When asked how he would spend his HK$8 million (approximately US$1 million), technology entrepreneur Yat Siu said he would invest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), i.e. digital assets that exist on the internet such as videos. A work of art or photograph authenticated using blockchain technology, said to invest in an alternative asset.
“I think of them as repositories of digital culture. Things used to illustrate fashion and art. Some of them are worth millions of dollars,” Yat says. “[An NFT] It speaks to who I am and the kind of culture I want to promote. It speaks to my identity. ”
Yat is the executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, a unicorn company founded in Hong Kong in 2014 as an app for mobile game developers.
Currently, the company is at the forefront of creating digital property rights for gamers using blockchain technology, giving individuals full ownership of their assets, capital, and importantly, ownership of their data. I'm giving.
“The truth is, life is a game unto itself, but for most people life is not designed very well,” he says. “But in the Metaverse, we can create new types of experiences that actually mimic life itself, perhaps with better or fairer rules for everyone.”
Jat grew up in Austria and trained as a classical musician before taking a job at Atari, the German company that led the video game market in the 1970s and '80s. “My journey started in his 1980s,” he says.
“The first wave of the Internet was a mass movement of people. They made friends online and started businesses online. It was interesting to see it spread from the screen to the rest of the world. It attracted people like others who helped found the movement.”
Mr. Yat moved to Hong Kong in 1995 and founded several technology startups that led to Animoca Brands.
His entrepreneurial spirit has earned him numerous awards, including selection as a member of the Hong Kong government's Web3 Development Task Force, a virtual next-generation version of the internet that will be decentralized and decentralized using blockchain and similar technologies. I received an award.
Yat says they were able to enter the market early and grow because the market was not yet developed 20 or 30 years ago. “But today we often find ourselves in the innovation stage, because in technology we are not necessarily riding the wave, we are creating it,” he says.
“The only way to make that happen is to invest in founders who have a similar vision and who are leading the way and shaping the field,” he says, adding that human ingenuity is time-consuming. He added that this is the only thing that cannot be done. “If you can find the right people, it’s worth the long-term investment, whether it takes five years or a lifetime.”
For him, wealth means good health. “I think it's good for the mind and in some ways it's good for the soul,” he says. “I feel like the work we're doing is pure benefit to the world. And that to me is a kind of wealth.”
Watch the video to learn more about Yat's thoughts on new technology, making an impact, and his own well-being.
