Table of Contents
The Interview – With WenAirdrop
Q.1) King, would you like to present yourself – who you are, what is your professional background?
Hi, my name is Marcus, better known in the web3 space as WenAirdrop.
I am currently the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) for MainStreet Finance, an OG DeFi project on BNB Chain and the founder of IHeartDomains (I❤️Domains), a broker/registrar of Web3 domain names.
My professional background prior to web3 has been focused in business development, marketing and brand building. My business and personal connections include many A-List Celebrities and professional athletes such as Danny Green, Rudy Gay, Bryn Forbes, George Hill, Antonio Daniels, Viola Davis and more.
Q.2) How/When did you step into the NFT world?
I entered the NFT space in October of 2021 and began collecting on what was then called the Binance Smart Chain, now BNB Chain.
The BNB NFT space was relatively young and I entered through and still hold many of the OG ‘blue chip” collections such as Non Fungible Apes, Pancake Squads and The Bull Society.
Q.3) When did you first come across the Lazy Lions?
Although a self proclaimed BNB Chain “maxi”, I had always been aware of Lazy Lions as one of the premier blue chip NFT communities on ETH.
I became more personally familiar with the LAZY community during my trip last August to Las Vegas for NFT3. I had just become a minter/holder of a derivative project called Lazy Ape Yacht Club (I know it ain’t the same) and upon meeting some of the influencers behind that project learned more about the project that inspired it.
I grabbed my 1st Lion the day I got back home from Las Vegas.
Q.4) Why choose your identity to be a LazyLion NFT instead of others?
I’m rocking my current PFP, a Gold Chain-Stoner-Zombie, in representation of the Lazy Street King trait group (Gold Chain) started by my friend and CEO of MainStreet.Finance, MAINST Tony aka MainStreetTony.
Q.5) What is the story behind your username?
My username actually came about by accident and a little fun.
I was shopping for NFT domains I could flip from Unstoppable Domains and bought the name wenairdrop.crypto. This was at the height of the bull run right after the ENS airdrop and the question “Wen Airdrop?” was a popular and annoying one in virtually every group I belonged to.
I thought I hit a goldmine and used it as my username just to market it in hopes someone would offer me $ for it. After about a week I decided I liked it too much personally and bought it across every UD extension and have used it since.
Q.6) Is the choice of your username linked to the persona of your Lazy Lions? Tell me more about why you chose that Lion as your PFP / identity?
My Lion represents more of my actual persona than my username.
As mentioned before the gold chain represents the Lazy Street King trait group which was formed to build a bridge and share resources between the LAZY and MAINST communities.
I’ve always been a late-nite degen and Zombies are 🔥 so it’s a favourite trait of mine. I currently also hold a Hornie Zombie.
Lastly the Stoner trait speaks for itself.
Q.7) In the NFT space, what does building mean to you? And what are you currently trying to build?
Building to me is using the resources and connections that the blockchain enables to create solutions that improve something – anything.
For some people, having a solid community is an improvement over the toxicity of everyday life. Those who build communities are important.
For others, tech that makes things easier or automated is an improvement over limited and costly tech.
My focus has been on building fundamentally and financially sound projects that will be long lasting, profitable and provide value into the future. One such project is IHeartDomains.
Q.8) What are the people in the NFT space that have either touched you or you feel are creating an impact?
- MAINST Tony – Tony has undeniably made the biggest impact for me in this space. He was the first person to give me an opportunity professionally in this space and has been a great friend and partner. In addition to that his integrity is something that hasn’t been rivalled by a single person I’ve met in this space either before or after him.
- Ayoo Higgs – His personality and willingness to support, help, build whenever you call on him has been something I’ve cherished. He’s one of the driving forces behind building the relationship between our MainStreet Community and Lazy Lions
Q.9) Apart from the Lazy Lions, are there any other NFT projects that you are bullish on?
MAINST Money Monkeys
Our PFP collection at Mainstreet.Finance is not only your exclusive membership to all that we are building as a collective, but also represents a fractional ownership in our “Banana Bag”, an investment fund we yield farm for community rewards
NFT Domains
I’m bullish on the technology and future of web3 domain names and my personal portfolio contains ENS, Unstoppable, SpaceID, CronosID, Handshake, Decentraweb, Freename and Impervious domain names. I’m especially bullish on the future of IHeartDomains’ .defiwallet domains offered via the Decentraweb dDNS.
Q.10) When choosing an NFT project to mint or to buy from a marketplace, are there any criteria that you have laid down for yourself before you even consider investing your ETH in it?
Contrary to the typical “art first” response the two main things I look for before investing in a project is use-case / utility and relevance/runway.
I want to know that the project is building something that can benefit either me personally or a cause I want to be invested in and I want to know it has the relevance and runway to keep growing.
Aside from that, I’m never buying in at the top, lol.
Q.11) What wallet(s) do you use and recommend?
Primarily MetaMask.
It’s compatible with pretty much everything.
Q.12) Do you like to attend twitter Spaces? Any worthwhile mentions?
Yes, I both attend as well as host Twitter Spaces. My worthwhile mentions are biased but are:
- TECH Talk Twitter Spaces by IHeartDomains x MainStreet every Wednesday at 1:00 PM EST
- LAZY Street Kings Twitter Spaces
- LAZY Zombies Twitter Spaces
- ATS ApeSpaces
Q.13) What are your thoughts on Spaces in general – is there anything you feel that Space creators could improve on?
Spaces for me have been a very convenient and interactive way to stay on top of current events in Web3/Crypto/NFTs.
As a project, we have enjoyed being able to create educational spaces that help drive the value of our project further.
