Robbie Cochrane - Co-Founder of Cryptoverse

Hello Community,

We’ve got some brilliant projects within our portfolio and want to tell you more about the founders and teams behind them. On a regular basis, you will have the opportunity to learn more about specific projects through our interviews. Feel free to post any questions you may have further down in the comments section.

In today’s interview, we had the chance to speak with Robbie Cochrane, Co-founder of Cryptoverse. Let’s go!

Hi Robbie, how is it going? Let’s start with some questions about yourself: where are you from, where are you currently based and what is your background?

Thanks for having me. I am originally from the northern English town of Halifax, however, after getting married and finishing university, I moved to the Midlands in Nottingham alongside my amazing wife and two sausage dogs.

My background is education, having pursued a master's degree in scriptwriting and becoming a teacher. I suppose my passion for narrative eventually gave rise to the idea for the Cryptoverse, but that's getting ahead of myself.

When and why did you enter the crypto space?

I entered early 2017 after being introduced to Ethereum by a friend. I'd heard of Bitcoin before that but it didn't really 'blow me away as something with the potential to change the world. But when I heard about Ethereum I began researching and found out about smart contracts. It was at this point that the idea of permisionlessness, decentralisation et al really caught my imagination. After learning about PoW algorithms and smart contracts, I began to delve deeper and in late 2017 I found Decentraland and NFTs, this is where my passion for blockchain began to accelerate and lead me to be the Co-Founder of ChainGuardians, ChainBoost & Cryptoverse.

You work on a number of projects and wear a number of hats: can you please tell us more about that?

Yes, I co-founded ChainBoost, Cryptovese, and ChainGuardians. Each has its own purpose and objective, but they all work toward the overarching objective of being one of the go-to organizations for everything related to blockchain gaming, metaverse, and NFT. My responsibilities for the entire body of projects are incredibly diverse, ranging from team leadership, operations management, and world-building ideation to meetings with possible funders, hiring new team members, and developing creative ecosystem designs. The one thing which is consistent is that I am required to make key decisions every day. Hopefully, governance will help take some of this pressure!

Let’s expand on Cryptoverse: tell us more about the team and what are you trying to achieve.

Our overall objective is to enable the mass adoption of blockchain gaming through access to our metaverse and ultimately become the most recognizable NFT brand in the world. Sounds easy, right?

To achieve this, we’re creating Cryptoverse in Unreal Engine 5, the most sophisticated gaming engine on the market. The intention is to create the largest map and highest poly metaverse the world has ever seen. This incredible fidelity has the power to draw in both brands and gamers in one interconnected ecosystem that benefits both.

The Cryptoverse will feature unique social mechanics such as different social layers and gamification mechanics. It will offer assets that can be owned by players, including avatars, vehicles, buildings, and land plots — all powered by interoperable NFTs.

We’ve pulled together this amazing and collaborative team, many of whom are world-class programmers and artists with backgrounds in the entertainment industry from the likes of Activision, Disney, and Marvel. I am consistently blown away by the talent this team displays on a daily basis.

What is the biggest challenge for Cryptoverse and other metaverse projects in general?

There is no quick win or recipe for success when building a metaverse. Others may be further along in the journey but nobody has really nailed it yet. Cryptoverse, and other metaverse projects, are, therefore, having to pioneer the path forward together piece-by-piece. Technology, marketing, ethics, and ease of adoption are just some of the challenges in front of us and we're solving them every single day.

Like in any business, sometimes the best measure of the way forward can come from your audience, and we spend a lot of time listening to our community and business partners to ensure we're creating something that businesses and consumers will both find entertaining and valuable. We’re not making something for the sake of it, we’re making it because it’s what people want.

How can the community engage with Cryptoverse right now?

We invite individuals to participate in our vibrant communities on Twitter, Discord, and Telegram. We also participate in numerous real-life events every year; most recently at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, where we demonstrated a playable Cryptoverse VR experience. We'll also be at New York Fashion Week and at TOKEN2049 in Singapore later on in the year where we'll be showing off even more of the Cryptoverse. Please come and say Hello!

Tell us an interesting fact or story about your crypto journey: any lessons for other folks out there?

It's a really simple message: look at blockchain as the evolution of the internet and the next major technological movement in the world. When you start to focus more on this and less on quick flips to make a quick buck - you realize that you are part of something beautiful which can change/disrupt archaic business models and processes.

Anything else you would like to share with us?

We’re ramping up and accelerating everything in the next 12 months. We’ve invested massively in our development teams, marketing teams and hired great talent across the board. We’re constructing the world’s highest polygon and largest metaverse, and we’re going to be showing off more and more of it as the year goes on, so keep an eye out for Cryptoverse!

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Thanks a lot for your time Robbie and good luck with your project!

The Morningstar Ventures Team