KuCoin AMA With IMVU (VCORE) — Powering the Largest Social Metaverse

Time: June 15, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:17 PM (UTC)

KuCoin hosted an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session with the Chief Strategy & Blockchain Officer at IMVU; the President of MetaJuice, John Burris, in the KuCoin Exchange Group.

Official Website: https://getvcore.io/

Whitepaper: Click to view

Follow IMVU on Twitter and Discord.

John Burris — Chief Strategy & Blockchain Officer at IMVU, President of MetaJuice

Q: What is the vision and strategy of $VCORE within the IMVU metaverse?

John: VCORE is launching into IMVU's global community with millions of monthly users. The community is in 120+ countries, supports 13 languages, and has a creator-led economy that sells 20,000,000 digital items monthly and creates 10,000 new items daily. VCORE is being integrated into this economy, the social engagement and governance of this leading metaverse. It will enable holders to participate in the future of the IMVU metaverse in new and powerful ways.

As an ERC-20 token, VCORE will have deep utility in the IMVU platform, especially around NFTs, as VCORE will be used to mint, purchase and sell NFTs in the IMVU metaverse. Note that VCORE is unavailable to persons in the United States or Canada.

Q: What makes the $VCORE and IMVU combination special?

John: VCORE is being integrated into a metaverse that has been in the market for 19 years and has over 350 million users registered as community members. It also already has a dynamic economy where millions of user-created digital items are sold monthly, and millions of peer-to-peer transactions occur. Unlike other web3 metaverses and games, IMVU already has a comprehensive and complete metaverse, millions of users, and a vibrant economy. It is one of the largest web3 metaverses in the world.

We recently launched our own MetaJuice NFTs on IMVU and will soon allow our 200k+ creators -- and millions of active users -- to mint, sell, and buy NFTs using VCORE. Once creators can make and sell NFTs as easily as they make and sell the existing 60,000,000 UGC items in IMVU's catalog, VCORE and NFTs on IMVU will help further transition IMVU's highly active economy to web3 and provide full digital ownership for items and digital currency.

The top NFT marketplaces use a variety of tokens and have less than 2M transactions monthly. IMVU has 20M+ transactions monthly already and will soon open that up to NFTs that will largely be sold and bought using $VCORE.

Q: What can I do with $VCORE that I cannot do with $MANA or $SAND?

John: Without commenting on SAND or MANA (we love those guys), VCORE will be integrated into a fully functioning, dynamic economy and metaverse. So VCORE can be added to existing activity - buying, selling, earning, VIP memberships, Access Pass ownership, Creator status, and the like- all existing capabilities that VCORE can plug into over time. Many other web3 metaverses are still building core capabilities and working to drive daily use - that's not the case at IMVU.

Another important thing to remember about VCORE and IMVU is that IMVU itself is already a successful product, unlike many web3 metaverses. The development of IMVU, new features, and new ways to integrate features and capabilities tied to VCORE is independent of the current price or market for VCORE.

Q: IMVU has a strong creator community, with most of its content created by users. How are you integrating what MetaJuice is doing on IMVU with web3 communities?

John: We're working with various partners in the web3 space, including Animoca Brands, Immutable, Uphold, leading NFT projects, brands, and more. They're helping us seamlessly integrate web3 features into IMVU and providing valuable experience and knowledge as we work together to launch VCORE and NFTs on IMVU. Our VCORE presales attracted 15 backers (including Animoca Brands, Immutable, Bitkraft Ventures, Sky9 Capital, Mirana Capital, and others). These top advisors have also been key to helping us shape our strategy and execution plan.

For our NFTs, we're working with a number of NFT projects and artists, including Nadya Tolokonnikova (co-founder of Unicorn DAO and the creator of Pussy Riot), Not Your Bro, and Freak City. We also have several well-known brands and artists from outside the web3 space that we are working with to introduce them to our metaverse and to web3, which we'll have more to share later.

We have been making news!

Q: As a Web2 project, why did you choose to enter Web3? What do you think is the biggest difference in attracting users?

John: We are working through a transformation to a web3 metaverse because we saw what blockchain technology and assets could do for our community, the economy, and the future of the metaverse. We also knew we already had all the usage, existing behaviors, and the right community for this move to web3.