Q.14) What mistake(s) have you made till now that we could learn from?
I think identifying as a “maxi” of a blockchain or project was a mistake I’m glad I’ve since corrected.
In my case, being a BNB Chain Maxi blinded me to tons of opportunities and gains from projects I just never entertained because they weren’t on BNB, like the Lazy Lions.
Being a maxi in an ever changing environment is probably the biggest disservice you can do to yourself.
Q.15) Any message you would like to leave for the people in the NFT ecosystem?
NFTs are at the “discovery of fire” stage and their true potential is only beginning to surface. They aren’t just JPEGs, they are entire communities.
They aren’t just words on the blockchain, they are decentralised identities. Try to embrace projects with real value and stay away from rugs!
Interview With IHeartDomains
You are also the founder of the company named “I Heart Domains” – which is a broker on top of the parent web3 domain provider Decentraweb. I have some questions which I’m sure other people would be curious to know about too.
Q.16) First of all, tell the story about IHeartDomains, what are you trying to achieve with it?
As mentioned earlier in the story of how I got my name, domains have been a big part of my overall web3 journey.
The name IHeartDomains or I❤️Domains, was inspired by the memory of my late mother whose maiden name (and my family name) is Love. Before she passed, I tried everything I could to convince her of the future of crypto and NFTs and the only thing she ever entertained and even minted was a web3 domain. I still and will always hold the domains she purchased just 1 month before she entered heaven.
When the idea of doing something more than just flipping domains in my personal portfolio came about, I attended NamesCon and began building the foundation of the IHeartDomains portfolio by acquiring domains from ANYWHERE that contained the ❤️ emoji.
The 1st focus of IHeartDomains is to build our flagship TLD, .defiwallet, into a super domain with the best of all worlds in terms of utility, commercial marketability, value, security and integrations.
Beyond building the market for our TLD, we have been an influencer and contributor to the overall web3 domain market with educational content, AMAs and our TECH Talk Twitter Spaces. Our focus here is to help build the ecosystem and adoption for digital blockchain identity and become one of its major pioneers.
Q.17) Why should anyone buy a subdomain of .defiWallet VS all the other TLDs brokers – e.g ENS, UD..etc?
There are several reasons which I highlight in the following twitter thread (a screenshot of that thread is below, click on the image to view the large format)
The TLDR is that our value is not only in the name, but in the community resources, education, rewards and vision for growth.
Q.18) Why should anyone buy a subdomain instead of buying their own top-level domain? What’s the pros and cons here?
The answer is that you should buy both. Once you understand the true potential of web3 domains you may become bullish on holding as many as you can, for different reasons.
Also, depending on the TLD and dDNS, Second Level Domain (A) may have larger a market for resale and more utility than where you are able to acquire Top Level Domain (B).
An example is .eth. An SLD from ENS has a larger market, more liquidity and currently has substantially more utility than a TLD from HNS. If you’re a speculator and are flipping domains, diversification is your best bet but if you could only choose one the SLD wins.
On the other hand, if you’re using your domain for branding or business reasons, having your own TLD is an amazing asset you can build upon. A TLD related to your business isn’t likely to have a resale market and you will likely be the end consumer.
Q.19) Since any purchase of a sub-domain of .defiWallet goes into an ETH wallet – are you planning to launch a DAO or will it remain a personal business for profit?
Although I created the project as a for profit brokerage and registrar, a substantial amount of the mint is actually redistributed back into our ecosystem. For .defiwallet domains, we operate on a 40% profit margin (project income and giveaways) with 60% of the mint revenue going to either DWEB Staking Rewards (30%), the IHeartDomains Treasury which receives DWEB staking rewards (20%) and to MainStreet.Finance for front end website development, marketing and community support (10%).
While the project itself will remain a personal for profit venture, the Treasury will be owned by and used to provide rewards to all .defiwallet holders.
Learn more about the mechanics and benefits of our Treasury in this twitter thread (a screenshot of that thread is below, click on the image to view the large format):
Q.20) Domain collision – in layman terms what is it and what should domain buyers know to better protect their domain assets on the blockchain?
Domain Collision in the simplest terms would indicate the existence of 2 identical domain names that potentially could confuse users and/or be used to accidentally send crypto to the wrong name (or the right name that resolves to the wrong address).
This can occur if there are multiple Web3 DNS registrars selling the same TLDs or SLDs without regard as to whether or not it has already been sold or brought to market by anyone else.
Tbh, we are so early in the space that many of these registrars are just learning the other exists and that this was even a problem.
Buyers should DYOR at both the Root DNS level as well as at the Registar level to learn the individual steps that registrar has taken to protect their TLD. In our case we have acquired every competing version of .defiwallet and disabled their ability to collide. In addition we have filed for US Trademark Protection on the .defiwallet TLD to prevent collisions by potential new DNS registrars moving forward.
Q.21) Anything else you want to add which I missed?
I would like to invite anyone who wants to learn more about IHeartDomains to join our Telegram Alpha Group or attend our weekly TECH Talk Twitter Spaces co hosted by MAINST Tony.
TECH Talk is a part of our education initiative and we use this space to deep dive into the utility and future of Web3 domains.
Wrapping Up
That’s it folks! Hope you enjoyed the conversation with Marcus.
Before you leave!
Please take a moment to drop a comment below for the following TWO questions:
- What did you like or not appreciate with this interview so that we can improve?
- Is there any followup questions for Marcus? Ask them in the comment below & I’ll get the answers for you!
ROARS!! 👑💙🧡🖖
– King Shamazle –
Editor in Chief
