OG:Crystal Success Stories with LEOS10301
We are excited to present the first installment of OG:Crystal stories — A series of interviews where we will feature the stories of some of our most passionate collectors.
Through this series, we hope to share more about the people behind the OG:Crystals — their background, their NFT journey, how they found the OG:Crystal project, and most importantly their unique growth strategies and views on OG:Crystals.
Today, we are excited to present LEOS10301!
- Who are you and what do we need to know about you?
I have been in the tech industry for many years, starting my career as a software engineer [and] eventually moving into developing mobile applications, and leading teams working on various well-known mobile apps.
I got to see up close the rise (and fall) of the dot com boom in the early 2000s, as well as the emergence of Web 2.0 companies after that. I see a lot of similarities between those dot com IPOs and NFTs now: there were only a handful of truly great companies that would emerge and a ton of derivative “me too” companies that have since gone bankrupt and no longer exist.
Another similar pattern years later was the rise of bitcoin, altcoins, ICOs, and the thousands of “me too” coins that offered no value to anyone.[…] NFTs based on collecting art finally offered a compelling use case for the blockchain technology that the average person could understand and participate in (although it’s still not very easy or user friendly for most people to learn how to buy an NFT for the first time).
The experience of having seen these same patterns over and over again made it very easy for me to decide to be a part of the OG:Crystals project.
G:Crystals is clearly in a league of its own, being far more innovative and beautiful than 99% of the NFT projects out there. First of all, the innovation aspect is quite interesting. Being able to make decisions about how you want your crystal to grow and evolve is compelling. That adds a lot of fun, intrigue, and experimentation to the project as well as giving owners true decision power over their creation. I think it also increases the attachment the owners feel to their special crystals that they have poured their energy into developing through each generation.
Then, the amazing beauty of the generated crystals is breathtaking. I can’t tell you exactly how many hours I have spent (but it’s way more than 10) going through the generated crystals and looking at the images and properties of them. There are so many spectacularly beautiful ones. I seriously have favorited over 100 so far and I add more every day! Every one of those I have favorited I would love to own! And there are still thousands of crystals that I have not seen as they have grown and changed since I first saw them. What stands out to me is the natural and organic beauty of each one. As a software engineer, I have no idea how the team was able to develop such beautiful images algorithmically, I am truly in awe.
Finally, there is the pure art aspect of this project and how it ties in the real world with the NFT world, bridging the gap between them. Every crystal is part of the reef, and this reef will get exhibited in museums in real life! It will be shown to the world and so all those who have never owned an NFT will get to see the power of this new platform. Each owner of a crystal will be part of an amazing art installation and will be able to see their crystal and the collective reef exhibited at an art museum! That blows my mind. I also think it will generate a ton of fantastic publicity for the project and NFTs in general. I believe that awareness of this project will grow over time, as it’s clearly unlike anything else.
2. When and how did you discover NFTs?
I’ve been aware of and watching NFTs evolve for a long time now. When the concept first started gaining traction, I didn’t understand how there could be value in NFTs. It’s a lot like when I first heard about Uber or Airbnb.
I am not an early visionary, but I do tend to be one of those people that adopt new ideas a bit before they are mainstream. I think this is probably where NFTs are right now.
The early adopters were there and saw the value in CryptoPunks and others, then slowly over the next few years the concept gained traction, and finally, enough infrastructure is now in place (Coinbase, easy to use wallets, OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare, and other platforms) that reasonably tech-savvy people can jump in and start expanding the market and keep the flywheel going.. It won’t be too long before mainstream access points like Coinbase and other platforms will make it a lot safer and easier to get started with NFTs. At that point, we should see a strong wave of adoption from the masses that would like to participate but don’t currently have the knowledge or skill to get in.
3. What was the first NFT you’ve ever bought?
OG:Crystals was the first NFT I ever bought. I followed all the Punks and Apes and other early projects and read about the space for years, but those early types of projects never appealed to me. My hat is off to the visionaries that were early adopters of those, and I am glad to see them rewarded for their insight, but none of those ever made me think “wow, this could be amazing to be a part of ‘’.
I didn’t see the full potential of NFTs until OG:Crystals came along and made me sit up and take notice of its combination of innovation and beauty.
4. How did you hear about OG:CR?
A friend of mine (https://opensea.io/smileyborg) sent me information on the project before the mint happened. When I saw it, it blew me away, and I remember thinking for the first time that I wanted to be part of an NFT project and participate in the adventure of it. It seemed clear to me that this would be a groundbreaking project and the beauty of the art resonated with me.
I have always been attracted to natural beauty and the amazing diversity of life. In real life, I collect meteorites (yes, actual pieces of other proto-planets that fall to earth).
Meteorites are very rare and some of them are incredibly beautiful. Having that experience with collecting beautiful and rare objects in real life resonated with me when I saw the crystals and the amazing images of them.
5. How do you grow your Crystals?
I have used all kinds of ways to grow my crystals. Early on I bought six of the seeds from people that got them during the whitelist. Since I wasn’t sure if I would get any seeds at the sale, I bought a few to be safe. Then I was lucky enough to get in on the sale and was able to mint 10 seeds that way. I ended up with enough that I could experiment with different strategies.
One of my early ideas came from the trade channel, where I found other great collectors who believe in the project.
