 Hi there, my name is Gareth Jenkinson from Cointelegraph and welcome to the very first episode of Beyond the Game, exploring crypto in sports. We're joined by a very special individual. A.B. de Villiers is his name and he is a South African cricketing icon. He's widely regarded as one of the best to ever play the game. Ironically, we're not here to talk about cricket today. We're here to talk about crypto more specifically. A.B. is becoming an ambassador of a new Web3 investment platform built on Ethereum. We'll touch on that a little bit later in the interview, but to start things off, A.B., I think myself and all of our viewers would love to know how your journey into Web3 began. Did it start with Bitcoin and Ethereum? Are you a hudler? We're dying to know. I actually learned about crypto the first time through my brothers. I was very, very skeptical. I always am of any investment they take on, but they are big believers in XRP and Ripple. Since about 2016-17, they started playing around with that. I just turned a blind eye completely. I didn't want anything to do with it. Only a couple years later, I was actually in the gym one morning and I downloaded this app. I just started to follow some of my favorite stuff, obviously the markets as well, gold and commodities, but also the Nasdaq and S&P 500. I just found a bit of interest. I started reading a little bit about the markets around the world and then obviously also crypto, but going Ethereum, XRP, were my first interests. Not long after that, I started investing a little bit in XRP, which did pretty well over 12 to 18 months. I found myself in Dubai in 2020, I think, if I'm not mistaken, 2021, where I heard about NFTs for the first time. I know this friend, Jonathan Wooley, lives in Cape Town, a good friend of mine. I actually just literally just randomly asked him, what do you know about NFTs? He gave me a long list of pointers, where to start, down the Jermida Mask wallet. It was all very confusing and complicating. That was my first introduction to crypto and also NFTs and I've been involved ever since, through lots of ups and lots of downs as well. Yeah, definitely plenty of ups and downs. I think the same thing probably goes for cricket. Just out of interest, why was XRP something that caught your interest over Bitcoin, the preeminent cryptocurrency, or even Ethereum, which pioneered smart contracts? Yeah, obviously Bitcoin and Ethereum are possibly the two safest crypto assets, if there is something like that. But I've always said this interest in XRP, obviously through my brothers. I started reading a bit more about the coin, about the whole SEC filing and the lawsuit that's going on. And I quite like that about XRP, this controversial nature of the coin and the pain it's been through because of this SEC lawsuit that's been going on for ages now. Whatever the outcome, I do believe in the blockchain technology and Web3, I think it's revolutionary. It's going to be, there's no doubt about it in my mind that it's the future. I want to switch it up to NFTs because I think there's a lot of synergies between sports and NFTs and it's a massive space in America. You've got things like NBA top shots, which revolutionize taking highlights packages and turning those into digital collectibles. You've got things like board apes. I wanted to know if you've acquired any interesting NFTs over the years. What have you dabbled in, AV? My favorites are obviously the Mutant API Club. Board apes are a little bit expensive for me and I'm not prepared to spend that amount of money. Neo Tokyo, a citizen, I bought one of those. Impostors, I'm a big believer of Eleo trades and I'm expecting what the guys are trying to do. They're quite controversial on Twitter. This journey will just grow and grow as time goes on. I do believe the NFT industry will have a boom pretty soon, but we'll see about that. Other NFTs, quite a few actually. I earned up to 300 at one point and then comes the little curveball. I was a victim of a scam, which really set me back big time. I sort of lost a bit of faith. I was involved for 18 months at that time and that happened to me. It was around the Pagie Penguin project, which I also believed in big time. Anyway, I was victim to a scam, lost quite a bit of my investment there of my portfolio, but I'm still involved. I still have some of my NFTs, not all of them. Obviously, a few of them disappeared, unfortunately, but that's the nature of the game and I guess if you don't do your research properly, if you're not very diligent in what you do, I made a couple of mistakes and it cost me dearly. Just out of interest, AV, maybe you can chat a bit more about how the scam took place so our viewers out there can get a better understanding of how social engineering works and how quickly you can actually lose control of your digital assets and if you're unlucky, lose everything. I was really guided well by Jono, my friend. His first rule was always never to touch anything that doesn't look like it's legit. Visit the website, go to Twitter, make sure that they are 100% legit, even going to Discord, Telegram. There are so many different platforms to verify this and to make sure it's a legit project. Obviously, the Pudgy Penguins are very legit, but the little Pudgy Hoody that arrived on my main page on Metamask was obviously wasn't legit. I never thought anything like that could actually end up on my main page. I always saw it in the hidden box, but for one to appear on the day that Pudgy Penguins on Twitter released something about there will be some drops and all the long-term holders and so this little hoody appear there. I didn't want to hoody, but I thought it's pretty nice to receive a Pudgy hoody and that's what I felt for it. I tapped on that. It looked very legit. There was a $1 gas fee. The minute I hit that gas fee, it stalled. I hit it again. I hit it about five times, which ultimately meant that I gave this guy access to my whole wallet. Within minutes, I saw some of my NFTs starting to be removed. Luckily, you can only remove, I think, about 15 NFTs at a time. I can't remember the exact number, but I saw a batch of 15 go and I was like, that's weird. What happened? I immediately started calling some friends. Panic, big time panic. It was absolute chaos and ultimately, I trusted my friend. He gave me his address. I