Quidd AMA Summary Recap with Shin Chan Community
We held a live AMA with CEO, Michael Bramlage from Quidd on 25th October 10:00 PM (UTC+8). Here’s the recap for those who missed it.
Introduction
JH | ShinChan: Before the ama start, can you please introduce yourself and the team background?
Michael Bramlage: I’m Michael Bramlage, CEO and Co-Founder, of Quidd Inc. I’ve been working on Quidd for 5 years already. Before Quidd, I have spent 4 years in The Topps Company which is best known as leading producer of sports and pop culture trading cards and collectibles. (That’s where I learned collectibles). I’ve also spent a total of 8 years in Nokia and Microsoft as Head of Product and Lead Product Manager respectively. (That’s where I learned software development!).
JH | ShinChan: Could you please tell us about Quidd in short, and Is there anything you can share us the update/news from Quidd?
Michael Bramlage: Quidd is the world’s first — yes first — marketplace for digital collectibles and NFTs, launching in 2016…. Today, Quidd has over 7,000,000 registered digital collectors buying and selling digital collectibles from 325 of the world’s best brands, including Disney, Marvel, Rick And Morty, Game Of Thrones, and the NBA. On Quidd, our collectors can buy, hold, and sell their digital collectibles — off-chain — or they can choose to mint their digital collectibles on-chain, to their blockchain of choice.
Well, we’re launching the QUIDD Token… The QUIDD Token is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. It is the official and native token of the Quidd community and will be used, spent, and staked by our vast network of collectors, creators, and developers.
JH | ShinChan: 💰4 DAYS LEFT to be whitelisted in our upcoming token presale in Animoca Brands Launchpad!
⏰Don’t miss out the chance to get in early on $QUIDD token!
1️⃣Log into https://t.co/nrww2Fcsn1
2️⃣Verify your ID https://t.co/NxMgnljM35
3️⃣Refer the event to your friends
Good luck!!🚀
2 DAYS LEFT to be whitelisted in the QUIDD Token token presales in Animoca Brands Launchpad
AMA Twitter Section Begins:
Q1: Collectibles markets collapse when item value is diminished. And nothing can diminish value faster or more severely in a collectibles market quite like a gross misalignment of supply and demand. How will Quidd protect its users from these market downturns?
Michael Bramlage: In two ways. First, is supply. Over-supply can saturate a collectibles market, stealing spending from the secondary market (for the primary market), decreasing demand for secondary market collectibles, and generally depressing secondary market prices. It’s simple, the more that is produced of a scarce good, the less valuable it is. The QUIDD Token will allow token-holders to shape and influence “new supply decisions” so that if the community of token-holders feels that there is enough supply in circulation, new supply can be “cut off.”
Second, has to do with burning of collectibles. QUIDD Token will be earnable through burning of collectibles in circulation. This will create pressure to reduce collectibles supply over time, helping to ensure a maintenance of floor price, even if demand is diminished (as what naturally happens in any asset).
Big picture, Quidd has been around, in operation, for 5 years and will continue for AT LEAST another 95 years. It’s a very long-range play, as collectibles, like antiques, or fine wine, or fine art, lasts a long time, gets better with age, and, inevitably, will go through up and down cycles. The team here at Quidd is playing the long game and is seasoned enough to know that things move in cycles and is thoughtful enough to design it tokenomics to benefit the collector in both good cyles and bad cycles….
Q2: The NFT market is currently facing a large number of counterfeits. How do you plan to address this issue at Quidd to ensure that no user is scammed in any way? What strategy do you use to assure customers that no copies appear on your market?
Michael Bramlage: Thanks! When you think of digital collectibles and NFT marketplaces, it’s helpful to think of the moderation differences on iOS (App Store) and on Android (Google Play Store). Google Play Store has a “publish first, moderate later” policy, with the Apple App Store carefully reviews the app or game that is submitted to ensure it doesn’t cause harm, isn’t buggy, is fully-licensed, and generally hits a “high bar” for quality….