Regarding the biggest differences in attracting users, one of the key things is the size of the possible audience. Web3 is still growing, and a small number of users are looking specifically for web3 products (compared to users who are familiar with web2). That's why we've worked so hard to create organic and seamless ways for our existing users to transition to web3 rather than target the same web3 metaverse users who currently jump from platform to platform.

Q: One of the limitations of some P2E games is that they require a high initial investment to start playing, many of which are very expensive. Will this be the case for IMVU and VCORE? Will there be any discounts or benefits for early adopters?

John: That's true. IMVU is a free-to-play metaverse, and in fact, a majority of users choose not to spend monthly. So there is no real cost of entry for new users or early adopters. We encourage everyone to create a new IMVU account, customize their avatar and engage with our large community. IMVU is available as a mobile app (Apple and Android), a desktop app (PC and Mac), and on the web.

For users who want to engage with the in-game economy, there are regular rewards and promotions, and many of our users have become item creators or provide services in IMVU's gig marketplace to earn, including things like being fashion photographers, wedding officiants, DJs, or stylists.

Q: Tell us some of the partners that MetaJuice is working with!

John: Our most valuable partnership and collaboration come with the 200,000+ creators and earners already part of our community. We will always focus on them first. That said, partnerships with leading web3 NFT players, brands that broaden the community, and collaborations that make sense in the metaverse will be an important part of our future.

We have deep partnerships with huge players in this space like Animoca Brands...and we've done cool collaborations with NFT-centric brands like Not Your Bro...plug into the IMVU metaverse and what's happening with VCORE to stay in the loop!

Q: Each project has interesting stories before it is created. Can you tell people the story that motivated you to build and develop a great project like IMVU?

John: In late 2017 and early 2018, we saw what was possible and starting to happen in the web3/blockchain space. We matched that up with our community and all their existing behaviors (what they were already very comfortable doing), and we saw a perfect fit with what we're doing now. We are not forcing anything into our metaverse - this is an ideal fit.

Q: I found two tokens in the MetaJuice ecosystem, $VCORE and $VCOIN. Can you tell us about both of these tokens? What are the utilities and differences between these $VCORE & $VCOIN tokens?

John: We do have two tokens in our ecosystem; they are very different. $VCOIN is a fixed price token (like a stablecoin) for the metaverse - our existing earners wanted this...an asset that did not fluctuate in price. Now with $VCORE, our non-US users will be able to participate in the future of the metaverse as it is integrated into the economy, gameplay, and governance. Note that $VCORE is only available to the public via the KuCoin Spotlight!

Q: I'm impressed with VCORE's achievement, especially with the millions of digital assets sold on your IMVU Platform. If I were a new user to the platform, is it an easy-to-use and fun platform? How will beginners feel when trying the platform for the first time? Does it come with instructions or tutorials? Thank you.

John: Yes, IMVU is a really fun and social experience. It often ranks in the top 10 app stores in the social category. You'll have no problem finding it if you search for "IMVU" in any app store or online.

Q: What sets IMVU apart from other virtual worlds or social networks?

John: Longevity - we've been around 19 years and plan to be around for another...another...and another. Users - we will have around 700,000 community members worldwide spend an average of 55 mins inside IMVU - that will all happen just today. There is no question we are one of the largest web3 metaverses in the world!

Q: How will Web3 and NFTs transform the overall user experience and value-add for the IMVU and broader Web3 user base?

John: This web3 transformation and new assets like NFTs and $VCORE will enable several new benefits: true ownership, control over digital assets, secondary market sales, new ways to earn, new ways to be rewarded on the platform, and a real ability to have a say in the future of the metaverse. We're doing all this carefully and seamlessly to make it addictive to the existing social experience and economy at IMVU. It's really special!

🎁 Participate on the IMVU AMA quiz now for a chance to win $8 in VCORE!

The form will remain open for five days from publishing this AMA recap.

KuCoin and IMVU have prepared a total of $1,000 in VCORE to give away to AMA participants.

1. Pre-AMA activity: $400 in VCORE

2. Free-ask section: $40 VCORE

3. Flash mini-game: $240 in VCORE

4. Post-AMA quiz: $320 VCORE

. . .

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