sent the remaining batch of my NFTs to him, luckily in time. I'm still in the NFTs game. I won't give up, but hopefully never fall for something like that again. Maybe your involvement in the Web3 and CryptoSpace is ramping up a little bit. You've become the ambassador of a new project called Commonwealth, which is a Web3 investment platform built on Ethereum. As I understand it, it allows retail investors to gain access to invest in early-stage projects or companies. That's something that's typically reserved for venture capitalists. The proposition is pretty interesting. You can invest in a variety of funds and projects. You can get access to your capital through an ownership representing NFT, and you can take that. You can hold it. You can fractionalize that NFT. You can sell it depending on what you want to do. Out of interest, AB, why did you decide to get involved in this project and how does it resonate with you? I've always wondered, how did the early investors get involved with the board ADO club and all the new amazing projects out there? I think that is a really, really big issue out there, not to give the common person an opportunity to get involved with good projects, good or bad. I mean, we're gone all just investing the good stuff, but just to have an opportunity, as you know, it's reserved for VCs mostly, and the retail investors always jump one a bit late sometimes to the downfall. I think that's where commonwealth is completely different. It's a fund you can invest in the fund your average person can do so, and I think that's groundbreaking. Whether you're a person that's got a job, nine to five, you don't really have time to sit in front of your laptop all day and have a look at different projects, do all that homework. These guys will be investing on your behalf. As you said, you can buy a fraction of NFT, you can literally spend $50 to whatever amounts, and the trick in that is it's liquid. As you said, I'm not exactly sure whether it's immediate or a day or two, but it's not like your normal investments where you sometimes have to hold on to your funds for eight to 10 years before it becomes liquid. Becoming an ambassador in the cryptocurrency space, obviously, you have a huge sphere of influence in the world of cricket and in the world of sports. Many millions of followers on your various social media channels. It does feel like you have a bit of a compelling story to tell and alignment with this project. It's built on blockchain. It's built on Ethereum. It's giving people access to investment in Web 3. Is that a compelling story that you feel like you want to align yourself with going forward now that your cricket career is behind you? I feel 1,000% confident about this. I know the people that are on board. I know the people that have created this. I understand the simplicity thereof. That resonates with my upbringing as well. As people in South Africa, the way we were brought up with our different cultures, the racial issues we've had in the past, different people with privileges, others not. I think that's the issue around the world. This project tackles that and that resonates with me. I love the fact that the common person, that's why it's called common wealth, can get an opportunity as with the most wealthy person out there, the guy who has been involved with this space for 10 years, who knows all the tricks, the ins and outs. This just gives you a level playing field. It gives everyone the same opportunity. AB, just to finish off with the crypto side of this conversation, obviously, it seems like behind the scenes you've been pretty involved in the Web 3 space already, dabbled in NFTs and invested in various cryptocurrencies. Do you see yourself being more involved in this Web 3 and crypto space going forward? Can we expect more of this from you? I'm still involved. I'm not going anywhere. I truly believe in the technology. I believe in the space. As I said, I could never put my finger on which projects will work, which won't. I have the fear that I believe in. I do my research with that. I follow in the space every single day of my life, where there's 30 minutes, sometimes two hours. I just like to know what's going on. Follow the right people. I've always enjoyed following Elon Musk. He's quite controversial in Twitter, obviously, as well. But you follow the right people in Twitter, you get a decent understanding of what's happening in the space, and then you do your own research as well. AB, I thought we'd finish off the interview with some cricket-focused questions. Obviously, my background in sports broadcast means I have plenty to ask you. I'm going to try and keep it short in suites. Starting off with your favorite team to play against, your favorite opponent, I think I know what the answer is going to be. Since I was a little boy, I think I was five or six years old. I quickly learned with my family that Australia is our biggest rivals, and that's the team to beat. There's no team that even comes close to when it comes to competitiveness, and especially to travel there. It's not an easy place to travel to. They really get behind their boys, so it's always been Aussie. Off the top of your head, the worst bowler to face, was it any particular Seema, or maybe one of the trickiest spinners out there? The first guy who comes to mind this show, Bakhtar, facing him was, I never felt that he's going to get me out all the time, but just like you knew, if you missed the ball, you would be in a lot of pain. So there was that fear factor. Rashid Khan in the T20 business, especially at night time, when you can't pick the ball, that's the one of the guys you feel like, this guy can get me out at any minute, and I'll have to sort of be proactive and take it to him, get him off his game, and those are the guys that you're never comfortable and playing against. All right, Avi, thanks very much for taking the time to chat to me. It's been a really long and enjoyable conversation. I look forward to seeing your involvement in the Wave 3 space going forward. I hopefully look forward to hearing more of you in the cricket commentary box, if that's what you're going to be doing more of in the future. That's fantastic. Thanks very much for your time, and I look forward to catching up with you very, very soon. Yeah, it was nice talking to you as well, Gareth.