Quidd is more like the Apple App Store in this instance. Every digital collectible that has ever been published on the Quidd marketplace (and is owned and tradeable in circulation by our collectors) is officially-licensed and approved by the underlying, active rights-holder…
In fact, collectors can see this “stamp of official-licensing” on both the artwork of the digital item (look at the back of the card) and in the “Info” section of each item’s product detail page.
So…the art and brand and character is LEGIT.
The other vector for counterfeiting is in the “volumes that have been produced” per item. Quidd — well before NFTs — was individually-serializing each item it sold and providing explorers for the community to verify non-duplication of these stamps (when something is a #1 it is the ONLY #1) as well as to verify that there are only “X copies” of the item.
We are very proud of the advanced measures we’ve taken to prevent counterfeiting — we control publishing of collectibles and we give the community the tools to verify inventory counts. To date, we’ve never printed 501 of an item and said there are only 500. It’s technically impossible for us!
Q3: I read that one of the problems you are looking to solve is that off-chain digital collectibles have been more in demand than NFT, but is this really a problem? is it simply because these collectibles can be easily plagiarized which would be solved by tokenizing them right?
Michael Bramlage: In 2020, the video game industry generated $155,000,000,000 in revenue, much of it coming from the purchase of in-game virtual goods, sold as “legendary”, “ultra rare”, and “rare” collectibles…
So, many many many people are spending TONS of money on off-chain virtual items, game assets, and digital collectibles…
So the real question is: how do you bring all this activity ON-CHAIN?
And in that regard, the real problem we’re solving isn’t counterfeiting or plagiarizing, it’s really about securing “true digital ownership” for the person that owns the digital object. To do that, we think it best to issue and sell digital collectibles to collectors off-chain first, and THEN allow the collector to mint them on-chain if they so choose.
And this is a VERY unique strategy, that Quidd almost does exclusively. We think the next billion NFT collectors will first own a digital collectible off-chain, see it rise in value, and then say, “wow, this JPEG is really valuable, how can I preserve and protect this value…well, I better mint it on-chain as an NFT” — so the NFT adoption model puts the minting process a little later in the funnel. In doing this, the point of friction comes later, but it comes with a HUGE RECOGNIZABLE BENEFIT, which is that the collector already has something valuable, and just wants to protect it by minting it on-chain as NFT.
Q4: The $QUIDD Token is the official utility token for the #Quidd community of collectors, creators, and developers. So can you mention what are the other uses of $QUIDD here? And how are utility tokens essential instruments to nurture & grow NFT communities?
Michael Bramlage: The $QUIDD Token will be…
- earned by community members for positive contributions to the community (helping out other members, providing liquidity, annotating our catalog, recruiting new collectors, etc.)
- spendable in our aftermarket, so a seller may pay less in sales fees if they list and sell in $QUIDD as opposed to fiat
- spendable to cover gas fees for minting
- stakable in our marketplace to unlock additional collector services, like seller’s tools, early access, etc.
- vote-able as ways to shape and influence future supply (in order to protect current or future items in circulation)
(And that’s just a few uses in app!).
Q5: Hi friends, I saw a notification that you are looking for some new team members, I am very ready to be a member of your team. So, what positions can I apply for? Is there a specific Ethics I must follow? And what work experience are you looking for?
Michael Bramlage: Yes! We are actively hiring and plan to double our team in 90 days. We work hard so it’s not easy, but join us if you are up for a very rewarding journey… We are 100% remote and prefer to work across multiple time zones. If interested, see roles and apply here: https://jobs.lever.co/quidd
Telegram Live AMA Begins:
Q6: Most investors focus only on the short-term price rather than the real value of the project. Can you tell about the long-term benefits for investors in the project?
