Inside The First Episode of Binance’s Metaverse Reality Show ‘Build The Block’
In Brief
The first two contestants to pitch to the judges and audience were Mind Network and Kryptoskatt.
Audiences had 20 seconds to vote for the founder who deserved face time with the panel of judges.
Kryptoskatt led with 278 votes from the final score board, putting the startup in the running for PR backing.
‘Build The Block’, the first global metaverse reality show produced by Binance, premiered today. On the show, web3 startups will compete for investment from Binance Labs.
Hosted by Justin Bratton of Asia’s Got Talent fame, the show opened with Bratton’s humourous and high-energy introduction of its format, the panel of judges as well as the first two founders that will be pitching to the judges and the audience, all of whom were represented by 2D avatars.
Sitting behind an elevated table, the panel of judges comprised Yi He, co-founder and CMO of Binance and head of Binance Labs; Yibo Ling, chief business officer of Binance; Guy Turner, co-founder of Coin Bureau; Azeem Khan, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Crypto Sustainability Coalition and fundraising and partnership lead at Gitcoin; and Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands and partner at Animoca Capital.
The first two contestants in this episode were Mason Song, the co-founder of Mind Network, and Sukesh Tedla, CEO and founder of Kryptoskatt. Each founder had three minutes to pitch their project to the audience, who then cast votes to decide who deserved some face time with the judges.
The contestants were represented by personalized avatars that could be customized anytime. For instance, Mason Song had red spiky hair, and Sukesh Tedla changed his outfit right before the scoreboard results were revealed.
First up: Mason Song, co-founder of Mind Network
Song used to lead the Blockchain and AI department at Citibank, while his co-founder George Shao is a data expert from Alibaba. Song described his team member Dennis Song as a “genius hacker. Song introduced Mind Network as a Singapore-based decentralized data lake and a full encryption network built on a patented Adaptive Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) framework to secure all user data, smart contracts, and AI on Web3. The startup aims to secure on-chain private data and “empower the adoption of analytics and AI,” Song said in his pitch.
After the three minutes of pitching time were up, Bratton turned to the judges for comment on Song’s pitch. Binance co-founder Yi He said that while Mind Network had good tech, Song’s pitch contained too much technical jargon. She advised Song to talk to future clients and investors in layman’s terms so that they could understand the product. Following the judges’ comments, the audience had 20 seconds to vote on whether Song could later have one-on-one time with the judges, with the results to be revealed later.
Addressing tax pain points: Sukesh Tedla, founder and CEO of Kryptoskatt
Up next was Sukesh Tedla, the founder and CEO of Kryptoskatt, a crypto tax software provider based in Sweden. Tedla spoke about the pain points of filing crypto taxes and how it led to building Kryptoskatt, a platform that helps customers with cryptocurrency tax calculations, reporting, and portfolio management in multiple countries.
Tedla explained that Kryptoskatt’s current offerings are primarily B2C, and the company charges an annual subscription fee. To use the platform, users can simply sign up, connect their wallets and download crypto tax reports. Kryptoskatt launched in beta in 2022 to users from over 10 countries, generating $45,000 in revenue. So far, the platform has onboarded over 1,000 users.
When the pitching time ran out, it was over to Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands, for comment. He liked Sukesh’s pitch and agreed that taxes are a pain point. “The idea of being able to integrate crypto tax automation with Animoca’s products where customers would have to pay taxes on in-game is going to be highly needed throughout the industry, not just on a B2C basis,” Yung said.
Audience votes revealed: Kryptoskatt beats out Mind Network
Sukesh Tedla emerged as the winner with 78 votes versus 72 votes for Mason Song. During the one-on-one chat with the judges, Yung asked about Kryptoskatt’s accounting tech and its integration with various DeFi platforms and what gives the startup an edge over its competitors and other new entrants.
Tedla explained that Kryptoskatt has more than 1,000 DeFi product integrations, giving the platform the advantage it already has. However, he acknowledged that the accounting tech is “not that defensible in the longer term” and that the company has to keep innovating, adding new integrations, and forging new partnerships to scale and bring the product to end users.
Yi He then asked Tedla to introduce Kryptoskatt’s team members. In response, Tedla said that the company’s head of tax and CTO were in the audience. He added that the company grew from two founders to a team of over 20 people, including legal advisors and advisors such as the Nordic fashion brand, Naked. So far, Kryptoskatt is completely bootstrapped.
The final scoreboard
In the final segment of the show, the judges had to score the contestants on their pitches. The series scoreboard puts them in the running for PR backing, and each vote is worth 100 points, which will be added to the audience votes from the earlier part of the show. Mind Network received a vote each from Yi He and Guy Turner, while Kryptoskatt received a vote each from Yi He and Azeem Khan. Combined with 78 votes from the audience, Kryptoskatt emerged again as the winner.
Final thoughts
While the 2D avatars looked primitive, there were some comical moments on the show, especially when Tedla’s avatar fell off his block when he was about to have a one-on-one chat with the judges. The show’s host, Justin Bratton, also brought his A-game to his role as he made witty and funny remarks on the fly that kept viewers entertained.
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About The Author
Cindy is a journalist at Metaverse Post, covering topics related to web3, NFT, metaverse and AI, with a focus on interviews with Web3 industry players. She has spoken to over 30 C-level execs and counting, bringing their valuable insights to readers. Originally from Singapore, Cindy is now based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications & Media Studies from the University of South Australia and has a decade of experience in journalism and writing. Get in touch with her via [email protected] with press pitches, announcements and interview opportunities.
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Cindy is a journalist at Metaverse Post, covering topics related to web3, NFT, metaverse and AI, with a focus on interviews with Web3 industry players. She has spoken to over 30 C-level execs and counting, bringing their valuable insights to readers. Originally from Singapore, Cindy is now based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications & Media Studies from the University of South Australia and has a decade of experience in journalism and writing. Get in touch with her via [email protected] with press pitches, announcements and interview opportunities.
