Podcast

Matty DCL: From Metaverse Land Baron to NFT Investor

Matty DCL is a legend in the NFT space. He’s gone from flipping land in Decentraland to founding a media publication, and now has an NFT project called Metakey. He has his finger on the pulse of the metaverse and discusses several of his upcoming projects.

Quotables

“If the demand increases, because technically the supply is capped, your investment should increase.” (Timestamp: 23: 55)

“As the technology became structurally strong, there was still no virtual world to explore. That came in 2020.” (Timestamp: 14:08)

How Matty entered the NFT space

Discovery crypto: Matty became involved in cryptocurrencies in 2017. He purchased some ETH without really knowing what they were. In 2018, he heard it was possible to buy virtual land on the blockchain. He bought some land and sold it a few days later.

NFT as a digital marketplace: After making his first sale, Matty realized that NFTs are a digital marketplace. At that time the focus on Decentraland. Before getting involved he had been a YouTube content creator and marketer. He was selling e-commerce on Facebook and other social media.

Transferable skills: Matty transitioned into the new industry using his marketing skillset. At that time he could see NFTs becoming big in the future. Decentraland was around in 2017. Cryptokitties were just starting to get onto people’s radar.

Investing in land

Matty’s first land: When he purchased his first land for a few hundred dollars, he saw it as diversifying his crypto portfolio. He found he could sell it for a profit. He learned about supply and demand and which lands were profitable over time. He realized buying in bulk and slowly selling to others could make him a lot of money.

Virtual land trader: Matty started to see his role as a virtual land dealer or trader. He quit his job and started doing it full-time. He would make an offer and wait long term to make deals. His offers would sometimes be accepted because owners had no choice so he was able to offer less.

Collecting digital assets: He worked as an Engineer and quit his job ten years ago to do e-commerce. After he got married, he needed a more stable income. When he got into Crypto he was able to quit that job. It was a missed opportunity for a parcel of land that convinced him to get into NFT investing full time.

Profiting in the NFT market

Trading NFTs: Matty would make larger purchases and slowly sell them for a small profit. During the market crash as the value of assets went down, he had the ability to trade NFTs and continue making a profit. He became fully immersed during the bear market.

Early tech system: When Matty joined the metaverse technology was very simple. People were negotiating land deals over Discord and trading manually. He would have to send the money and trust that the seller would then send the asset. They had a process for vetting sellers in the community.

Community process: Owners would sell NFT land on Reddit and it wasn’t easy to figure out how things were prices and what was happening. When people purchase land for $10,000 you can get it for less because you’re aware of its value based on discussions you see online.

Discovering Decentraland

An empty metaverse: Matty learned over time that metaverses like Decentralized take time to grow. He was involved in the early days where smart contracts hadn’t been used yet. Before 2020, as the technology evolved, the metaverse was still empty and there wasn’t much to explore yet.

Investing in growth: Today the metaverse still has a long way to go but he’s seen how far it has come. Matty has become heavily involved with content and galleries. He and others are helping push the development of the metaverse. The NFT space allows community members to invest in projects and influence their development.

Knowing when to sell: There is always liquidity available through land sales. You can start small and grow from there as you make money. The opportunities come in waves and over time to go deeper and deeper into the NFT world. It’s important to know when to hold and when to sell assets. With a $50,000 land asset, it’s important to ensure if you need to you can sell it.

Trades and speculations

Land expansion strategy: Matty has spent a lot of time doing trades and speculations. He had an interest in the world itself but because it would take so much time, he focused mainly on his land assets. He was able to reposition himself through good deals and grow his land over time.

A growing portfolio: When considering a purchase he would always ask himself what he could do with the land afterward. For about two years he went for 10 to 20 lands to 100s of lands, growing his portfolio. At the same time, he trained and learned about the NFT space to move into a better position with every trade.

Long-term growth and diversification: While he still had investments in other digital assets, he realized over time that he was improving his financial position through his land trades. When he invests heavily in things like Decentraland, he is usually involved in many aspects of it. He’s also invested in other projects like AxieInfinity.

Expanding his portfolio

Looking for consistency: When projects have consistent volume weekly, for example on Superrare or Overseas, it’s important. Over years, if the volume is consistent, Matty pays attention. Virtual art was showing that over time. He’s also investing in the artist and helping publicize their work.

Investing in artists: Matty focuses on growing his investments as he experiments. He loves the art world’s community and collectors. He also joined Whatsapp groups and had direct contact with industry members. In terms of artists, he is interested in art in general as a form of investment. You are investing in the early pieces of an artist’s career.

Discovering art: When the demand increases for a particular product, your investment will increase because the supply doesn’t. With art, you become more invested in the artist, their style, and their work. Their social media engagement is important. Matty also looks for artists who are making NFTs as a career. The journey of discovering art is the fun part.

Choosing the right projects

Assessing longevity: Matty finds collectibles interesting as well. They are a new niche because of their style and the nostalgia takes time. Over time the value increases because the pieces become rarer. A collectible project’s longevity isn’t always clear until several years later.

Community support is key: Virtual land or games make more sense to him. For some games, collectibles can work. His view on the development and success of a project is that the community needs to support it. The community experience adds value. He supports the idea of bringing longevity to assets like Bored Apes and other NFTs.

The value of art: Art can have a high value because people have a strong connection to the items and don’t want to let them go. It’s difficult to predict where the NFT art market will go. The industry is maturing and NFT skins for gaming are going strong.

Connecting with Matty DCL

You can follow Matty DCL on Twitter @dclblogger. For more information about Matty’s current project, visit his website: https://dclblogger.com/