Luis Buenaventura is the country manager of Yield Guild Games Philippines, a startup bringing metaversal income to emerging economies. Besides that, he is also a co-founder of BloomX, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange.
💼 What were you doing before Web3?
I’ve been a tech entrepreneur since the mid-2000s. However, I discovered crypto in 2014, back when it was just called the “Bitcoin industry”. Eventually, I ended up founding my own crypto company, BloomX, which was one of the first startups to receive a crypto exchange license from the BSP.
🤔 How did you get into Web3?
I accidentally became one of the world’s first NFT artists back in 2017, so I suppose my web3 experience began before the term “Web3” was even coined. Technically I didn’t really start focusing on web3 until 2021 though, when I joined YGG as the Philippine country manager.
🚀 What was your first crypto or NFT project?
The world’s first example of NFTart was MyCurioCards, which is the project that I was part of back in 2017. It’s still actively traded to this day, with nearly 40,000 ETH in trading volume.
🧠 How would you explain what you do to someone outside of Web3?
I think my most important role these days is to act as an evangelist or ambassador for these various web3 concepts, so I basically just tell them that I help people navigate this new world.
💡 Which creator or thought leader do you enjoy learning from?
I follow a lot of conflicting voices online because I’m trying to understand as many sides of an argument as possible. So for example I follow Saifedean Ammous, Erik Voorhees, and Eric Wall. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen those three guys agree on anything.
🥳 What is the biggest highlight of your career so far?
When Typhoon Odette hit the Philippines, a very young YGG Pilipinas team (we were only 3 months old at the time) kicked off a crypto fundraiser that ended up amassing over $1.5M in donations from web3 projects and communities all over the world. We were able to use the funds to extend financial assistance to thousands of affected households and dozens of NGOs.
📈 What tech or crypto trend are you watching this year?
I’ll talk about non-crypto trends here because I do have a few other interests outside of this space. The first trend is of course consumer-grade AI, which everyone is talking about.
We’re nearing the peak of AI hype, which means that we’ll likely see a big drop in the next year when people realize that we haven’t figured out how to break through the limitations of LLMs.
The second trend is personal electric vehicles, which include e-scooters, e-skateboards, and my personal favorite, the electric unicycle or EUC. With EUCS, you can travel at 35kph or higher on basically any road (paved or not), and then roll your vehicle into an office or a restaurant and then just keep it under the table while you’re there.
It’s such a game-changer for folks with short commutes (<10km) because it virtually eliminates problems like parking, traffic congestion, and costs less than 150 pesos in electricity per month if you’re charging it every other day.
🤝 What advice would you give someone starting out in Web3?
Check out our Web3 educational platform at YGG Metaversity!
🎤 If you could do a TEDtalk on any topic, what would it be?
So many different topics! But off the top of my head: crypto, NFTart, startup entrepreneurship, the carnivore lifestyle, EUCs, etc.
🚨 What is the one thing you would bring if you were stuck on a deserted Island?
A starlink hub so I could call for help!
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.
