How Metabay is using NFTs to help fans connect with their favorite creators
In this article, we sat down with Maxime Berger, CEO of Metabay, to understand how they are bringing NFTs to fanbases in a safe and engaging way with the help of Paper. Before we dive in, here's a little bit about Metabay and Paper:
About Metabay
Metabay is a platform that uniquely connects the communities to their favorite content creators, restoring interactions and proximity between both. Community access to exclusive content, privileged connections, and rewards from the creator’s universe through digital passes.
About Paper
Paper builds NFT on-ramping infrastructure to help developers and brands bridge web2 and web3. Paper enables email-based wallet creation, NFT purchases with credit cards, & gasless transactions for non-crypto native users. To date, Paper has worked with over 2500+ developers and brands and has processed over 220,000 credit card and cross-chain crypto NFT transactions.
Interview with Maxime from Metabay
What was the motivation behind Metabay?
Metabay was born with the ambition to empower communities to get more interaction and proximity with their favorite content creator in an immersive creator-fan experience. We want to give each fan that unique chance.
Why is web3 a fit for what you’re building at Metabay? What can web3 unlock for you and creators that web2 technology cannot?
First, blockchain technology allows the smoothest experience for users to access perks, and be part of a live group chat with the creators. The unicity and authenticity properties abolish a lot of technical setup around the model. Most importantly, for the fans, it comes with great flexibility. Unlike web2 subscription-based models, here the fan is for example free to transfer it or sell it to someone else at any time. In that way, fans are not only buying a subscription but an asset that will always hold value.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced when onboarding more creators into the NFT space?
The word NFT has been suffering from a poor reputation due to scams, phishing, and opportunistic NFT trades on popular marketplaces. Also, the fact that still 90% of the projects created are more or less replicates of those trading collections has shed a negative focus on what NFT & blockchain truly can be used for. We required countless hours of education about the technology and about how our model stands out.
Accessibility and ease of use are crucial when leveraging web3 technology. How are you approaching the widespread adoption of your digital passes?
As you said, we talk about digital passes. It’s like an access key to all the benefits, perks, and rewards from the creator’s universe. We don’t mention the technology: blockchain or NFT because we believe it should be seamless for the users. Instead, we focus purely on the value and the seamless user experience.
What does using Paper mean for Metabay and its creators and consumers?
Paper is key to our strategy of NFT democratization. One of the most critical parts of any business is the checkout funnel. In web 3.0, usual wallets require a lot of technical knowledge while Paper allows us to offer a smooth and easy checkout experience for all users. Being able to pay in a few clicks with common payment methods such as credit cards or Apple & Google Pay is helping a lot of users to still get access to the value and power of our digital passes, with a safe and easy process.
Why should creators be excited about Metabay’s digital passes & where can they learn more?
For creators, it’s a unique opportunity to give back true value to their communities. While monetizing, they will be able to get closer to their communities and identify their 1000 true fans. A strong base that they can leverage when needed. Instead of being dependent on a platform (IG, TikTok, etc) for their audience, they will own direct relationships with them.
What are Metabay’s goals for the future & what excites you most in the near term?
At the moment, we are fully focused on releasing the first few public drops on the platform. We are lucky to work with talented creators who are as committed as us to delivering great experiences and value for fans. Stay tuned, some updates will be announced very soon. ;)
Thanks for reading! If you'd like to learn more about Metabay, visit metabay.co or follow them on Twitter. To learn more about Paper or to get in touch, visit withpaper.com or follow us on Twitter!