Drifters in the Metaverse with Josie Bellini
On this week's episode of MARS, Matthew & Rizzle are joined by the legendary crypto artist & onchain builder Josie Bellini (https://x.com/josiebellini). The trio kicks the show off by digging into all things Drifters (https://x.com/tpldrifters), Josie's new Metaverse Avatar-focused 3D collectible project that is a related follow-up to her previous ongoing on-chain project, CyberBrokers. Drifters is set to launch on Wednesday, May 14th, at 2:00 PM CDT (UTC-5) on http://tpldrifters.com. After discussing the rich and layered details that have gone into Drifters, the conversation turns into a long-time catch-up, with the trio recounting past IRL and URL adventures with a legendary cast of characters - many widely known and others, local legends. This episode will give you a healthy dose of bleeding-edge new balanced with a nostalgic look back at the origin of the metaverse. For those craving more of the latter, check out this throwback interview with Josie from 2020: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/7frUyLB7lTb. Shout-outs & Shots-fired: @cyberbrokers_ @josiebellini @cryptovoxels @rogerdickerman @bryanbrinkman @ethereum @hyperfy_io @nifty_island @vrchat @joydotworld @xcopyart @bananakin @osinachiart @scrillaventura @coldie @monaverse @oncyber @moneyalotta @superrare @bitcoin @base @cybourgeoisie @cartar_l @Benjythebee @brookemelissa1 @trello @frontfutur @artbasel @twobadour @metapurse @dutchtide
Green Shoots on the Purple App Amidst Crypto Craziness
On last week's episode of MARS (originally recorded Feb. 12, 2025), Matthew & Rizzle confirmed the crypto space is still in a bi-polar state of craziness. While a large portion of the space has chosen to stay in the soul-crushing high-frequency trading casino that is shitcoins, there is an infectious spirit of building spreading throughout the purple app. The Warpcast Wallet beta is out in the wild, Bracket is gearing up for March Madness after a successful airdrop end to the NFL Season, $350M in dry powder is just chilling in FID-associated wallets, Farcade is proving to be an addicting min-app for quick simple game sessions, and Rebase.Finance is one of the most powerful yet simple DeFi primitives in the space. Opensea customer support even caught a shout-out. p.s. Apologies for the late post; Matthew got hit with a snowstorm that threw off recording times. We'll be back Wednesday with a new episode. Shout-outs & Shots-fired: @samspratt @warpcast_ @rainbowdotme @metamask @bracket_fi @nfl @rebaserefi @podsdotmedia @base @dwr @ethereum @solana @bluesky @farcade_ai @polymarket @toxsam @opensea @dfinzer @luchopoletti @buildtree_io @niftygateway @knownorigin_io @makersplace @superrare @rarible @skeenee_art @baybackner @decentraland @ashconnell @hyperfy_io @artacleio @supahmarbler @memeexplorers @forceshidden @cryptovoxels @KimboNFT @itsreallyshow @MuseumofCrypto @metaverserick @voxvienne
Tales From Lisbon & Cryptoart Round Tripping
On this week's episode of MARS, Rizzle kicks things off recounting everything that went down in Lisbon last week during the NFC Summit. There are literally too many shout outs so you're going to have to listen in to hear your name dropped. After giving Matthew a heroic dose of reverse fomo, Matthew wrapped up the episode with a reference to a recent tweet* from Pascal Boyart about now being the second best time since 2018-2019 to collect cryptoart. Another way of saying that could be that cryptoart has round tripped back better. *tweet: https://x.com/pascalboyart/status/1797965559231062166
Metaverse Differentiation & Lisbon Hype
On this week's episode of MARS, Matthew & Rizzle kick things off showing Sho in soooo much praise. Matthew specifically shouts out last week's Afties soliloquy about the "Infinite Pause" it felt like the majority of the crypto space was stuck in. The conversation jumps into a preview of the WIP this Thursday featuring the Italy-based metaverse project DVERSO that the Vipe crew introduced to all of us last month. DVERSO has been cooking up a cool metaverse project under the radar of a lot of folks, which led Matthew & Rizzle to ponder how (and if) all the metaverse projects that are currently out there can differentiate themselves and strategies that others can adopt in a world of ever increasing same-same-but-different metaverse projects. Right before signing off, Matthew downloads Rizzle on the latest crypto drama courtesy of Yuga Labs and their bungled attempt at launching the Larva Labs Artist Residency (that may have already been sunset?) that was set to feature a paid drop by the stellar artist Nina Chanel exclusively open to Punks holders, that, apparently, most Punks holders neither wanted nor appreciated. FREE CLAIM opportunity for MARS collectors: https://app.manifold.xyz/c/mars
Podcasts are for Back Pats
On this week's episode of MARS, Matthew & Rizzle do some back patting. A lot of it actually. But they aren't patting themselves on the back, well maybe a little. Instead they talk about the platform par excellence that The WIP has become as a stage for highlighting cool, weird things at the bleeding edge of the crypto space, and the spillover effects all of this has had on our personal lives. Shout-outs & Shots-fired: @supahmarbler @memeexplorers @marble_cards @wizardx_0x @kelseydriscoll @0x_Lucas @CollectPods @pfeffunit @farcaster_xyz @dragonateyt @samuelljackson @metageistvr @toxsam @paradoxx_media @Hanrgb @bryanbrinkman @NeuralBricolage @popwondernft @mattkaneartist @ezincr @lukegerbil @skeenee_art @empresstrash @cyberbrokers_
