Welcome to the interview with Gianfranco Prior.
Mr. Prior and the team are building a very innovative and impactful NFT project that I certainly think needs more attention and credit. So let’s get straight to it without any delay.
Q1. Hello Mr. Prior! We are thrilled to have you here. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. To kick start the session, I request you to introduce yourself and what you are currently working on briefly.
Hello. It is a pleasure to be here as well.
My name is Gianfranco Prior, and I am the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at MIDA NFT.
The blockchain bug bit me in 2019, and then I dived deep into the technology without wasting any time.
Soon enough, I realized the groundbreaking potential of this rapidly evolving technology. I was thus exploring real-world challenges that blockchain could solve, and that’s how I got started with MIDA.
Q2. Thank you, Mr. Prior. Why did you choose to go down the path of NFTs, and what do you think about the NFT space in general from a technical standpoint?
As I mentioned earlier, I was looking for opportunities to solve real-world problems using blockchain. During my research, I learned a lot about NFTs. But I could see that only a few projects added genuine value to human life and culture through NFTs.
There’s still a lot to do before we manifest the true potential of NFTs noticeably while touching lives. It’s not a question of if, though, but when. And I think use cases like real-world asset tokenization and in our case the support to the preservation of cultural heritage through NFTs is the natural course of action.
Q3. Excellent! Do you think most projects are heading down the right path of unlocking the true potential of NFTs, as you just articulated?
Well, I’d say that most blockchain-based projects have only begun to scratch the surface of what NFTs can do in the real world, at least for now.
As we keep building in this space, we can expect to witness assets like NFT-based real estate become commonplace. NFTs could become the norm for receipts, movie tickets, and more.
Further, we can use NFTs for legal purposes, medical identities, and social identities since they help to verify proof of ownership of an asset. Apart from these, innovators are coming up with various solutions that most people don’t even imagine are possible. This trend will continue.
And regardless of what comes, I am confident that projects making the world a better place, like MIDA NFT, will prosper while others fade into the background.
Q4. Can you briefly elucidate what makes MIDA unique and what real-world problems it solves?
Certainly!
Firstly, we must understand that art is integral to human culture. It binds us to our roots and motivates us to keep going, especially when we look back to see how far we’ve come.
The issue that we identified was the lack of funds for museums and art institutions especially after the covid related restriction and the growing distance of the younger generations.
Fortunately, blockchain has a solution to all these problems—NFTs.
So, in simple terms, MIDA creates high-fidelity, virtual alter-ego of museums heritage, tokenizing them as Ethereum-based NFTs using the ERC-721 standard.
This has two main benefits. One, the artworks move beyond the museum’s four walls and into the metaverses where people can interact with them, virtually appealing to younger generations. Two, it solves the issue of counterfeit products thanks to the hashing algorithms remunerating the majority of the proceeds to the museum creating a new revenue stream.
Q5. That’s exciting! But why did you choose to build around this niche when there are several other things like building DeFi products? What makes you passionate about the project?
That is a very interesting question.
I believe for the most part it was the fact that MIDA is able to make a significant impact on the world for the good of all.
While the team and I were open to several possibilities, our common vision has been to bridge the traditional art world and the expanding potential of Web 3.0.
We are thus on a shared mission to offer museums and foundations that preserve renowned artworks a new way to enhance their value through the creation of unique NFTs. In this way we can leave a step toward the preservation of our history.
Q6. That is a very commendable answer, Mr. Prior. But how does Mida hope to generate revenue? What does the business model look like?
Sure. We are rather transparent about our project and the revenue streams are also mentioned clearly in our whitepaper.
MIDA has four revenue streams: marketplace fees, masterpieces’ NFT sales percentage, creators’ NFT sales percentage, and royalties. At the moment, marketplace fees are the foundational revenue stream while royalties are the smaller fraction.
Q7. Amazing! Lastly, what would you say are the project’s short-term and long-term goals?
In the short term we will launch our first auction that will involve big names in the art world as Giorgione, Tintoretto and Titian, while we are expanding our network of artists and galleries in order to provide a 360 degree view of art.
In the long term we will launch our social layer, with functions and purposes similar to those of discord but more user friendly, to allow people from the traditional art world to orient themselves and connect with each other more easily
Q8. Brilliant, Mr. Prior. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and views, and letting us pick your brain. We hope you took pleasure in this interview just as much as we did.
Thank you for inviting me over. I certainly enjoyed the talk and felt refreshed by sharing the history and future plans of MIDA.
