So I had the chance to chat to the creators behind the brand new marketplace this is a two man team trying to bring a new and old artists into there community and I got the chance to get some information about this project and themselves .
How you guys doing today ?
WaxPunk- Doing great. I'm sitting in sunny Las Vegas.
CollectingCoins™ - All good Here in Windy Virginia and yourself?
Well its 8pm so chilling watching crap on tv in cloudy Dublin lol
CollectingCoins™ Ha ha .
Did you do much work on your project today ?
CollectingCoins™- Never stops my friend.
Of course . Well lets get some background how long you been involved in crypto?
CollectingCoins™ - I left corpo America in December. Went full crypto Jan. 13th 2021. I went full NFT in April creating my first social media account ever (Twitter) . Then got involved in marketing, strategizing and business development with ETHEREUM projects . I have built 3 IRL companies among other things doing the same in the metaverse.
WaxPunk — Similar for me. I was investing in crypto before this year but NFTs is what really drew me in. I saw Topps producing physical Garbage Pail Kid packs with redeemable NFTs back in January and that's what took me down the rabbit hole.
So you were involved in ETH projects first what made join WAX ?
CollectingCoins™ — Ease of use and accessibility for end user price point and barrier of entry as well .
WaxPunk — Coins and I connected when he crossed over to WAX .
CollectingCoins™ — GK was our introduction to each other .
WaxPunk — We were both big fans of what Graffiti Kings was doing on WAX and started chatting one day in their Discord server. Within a few exchanges we had hoped on the phone and were quickly scheming about NFT projects that same night.
Ah and I am guessing a friendship grew ?
CollectingCoins™ — Yes .
So who idea was it for this project ?
CollectingCoins™ — We have the same vision and both love building things so the last 100 days we have been strategizing and game planning AGORA . We literally think out of the same brain it is crazy .
WaxPunk — There have been so many conversations and it’s evolved so much in such a short time that it all blends together at this point. We do have that weird telepathy thing at times even though we’ve never physically met .
What made you think of doing this project ?
WaxPunk — WAX is incredible for the utility and ease of use it provides but just like anything with that great accessibility came a lot of noise that has made it difficult for the talent of certain artists to stand out. People have labeled WAX cheap and discounted the talent of the artists there, but we knew (like ETH) it just need a marketplace to showcase that higher end art and premium talent. That’s how AGORA was born.
So you named the project AGORA where did the name come from ?
CollectingCoins™ — Agora The agora was a central spot in ancient Greek city-states. The literal meaning of the word is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city. Also a marketplace and a place for friends to gather .
WaxPunk — It was the heart of the city, a massive structure where citizens would buy and trade goods as well as meet with friends, engage in political discourse, vote, and even see the likes of Plato and Aristotle exchange ideas.
CollectingCoins™ — Business and Personal .
WaxPunk — The marketplace and the community were the two pillars that everything was built around. We are building the same type of structure for the NFT space.
What do you hope the community gain from your project ?
WaxPunk — We are here to provide a safe space for artists, art enthusiasts, programmers, creators of all kinds, crypto investors and traders, and even complete newcomers with a genuine interest to engage, learn from one another, build businesses, trade art and keep the love of art as the focus.
And will you exclusive artists on there ?
CollectingCoins™ — yes first one is clowns .
https://www.agoraltd.io/presents
Nice have you many artists signed up ?
CollectingCoins™ — Just Oliver Hassell but we are working with Mr. Clever Art as well . We are doing a pack drop this Saturday for him as well as 4 Auctions this week
https://www.agoraltd.io/auctions
WaxPunk — Our auction series has featured several artists . This week we are featuring a 4 part series by Mr. Clever Art in anticipation of a new pack drop happening this Saturday, 08.21.21. last weeks we feature 4 artists from 4 different collections .
CollectingCoins™ — Yes, the Auctions have been going off and even projects making pieces just for the auctions. GK made collab promos for us . We have great support from the community . Especially the ones we helped build from the start Pixel Labs ' , RomanPunks etc....
So you have some big wax hitters getting involved do you hope to retain them selling on AGORA ?
CollectingCoins™ — I will let @WaxPunk take this . But we are bringing projects from ETH as well to launch on WAX and we will eventually become chain agnostic and work with ALL artists. Oliver (The Clowns) has 2 collections on OpenSea. J_Sky another artist in our fold has mostly ETH projects as well. We held a 1/1 wax piece auction for her she did for us last week. I bought it hahahaha. Darren (GK) and I competed on that one hahahhaha
WaxPunk — Of course! We want to develop long term relationships with all of our artists. In terms of how we work with artists currently, we partner with artists on a project by project basis. We find this approach works bests in both supporting the needs of the artist as well as giving them the flexibility and empowerment to create endlessly. We also feature artists in our auction series on a piece by piece basis using a consignment model. AGORA hosts the auction to provide ease and maximum exposure for each piece. Because of this approach we exclusively host auctions for 1/1 editions and #1 mints.
So is part of the project to bring in brand new artists into WAX ?
CollectingCoins™ — Yes sir. New and existing .
WaxPunk — Yes! We of course want to build up existing artists on WAX as well, but a big part of our push is bringing successful artists from ETHEREUM and from the physical art world into the WAX ecosystem.
Of course do you have a big reach in the ETH NFT world ?