@PlantDr on Discord is a great guy who I met on the channel and we each bought five crystals from each other and then bought them back again. That gave us both a chance to develop special traits while not risking losing our crystals from having to sell them permanently.
Another thing I have done is transfer my crystals to a friend so they don’t grow (because his wallet likes to grow dark and Omnis, lol) and then I buy back my crystal.
And finally, I have purchased various crystals from others and watched them grow from my wallet purchase. I have had good luck with all those approaches.
6. What is your OG:Crystal’s growth strategy?
I mentioned above that I collect meteorites, some of which are quite beautiful with crystal growths of their own! (I can show you some pictures if you want). Learning how to recognize rarity and beauty in these objects and in other areas that I have collected in the past (coins, books) has allowed me to bring that experience to this project.
There are so many different strategies to collecting and growing, and I think each person needs to find the strategy that resonates with them. I will describe mine, but mine is based on my own experience and my ideas of beauty and rarity. Other people will have different ideas.
For me, beauty is really important. I want to own crystals that are either beautiful or distinctive in some way, ideally both.
If I have an average crystal, I will try and grow it to produce something distinctive. When I do hit something amazing, I will not grow it anymore. I don’t care if the rarity rank is low or not. If it’s beautiful and/or distinctive to me, I will freeze it in that state.
For example, Crystal 4881. https://opensea.io/assets/0x368ad4a7a7f49b8fa8f34476be0fc4d04ce622f5/4881
I call it The Flame. It is only a Gen 5, but you will have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers before I let it grow anymore! It will never show up high on any rarity ranking, but I think it is one of the most beautiful and distinctive crystals in the entire collection (I may be biased, lol).
On the other hand, there are times when I think a crystal is *this* close to glory and needs more growth to take it over the top.
I had a generation 6 Obsidian 6 that I sat on for weeks trying to decide whether to grow it one more time. I was so scared that if I grew it would add a brown coral to it or something and ruin the beauty of it. I finally decided to gamble on growing it, and so I transferred it to a friend and then bought it back. I got very very lucky and it stayed Obsidian for the final growth, and in fact, it has a unique look to it that I have not seen in any other crystal in the project. It’s currently ranked #38 rarity overall and it looks like a sword. It’s very cool. I call it the Obsidian Sword:
I will say that I have had a few growths that I did not like the look of. It took me a lot of experimenting to get a good idea of what my wallet tends to produce and what it doesn’t. For example, I ran ten different quartz crystals through my wallet, and never once did I get second quartz! I then realized that my wallet likes to produce darker colors and yellow corals, not white or bright quartz! So learning and experimenting are key to growing.
After the initial mint, early on I bought a nice Ksoid that I love and also bought a Meebit. After adding those to the wallet it seemed to produce either a Ksoid or a Meebit trait about 25% of the time, which was very cool. That helped salvage a few of the early growths that I wasn’t as fond of.
Finally, I see that some people focus on the traits and getting a 7 of 7 on a trait or color. I think that is also a perfectly valid way of approaching collecting. There is no right or wrong way. However, the problem with only focusing on the 7/7 traits is that sooner or later there are likely to be multiple crystals with the same 7/7 traits, which will reduce the rarity for all the owners that have it. So that can be a longer-term riskier approach but could pay off if you get lucky and can get through the two months of generation with your 7/7 trait being the only one. Otherwise, they will be diluted in rarity over time.
I think the people that focus on what resonates for them will end up being very happy in the long run. Likely, the approach you love will also be loved by a percentage of the other crystal enthusiasts. And if you love a certain look or style you will become an expert in it and be able to identify crystals within that style that stands out.
7. Why do you like the OG:CR project?
I think I’ve already covered most of this in my other answers, but to summarize:
- Cofounders who bring a combination of amazing artistic beauty and technical skills to the project. They continue to be involved in the project, both technically and with marketing and helping the community flourish.
- Beautiful art, with quality far above most other generative NFT art projects right now.
- Innovative— the ability to generate and transform your creations, the randomness factor, the strategy, and decision making, all are interesting, fun, and cool aspects to this. Generating 3D files for each crystal holder to use in the metaverse is also nice.
- Ties to real-life — exhibiting the reef at museums is going to be mind-blowing! I can’t wait to see this.
- Giving back to the world. The project is donating 3% to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to support their research, and crystal holders will get to name a new species! I love this. Helping a real scientific institution and bringing awareness to delicate marine life is wonderful. Makes me proud to be part of this project. How many NFT projects make a difference like that?
- And finally, the community is cool. I met strangers on the Discord who were fellow crystal holders, and in just a week or two, we got to know each other on Discord and trusted each other to send our crystals to each other for growth, knowing they would send them back to us with no worry! I love that part. I want to shout out to @PlantDr for being one of the first guys that I did this with and helping me to feel that this community was something special. Of course, you always have to be careful who you trust but if you hang out on the Discord for a while you will quickly learn who are the people that you can trust to do swaps and trades with.
Thank you LEOS10301, for taking the time to share your fascinating story and your passion for the OG:Crystal project! We are proud to have you as a member of our community.
If you want us to be featured on Snark.art as a successful OG:Crystal collector send us a message on Twitter or fill out the form here and we will be in touch!
