Foreword

      Six years ago, in the summer of 2016, my friend Jaeson Ma and I found ourselves at a dinner in Munich, Germany with a couple of the founders of Ethereum. I don't remember exactly what led to our going to this dinner, but I'm glad we did. It was one of the most life-changing meals I've ever had. And I'm not talking about the food, which was good. For me, it was the conversation that was memorable.

      I've always considered myself forward-thinking and a bit of an undercover nerd. But when Stephan Tual (then the CCO of Ethereum) started talking about blockchain and cryptography and digital currency, I'll be honest, it mostly went over my head. I could feel his passion for it, though. I could tell that this team was building something great. And it was clear they were giving Jaeson and me a look into the future.

      As soon as I got back from Germany, I bought my first bit of cryptocurrency.

      The following year when I was filming my documentary The American Meme, I stumbled on another revolutionary technology. I found a company that was doing full-body, 3D scans of celebrities and turning them into digital avatars. Of course, I had myself turned into an avatar.

Honestly, by this time, I was tired of going out and the whole LA scene. So, I built this virtual world where my digital avatar could have a social life, perform DJ sets, and hang out with my friends and fans in VR. I guess you could say that I built my first Metaverse in 2018.

      The next piece of the puzzle—non-fungible tokens (NFTs)—came to me in 2019. The team at Cryptograph approached me to create a piece of digital art that we would auction off and donate the money to charity. Like crypto, the idea of NFTs was hard to understand at first. But once I learned the foundation of the tech and how it made digital ownership possible, I was really curious to try it out.

      So, I drew a picture of my cat, Kitty, on the iPad. We then listed the NFT on Cryptograph in March 2020. And it ended up selling for 40 ETH (which was around $17,000 at the time). As a result, I won the “Best Charity NFT” of 2020 at the NFT Awards, which was super awesome.

      I consider myself genuinely lucky to have found out about these technologies before most people. Not everyone gets this type of access to the innovators or their innovations so early. But I also think about all of the other celebs or brands who were introduced to crypto or NFTs or the Metaverse when I was and didn't do anything about it. They didn't have an open mind and couldn't see how digital life was going to evolve.

      When you have influence, you are supposed to show people what's next. Whether that's social influence or cultural influence, that's your job. We're supposed to be vessels for bringing trends into the mainstream. And I love having that responsibility. I love contributing to the future and setting an example for a better way forward.

      But I also know the value of this power. It's not