CollectingCoins™ — You might could say that I messed with the Picasso Punks and have helped build about 11 Ethereum projects so AGORA is natural. But we can build it the way we want to and select the people and artists we want to work with lots of plans in the pipe . What you see here is about 1% complete . We will be contracting a dev next week to build a native token and give projects we launch utility within our ecosystem .Lots of things like that to come . Mr. Clever Art is going to be our next BIG thing we introduce to the scene.... (The Project we are dropping the packs for this Saturday and the week full of auctions starting tonight )
Ah so this a long term project ? What name would you like to call your token ?
CollectingCoins™ — AGORASTOKENS Will be the contract ?
WaxPunk — AGORA token
CollectingCoins™ — We will have sub tokens on that contract .
WaxPunk — Yes, one service we are excited to offer in the near future is providing collections with the ability to have their own token.
Who actually create AGORA ?
CollectingCoins™ — Both . We are 50/50 partners
I meant who developed and designed the site ?
CollectingCoins™ — we did we setup a wix account and pressed the buttons .
WaxPunk — Currently we don't have a technical lead so we're going with a low tech first approach .
WaxPunk — We're working with atomichub and neftyblocks to facilitate the early stages of our drop process for auctions and new collections.
Of course can we have a link to your site ?
CollectingCoins™ — Here are all of our links
Premium NFTs on WAX and Beyond | Linktree
AGORA is a first of its kind platform elevating crypto-native assets on WAX.
Perfect . So you guys are based either side of America is it hard to communicate sometimes ?
CollectingCoins™ — No sir. We are always on the phone with each other .
WaxPunk — It also helps being able to cover a few extra hours to start and end the day with the difference in time zone between us.
CollectingCoins™ — We have a working schedule but never stick to it always run long I never stop to be honest .
I suppose and I know the feeling of never stopping I think that's because crypto never sleeps . So do you guys have a favorite project ?
CollectingCoins™ — yes but don't tell anyone ****** ** in that order
(I have stared out the names as they are top secret)
WaxPunk — Graffiti Kings was the project that brought us together so they obviously have a special place in our hearts
CollectingCoins™ — Said it more eloquently hahahaha
WaxPunk — Very very excited about Mr. Clever Art and Oliver Hassell. It seems cheesy to say because we're working with them, but to me we are already working with our favorite artists.
Do you collect NFTs and what's the biggest collection in your wallet at the moment?
CollectingCoins™ — We are degens .
WaxPunk — Yes and where do we start ...
CollectingCoins™ — We have it ALLLL I bought 70 something yoshis last night.
WaxPunk — Top two purely by number of pieces I am holding are Graffiti Kings and Yoshidrops .
CollectingCoins™ — GK is by far my biggest collection .
When do you guys hope to meet up in real life ?
CollectingCoins™ — October
Ah do you nicknames for each other ?
WaxPunk — That's actually a great question. We've decided to mostly stick to our online personas for both interviews and in general. You can already see with Twitter that anon personas are growing quickly in influence and as the norm for operating online. If that persona has a body of work and time spent in the space they are recognized for it just like public personas. Yes, and we won't be shying away from live interviews and showing our faces, but that's not the focus for this space.
Of course so tell my something funny that other person doesn't know about you ?
WaxPunk — I was the only boy at my school to do ballet in the 5th grade .
CollectingCoins™ — hahahahhahahaahahhahah
Did you wear the tights ? lol
WaxPunk — I did . Black ones .
CollectingCoins™ — I sold everything and packed 2 bags and left the country on a whim and stayed abroad for 2 years .
Where did you go ?
CollectingCoins™ — All over but mostly South America I have lots of stories but not for text interview hahahahhahah .
I bet
CollectingCoins™ — Save that for when we talk next ha ha ha
Of course . What do guys do to wind down from the made world of crypto?
CollectingCoins™ — I am a heavy cyclist, lift weights ....Peacock around town....Love good food .
WaxPunk — I live in the desert and walk for about 2-3 hours a day in the heat I'm weird .
CollectingCoins™ — ahahahahhahahah .
So give us the low down on the next big drop on AGORA this weekend . When ? How many ? And will it be blendable ?
CollectingCoins™ — Working out burn and blend this week .
Oh brilliant if an artist wants to sign up how they go about it ?
CollectingCoins™ — Direct <Message Either on Twitter or Discord. We also have a contact us form on our website that goes to our email or DM
https://twitter.com/agora_ltd?s=20
Linktree will funnel them in some how . Website is best .
WaxPunk — This will be a very limited drop. The most exclusive drop from Mr. Clever Art on WAX so far. Less than 1000 total packs will be sold.
Brilliant so before we finish up is there anything you want to add or say to the readers ?
WaxPunk — We know a lot of projects talk about community, but it's just that, talk. Our approach with AGORA is to build organically through the relationships we have built. We are hyper aware not just of how early we are in this space, but of the unique time, opportunity, and intersection of great minds we are witnessing. Our entire job is to support those minds, artists, technologists by creating a space that facilitates both business transactions and the ability to build real relationships. Community is not just a tagline, it is a living breathing collection of people who engage and support each other constantly. That is AGORA and we are excited to grow this for many years to come.
That's brilliant I hope you stand by that because a lot of artist can do with that.
CollectingCoins™ — We are here and will be here for the next 50 years . We are building an Empire to leave as our mark on the world. Cheers
Not a problem .
CollectingCoins™ — Have a great evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you it was fun
WaxPunk — Thank you .
Thank you guys for your time .
CollectingCoins™ — Of course .
