How ALTAVA Digitizes Fashion With Technologies; Morgan Stanley's Spot ETF Evaluation

When you say metaverse is very Webre, right? But we could probably agree that the biggest audience are still on the web two side of things. So I think the the the best product would be something where users who comes in from web two or web three, they would know when transaction or something happened on Blockchain or outside of Blockchain, Blockchain a chain, right? Because for them that should be seen from the Uiux standpoint, that was o from Ultiva a fashion start up. That's imagining fashion for the Metaverse more from him in just a moment. Welcome to a first mover on Coindesk. I'm Jensen. I am so happy to have you here on this show. You get all of your top news headlines and interviews with industry heavy hitters. Let's take a look at what's going on in the news this morning. Bitcoin remains in the green. It's flying high up over 3% as of 9 a.m. Eastern time and the coin desk 20 index is up over 6% in the same time period. It looks just green across the board as it has been for the duration of this week. So what's driving excitement if you're new here. A lot of folks are saying it's excitement around the spot, Bitcoin ETF S, you know, a lot of big names are interested in what's going on with the spot, Bitcoin ETF S and one of those big names is Morgan Stanley. They are said to be evaluating spot Bitcoin ETF S for their brokerage platform. That's according to sources. Now, the arrival of broker dealers like Morgan Stanley and large registered investment advisor networks, Ria S could bring more investment into the new product and drive the price even higher. So we'll have to wait and see who who the next big interested Wall Street party is. Now on the other side of the equation, the number of Bitcoin held by crypto miners has dropped to the lowest level since July 2021 Bitcoin being held in wallets that are tied to crypto miners has declined by more than 8400 this year. Now, why is this happening? Some are saying that the impending reward having and the dry season in China could explain why miners are running down their coin Stashes. Uh The next Bitcoin having the fourth Bitcoin having is expected to take place in April. And lastly, the sec is objecting to terraform $166 million retainer of the law firm, Dins. Now the agency is saying that money was siphoned off into an opaque slush fund for its lawyers which could have gone to investors and creditors, Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon, you'll remember are currently facing a trial in the US from the SEC regarding the collapse of terror US D the SEC is now saying that Terraform intended to avoid paying a future judgment, which is why it sent millions to dances. All right, let's talk about the metaverse. Now, this next company is at the forefront of fashion and tech and recently debuted its open beta for fashion enthusiasts and joining us now is Ultiva CMO O Tong Shri Noon. Oh, welcome. Thanks for having me. Nice job on the name. Thank you. It's always great when I can pronounce our guests names correctly. So thank you for helping me before this show. Uh But let's talk all about Ultiva. We're mixing fashion with technology and you've just debuted a platform that makes it a lot easier to create digitized version of fashionable items. Talk to me about all of us. Yeah. Um Well, where do we start? Um Because Ottawa itself, you know, we have three version. I I like to say. So in our short history of five years, we went through three iteration. So we could talk about the current one which is A I centric or we can start from the beginning. Uh which version like let's start from the beginning. Talk to me about the different versions and how you ended up where we are here today. Well, um if you can entertain me, I, I would compress the five years into, you know, maybe a couple of minutes. So we started out as a fashion tech, you know, in a fashion tech incubator program under LV. Mh, let me song this start up. Um I think most people know LV. Mh as one of the biggest luxury goods conglomerate in the world. And most part, you have no idea that they actually have a fashion tech start up incubator and, and actually we came from that, right? And the company started out focusing on avatar system and virtual try on system. So that's actually where we came from. And I would say like late 2021 um we at the height or in the midst of the bulls second crypto bull run, right? Um I think we started to take a look at the web three space seriously. And we decided to dive into it because when we look at the metaverse, a lot of the foundational piece that was being developed for it, we are already doing that a couple of years ago, you know, when we started that. So we see that it's such a natural like evolution of where we were to where we should be at that time, which is the metaverse. So um we uh become a metaverse company and we build our own fashion uh luxury fashion metaverse, you know, using our avatar system, using our virtual try on system, right? And because of our relationship with that we and H and our co-founders tight relationship with that group, we were able to get, you know, a lot of big brands like Prada Ba M Burberry Armani just to name a few and digitize their catalogs into 3D assets so that, you know, people can play around with the avatar and try different hairstyle, different outfits. So that's kind of where we were and the Metaverse itself is called World View and it's actually still available today on Apple Play Store and sorry, Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Um Fast forward to 2023 April of last