POW with Tai-Ku Chen

Tai-ku Chen is the Founder and CEO of FANSI, a music NFT launchpad and also Metaboom NFT, a web3 music player with tokenimics that provide liquidity to your music NFTs.

 What were you doing before Web3?

I’m a long time serial tech entrepreneur passionate about utilizing technology to effectively organize the power of the crowd to accomplish common goods. Right now I focus on utilizing web3 to help music artists to include their community in their growth and co-build their career paths.

 How did you get into Web3?

I first heard about bitcoin back in 2013 but didn’t really think it would be a thing. Then in early 2017 due to the ICO craze I started to dig into the tech fundamentals and realized it is a new internet and new economy, that’s why and when I jumped into the rabbit hole.

 What was your first crypto or NFT project?

ETH is my first cryptocurrency, and “NFT Yourself” music album NFT by Kings of Leon was my first NFT collection.

 How would you explain what you do to someone outside of Web3?

You pay to listen to music on Spotify without having any relationship with artists you like, but here you earn by listening to and promoting the music you like while building a unique relationship with artists.

 Which creator or thought leader do you enjoy learning from?

I love Bankless podcast, it is one of the main sources for my crypto news and perspectives. I also enjoyed many speeches and contents from Andreas Antonopoulos, lay out a pretty solid fundamental view as how to evaluate the impact of blockchain technology.

 What is the biggest highlight of your career so far?

We still hold the 2nd highest sales record in Mandarin-Pop music NFTs.

 What tech or crypto trend are you watching this year?

I’m very excited about ERC-6651 that gives each NFT an identity to execute other web3 applications and hold tx history. This adds more value to NFTs other than simply flip in price. I’m also excited to see more user-friendly wallet solutions to help on board non crypto savvy users, ERC-4337 (Account Abstraction) might be a way to go.

 What advice would you give someone starting out in Web3?

Don’t do it if you just want to make quick bucks. Web3 is a marathon, all the get rich quick stories you heard of are fake or fraud.

 If you could do a TED talk on any topic, what would it be?

“Stop listening to speech and start doing it.”.

 What is the one thing you would bring if you were stuck on a deserted Island?

Starlink.

POW stands for “Proof of Work.” It is a new feature article series in The Mega Maxi to highlight the savviest builders in the Web3 space.