Michael Bramlage: 1/ collecting is a universal human behavior. we ALL do it everywhere around the world, in large part because it is ingrained in our DNA. so, it’s a big opportunity
2/ the primary “format” for collecting (like the primary format for money) is changing from physical to digital, from cardboard and plastic to code.
3/ eventually, the world will wake up to this, and their collecting “itch” will be “scratched” by something digital, something that only exists behind the glass screen on their phone. NFTs, today, bear this out.
4/ Quidd is ruthlessly long-term focused, and is building the best tools and incentives for its collectors to make the community the best and biggest it can be.
5/ The $QUIDD Token has a long-term focus as well. It is THE instrument to empower our collectors, and help the collectors grow Quidd over the next many decades.
NET: we are playing a very long game, and it is just the beginning!
Q7: How old is Your project? What are the major plans ahead? Could you show to us image of your roadmap?
Michael Bramlage: We’ve been operating for 5 YEARS, before CryptoKitties and NFTs even existed. The next 3 months will bring radical new functionality to our marketplace, driving up liquidity of our digital collectibles and enabling collectors to store them PERMANENTLY on the blockchain. Our very next feature is Wishlists, enabling interested buyers to send “demand signals” to owners prompting them to list to their in-demand items for sale!
Q8: Why should people trust the Quidd platform and invest their savings? What are you doing for the privacy and security of your users? Have you passed the AUDIT, do you have a report, if any, can you share it with us?
Michael Bramlage: We will continually earn your trust. Looking backward, here is some evidence to our trustworthiness:
- operating for 5 years
- Sequoia Capital invested in our Series A, Animoca Brands acquired us (Animoca is a leader in blockchain gaming and NFTs, with many successful token projects under their belt)
- we are trusted digital collectibles partners of major media companies, like Sony, HBO, Warner Bros., with many more to come!
- our community entrusts us to store their off-chain collectibles for them, and they entrust us with their spending on these collectibles (7 MILLION people have collected on Quidd)
- our engineering team doesn’t quit; we’ve released a lot of compelling functionality over the course of 2021, and the pace isnt’ slowing; oh, and two-factor authentication is coming in our next release
- we’re ramping up marketing spend, aggressively, in Q1 2021 to bring the Quidd marketplace, and our off-chain to on-chain NFTs to the world…
Q9: From which market, the Digital Collectibles are issued on Quidd?
What makes them valuable?
Michael Bramlage: They are officially-licensed, they feature your favorite brand or characters, they are limited-edition, they are individually-serialized, they cannot be replicated or coutnerfeited, they can be used to complete sets/rank/unlock even rarer items, many of them can be minted on-chain for permanence or even greater on-chain portability…
Q10: Could you give us details of when will be the launching of $QUIDD? Will there be any fundraising event? Which are the official channels to buy $QUIDD nowadays?
Michael Bramlage: We will be doing an NFT voucher sale very soon … to get your spot in line for a chance at the NFT (which can be redeemed for $QUIDD in the future), sign-up for our whitelisting campaign here: https://gleam.io/k6BC8/10000-quidd-giveaway-contest-v2
Q11: I understand that $QUIDD will be your native token and will help drive the economy within the ecosystem, but within the Quidd Marketplace will it be the only payment method? Or will the use of fiat money still be available?
Michael Bramlage: Our collectors will continue to be able to use a mix of transactional currencies. It’s really up to the seller the currency they want to receive in return for the digital collectible/NFT…
Q12: Quidd seems to serve mostly off-chain works and collectors. How do you plan to attract fans who don’t have money or don’t understand art but want to invest and make money?
Michael Bramlage: We think the best way to introduce no-coiners to NFTs is through officially-licensed digital collectibles that are low-cost, easy-to-get, and fun-to-collect … once their fall in love with their collectible and see that it has value, naturally they will want to protect it — ENTER THE BLOCKCHAIN. It’s an adoption model where the collector MAKES it an NFT because they already value it. This allows us to attract a much wider range of people and get more digital collectibles in the hands of billions of people.
-END-