year. Um We start to get a lot of requests from other virtual worlds to because um sometimes I do for granted um our connection to the lux luxury fashion uh industry, but it's actually uh uh quite in a kind of almost they are like a clique, you know, so you're either in or you're not in. And fortunately our co-founder Elizabeth, um she's actually in the click. So, um you know, so we kind of then people start to come and say, hey, look, we like for you guys to also help to bring some of those luxury fashion items into our world, right? Because we try to contact product, uh we try to contact these different brands and with no luck. So, um you know, we thought, oh, that's an interesting, you know, opportunity, right? So, and we started to get a lot of bills. Um But we are also a start up too. So, you know, we have limited resource and we start to build our own in-house tools and you know, which is actually based on generated A I which we customized, right? So that's kind of, that was like the genesis of our A I platform today. And you know, so we, and then at one point, we realized that hey, this pain point that a lot of these virtual worlds have, you know, if we create something at the platform level that not only them, but you know, just any designer can utilize, you know, we can democratize the process. And that's kind of where how, how our A I platform came to be. I want to talk about the democratization of the process. You know, you mentioned that the luxury fashion world is very much a click and no matter how great your ideas are, I think that some designers find themselves outside of that click. Talk to me about how technology can help democratize fashion. And is there a way to break these clicks down with platforms like this? Um uh II, I would partially say yes. So let me take a stab at it because again, right? Um because our co-founder, she's in that click. So we basically have that instant credibility when we talk to them. So right away, there's a trust factor, right? They kind of know they kind of know we know what they want. So basically they already have that trust from the beginning, right? So then it's just a matter of figuring out the solution for them and when I say them, I mean, the luxury fashion brands. So I, you know, what we hope to do is that um we use our platform to basically bring these brands into it and then try to use the same platform to connect the brands to, you know, these independent designers, you know, and, and we could kind of start, you know, perhaps with different kind of campaign and you know, type things to kind of get that side used to how these things work and hopefully they'll see the benefits and perhaps that will become the bridge for them to, you know, use do uh more engagement with the community moving forward. So, so we, we hope we can do our part in that sense, right? Talk to me about the users of this platform. You mentioned some pretty big names, Burberry Prada Balmain and creating digital uh versions of some of the items. How much do people actually want these items? What kind of user base are you seeing um interested in this? Actually, you know, what's interesting is that when you look at virtual world, it has been around a long time, right? Well, before metaverse, I would say like 2030 plus years, um and surprisingly, virtual world that focus on women audience actually have a pretty large audience in, in that regard. And, and when just like Real World, every time we put out new collections from brands versus, you know, the stuff that we create ourselves. For example, we always see that the usage skew toward unknown brands, right? Because I guess for some of these people, they realize that, hey, you know, in a real real world, let's say a product back may cost him 1000 $2000 and then dress may cost him a couple of 1000. But at least in this world, they can kind of try it out on, you know, without uh paying a lot less than they would in the real world, for example. So I, I surprisingly, uh you know, I think the the the the usage pattern does reflect the real world or to a certain degree, what platforms can we look to, to kind of inform what the metaverse might look like in the future? And I ask that because whenever I think the ideas that I hear on the show are, are far fetched, I think about platforms like Roblox and Fortnite and I see that the things we're talking about, the foundation is already being laid. So I'm curious, uh what platforms you look to as you build towards this future where we're spending more of our lives online. Um So I think Roblox and Fortnite are definitely the right answer. But in addition to those I would say, um, the platforms that we actually really looked at, it would be things like VR Chat, uh tiktok and Snap. So actually with our platform, um people can create something as great as items for, you know, platforms like let's say Fortnite, but of course, that requires more skill sets. But at the lower level of the spectrum, they can create, let's say a VR filter, you know, for news on Snapchat or tiktok or objects inside VR Chat and eventually Apple Vision Pro because there's a common network there. So, so those I think those actually are something that is even more a telltale sign because that's a consumer level, you know, where people just really engage with each other kind of constantly, right? So, so I I would say that the first two I mentioned was those three. In addition, you know, we talk about creators and I look at some of the creators that come from the traditional art world, the digital art world and a big conversation that we have here is one around um a lot of creators who come