Exclusive: Empowering Creators in the Open Metaverse with Justin Melillo, CEO of Mona
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By Hassan Shittu
Last updated: June 11, 2024, 10:33 EDT | 3 min read
At Consensus 2024 in Austin, Texas, Cryptonews’s Matt Zahab engaged in a compelling dialogue with Justin Melillo, the visionary CEO and founder of Mona. They delved deep into Mona’s mission, its robust support system for creators, recent milestones, and future projections within the digital art realm, particularly in the burgeoning metaverse.
Established in 2021, Mona is designed as a catalyst for the expansive growth of the open metaverse, offering essential tools and protocols that empower creators and developers alike. With a background steeped in 3D animation and visual effects, Melillo conceived Mona to address the critical shortfall in tokenization and distribution avenues for 3D artists.
Mona’s Commitment to the Open Metaverse and Creator Support
Melillo articulated that Mona’s primary objective is to furnish creators and developers with indispensable tools for metaverse success. “Our platform enables users to upload and tokenize a diverse array of digital assets—from immersive worlds and 3D objects to game items and avatars—all available for purchase, sale, and trade,” he explained passionately. A defining feature of Mona is its commitment to offering these tools free of charge to artists and creators. Melillo underscored, “We prioritize perpetual royalties to ensure creators receive continuous compensation for their contributions, promoting sustainable growth in the arts.”
A standout feature of Mona lies in its innovative approach to virtual real estate. Unlike platforms that mandate expensive land acquisitions, Mona champions creative merit over financial outlay. Melillo highlighted, “By eliminating artificial scarcity, creators can focus wholeheartedly on crafting high-quality content without fiscal constraints.” Additionally, Mona places a strong emphasis on interoperability; assets tokenized on Mona can seamlessly integrate across diverse platforms and experiences, fostering genuine ownership devoid of restrictive silos. “You can take your asset anywhere—across games, platforms, and beyond,” Melillo affirmed, stressing the importance of dismantling walled gardens that hinder asset versatility.
Mona recently commemorated its third anniversary with notable achievements. A significant highlight this year was the launch of Tom Sachs’ Rocket Factory—an ambitious project comprising 1,000 distinct virtual worlds and nearly 7,000 space station apartments. Furthermore, Mona revamped its 3D object marketplace and introduced a new software development kit (SDK) poised to enrich platform functionality and attract burgeoning developers keen on crafting independent games and experiences.
Future Trends in VR, AR, and Digital Art
Looking forward, Melillo anticipates a seismic shift towards spatial computing, where interaction with digital content becomes increasingly immersive and three-dimensional. This evolution dovetails with broader prognostications for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), poised to exert greater influence across multiple sectors. Melillo noted the burgeoning engagement of younger demographics on platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite, foreseeing enhanced value and utility of digital assets as hardware and infrastructure continue to advance.
Several key trends are shaping the future landscape of VR and AR. Social VR experiences are becoming more sophisticated, enabling realistic interactions within virtual environments. Concurrently, enterprise applications of VR are gaining traction in industries like healthcare, education, gaming, and manufacturing—fostering training, collaboration, and operational efficiencies. For instance, VR promises transformative impacts on education through immersive learning experiences like virtual field trips and interactive simulations, bolstered by AI integration for personalized educational environments.
These trends portend a promising future for VR, AR, and digital art, buoyed by substantial investments from tech behemoths like Meta, Microsoft, and Google, which are propelling metaverse development forward. The global VR market, valued at nearly $60 billion in 2022, is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 27.5% from 2023 to 2030—reflecting the expanding potential and adoption of these transformative technologies across diverse domains.
Consensus 2024 Coverage
Cryptonews correspondents Rachel Wolfson and Matt Zahab provided comprehensive coverage from Consensus 2024, engaging with industry leaders, pioneers, and analysts to deliver the latest insights from one of the foremost global crypto events.
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