meet up will be held on Jan 12, 6-9pm!
Thank you all for an amazing 2022 – we can’t wait to continue doing well and doing good with our growing community in 2023!
To stay up to date with OnChainMonkey, tune into our Instagram and Twitter!
A quokka, a small wallaby-like marsupial which lives on Rottnest Island
If you’re interested in joining us, check out the available OCMs for sale on OpenSea, Mintable, and Nifty Gateway. Our holders receive exclusive invites to IRL and online events to meet other impact-minded technologists, investors, celebrities, and more in our members-only Discord.