from different backgrounds and cultures being locked out of the more established traditional um aspects of art and fashion. Do you think that technology like A I and Blockchain uh open a door, create a pathway for those who have previously not been able to participate in these worlds to get their toes wet and create a name for themselves. It's not uh an all be all solution because at the end of the day A I and Blockchain are still tools. So I think what's perhaps is more important is flex, let's say like ours and hopefully we're not the only one right that understand that ecosystem composed of creators, brands um and platforms like, you know, other platforms and other virtual worlds where they can create their goods and distribute and sell to those uh worlds or get their goods that they create and show that to the brands. So ideally, there'll be a platform that can connect these key stakeholders. And I think that's probably even more important than A I and the Blockchain itself because otherwise, if you are just A I and Blockchain, you create a 3d assets. What's next? Right? Because I, I think we are trying to be that last mile for them. You could say Metaverse became popular during the last bull market during the bear. Uh The conversations around Metaverse became a little bit more muted than some of the conversations we were having about other technologies, but it looks like we're heading into another bull cycle. What do you think the narrative around the metaverse is going to be as we head into the next bull market? There's always two extremes, right? So when things are great, you know, is the best thing since sliced bread, when things are bad, it's just disastrous. But I think the truth is somewhere in between and same for the cycle III I think, but I think we can perhaps have to move away from metaverse in a sense that because when you say metaverse is very Webre, right? But we could probably agree that the biggest audience are still on the web two side of things. So I think the the the best product would be something where users who comes in from web two or web three, they would know when transaction or something happened on Blockchain or outside of Blockchain, Blockchain, Blockchain, right? Because for them that should be seen as from the Uiux standpoint. And I think same thing with virtual worlds in an ideal situation, right? Um They play virtual world and there are certain parts of the Blockchain thing happen, let's say its organization of certain things or on chain transaction, hopefully that can be so seamless that they don't feel that, right? And I think that would be a really ideal situation. So um so I think that the next iteration of the metaverse, at least in my opinion would be something of that nature. OK? I want to talk about some of the features now in ultiva. Uh two of them are text to 3D and image to 3D features. Tell me a little bit more about how folks can use the platform to create cool digital fashion items. First of all, easy, just go to alta.com and right there in the UC three, you see uh image to 3D and you see text three pro right? So keep in mind that this is still very much an open offer we like to call it. So it's still work in progress. But the most mature function that we offer today would be image to 3D. So with image to 3D as the may imply, right, you upload any image that you have and within a certain amount of time, the A I will then create like a 3d iteration of that the difference. You know, the the question that may arise like, how's that, let's say different from either generative A I like mature, right? Or cha T, right? Because those guys and you can also generate maybe some kind of image output. But I think in our case, uh we emphasize the term 3D real 3D, meaning that the 3D object is generated from the image. You can actually then upload that into a 3D program and actually work on that asset immediately. So I think that's what makes it, you know, really uh I I, we were one of the first item G as far as I know. So that's something that we're quite proud of. Oh, thank you so much for joining the show today. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me. Thank you. We've talked all about Bitcoin. We even went to the Metaverse, but now it's time to talk about meme coins. Let's take a look at the chart of the day, the chart of the day is presented by crypto.com, the leading crypto platform trusted by over 80 million users worldwide. Dogecoin Bullish bets have reached a record $1 billion dodge tokens were up as much as 40% before giving back some gains. As Bitcoin rallied to over $63,000 open interest or the amount of unsettled bets on Doge futures increased over 54% since Wednesday. According to coin glass data setting a lifetime record $1 billion in bets involving the tokens. An increase in open interest means that new or extra money is entering the market. Data shows 70% of traders are long on doge expecting it to go higher. Some in crypto circles say that meme tokens may be more attractive to retail investors as the bull market continues mainly due to their relevance in pop culture, low unit bias and familiarity. That is a wrap for first mover today. Thank you so much for watching the show and thank you to our guest. Oh, for joining us. I love talking about fashion and technology as a note. Sometimes we edit interviews on first mover for clarity and length. In the meantime, you can get all of your crypto updates on coindesk.com and check out markets daily on the Coin Desk podcast network. I also host that show. We bring you all of your top markets headlines every single morning. I'm Jen Sani. We'll see you tomorrow.