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Founder's Story
Burning Icons, Building Rails: How “Burnt Banksy” Made Crypto Disappear | Ep 264 with Burnt Banksy Founder of XION
00:32:43
Anthony Anzalone—aka Burnt Banksy—went from NYU dorm miner to the artist who torched a Banksy, then founder of Xion, the first walletless blockchain. In this episode, he recounts the stunt’s chaos, the backlash, and the lesson that shaped Xion: crypto only wins when it’s invisible, mobile-native, and human-simple.
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- [00:00]
Capella University Announcer
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- [00:14]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
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- [00:19]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
Hey, good morning.
- [00:20]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
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- [00:26]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
Yep, they sure are.
- [00:27]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
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- [00:36]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
It's all right.
- [00:37]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
We're so far up here.
- [00:38]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
Look at me. Take a deep breath.
- [00:39]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
I'm good. So good.
- [00:41]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Advertiser
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- [00:46]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Today's episode is sponsored by pipedrive, the number one CRM tool for small to medium businesses. I'm excited to share more about them later in the episode. Anthony, AKA Bert Banksy. How your name even came about.
- [01:01]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
So I'm coming from New York. I've lived in New York for about 10, 11 years at this point. Went to New York University and NYU gave me free electricity. Long story short, I found out you could mine Ethereum and I got kicked out of the door and fell in love with crypto. We were looking at this, we're looking at this market and we're like, let's do something cool. I am a broke college student. They end up making enough money off of GameStop options is legitimately how I get this money in order to go buy a $95,000 Banksy art piece with the sole intention of setting it on fire. Hence the name Burnt Banksy. And so we did that. We bought it, we lit it on fire, we sold it as an nft, we got Vice to professionally photograph it and we sold it for about $400,000, which was really, really exciting. Broke a lot of records, was anonymous for because of all the hate I got, which was incredible. Realized that crypto is an unusable from the application layer and built Zion to make crypto usable.
- [02:08]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Today, we're going to do something very different. And that's why I can't wait. Anthony, AKA Bert Banksy, which, by the way, I've never had a guest on that was not their, just their first name. So I'm actually happy to. I'm going to call you burnt, Mr. Burnt. And I'm excited to talk through stories. You know, sometimes we get serious. We just had a whole finance person on talking about the markets and such. And I feel like I just want to storytell. And that's. I got so many stories in Web three. You got so many stories. There's a lot of stories the last few years. But I want to start off with how your name even came about.
- [02:50]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yeah, yeah, I'll give you. I'll give you the name about. And then how I got into crypto, because they're kind of similar. So I'm coming from New York. I've lived in New York for about 10, 11 years at this point. Went to New York University. Consensus was kind of just getting started when I was a freshman and NYU gave me free electricity. Long story short, I found out you could mine Ethereum and I got kicked.
- [03:14]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Out of the door.
- [03:14]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
And technically I wasn't kicked out. I was just asked. Not. I was not allowed back at the dorms. Huge, huge difference. And fell in love with crypto. It was pretty much just mining for a while, working at a few projects on the side, but nothing like really, really full time. And, you know, was a pretty avid collector of like, you know, I lost a couple crypto punks in the Mt. Gox hack and, you know, had some cryptokitties. But it was, you know, it was an interesting time and NFTs were definitely not what they were today, you know, and so suffice to say that we were looking at this, we're looking at this market. We're like, let's do something cool. Me and two friends, and I am a broke college student and I end up making enough money off of GameStop options is legitimately how I get this money in order to go buy a $95,000 Banksy art piece with the sole intention of setting it on fire. Hence the name burnt Banksy. And so we did that. We bought it, we lit it on fire. We sold it as an nft, we got vice to professor photograph it and we sold it for about $400,000, which was really, really exciting and broke a lot of records. Was anonymous for a little while because of all the hate I got, which was incredible. And we can go into that. That's why we have two names. And then realize that crypto isn't unusable. From the application layer and built Zion to make.
- [04:51]
Capella University Announcer
Is it time to reimagine your future? The right business skills may make a difference in your career. At Capella University, we offer a relevant education that's designed to focus on what you need to know in the business world. We'll teach professional skills to help you pursue your goals, like business management, strategic planning, and effective communication. And you can apply these skills right away. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella. Edu.
- [05:22]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
I'm here on the job site with Dale, who's a framing contractor.
- [05:25]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
Hey, good morning.
- [05:26]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
Dale traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance for all his business vehicles. We're here where he needs us most.
- [05:31]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
Yep, they sure are.
- [05:32]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
We make it easy for him to save on all his insurance needs, all in one place with coverage that fits his business and bottom line. Oh, I shouldn't have looked down.
- [05:41]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
It's all right.
- [05:42]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
We're so far up here.
- [05:43]
Dale (Framing Contractor)
Look at me. Take a deep breath.
- [05:45]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Representative
I'm good. So good.
- [05:47]
Geico Commercial Auto Insurance Advertiser
Get a commercial auto insurance quote today@geico.com and see how much you could save. Get more with Geico Crypto usable.
- [05:52]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
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- [07:31]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yeah, we definitely didn't think we would make any money off of it. And so that was a pleasant Surprise, to say the very least. I will say a very pleasant surprise, to say the very least. I didn't think we'd make any money off of it, so I think that most of it was probably like the media virality factor. It's like, you know, maybe we lose half of our money, maybe we. Maybe we get lucky and we break even. Doubt it. But let's do this because, I don't know, like, I really wish I could tell you the reason. There's a lot of things that I do and we'll probably get to it. Which, you know, if you were to ask me why I did it, I don't know, I don't have an actual answer because it seemed cool and I just kind of wanted to do it.
- [08:14]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Reminds me of, you know, the, the Purple Cow or, you know, there's people who, who do really interesting billboards and things to create attention. Because we already know nowadays attention is hard.
- [08:28]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yes.
- [08:28]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
It's so fast and everything is just moving. I mean, three, four years ago, it's different than it is now, which is kind of insane, right? You know, the industry moves quick and if you're not grabbing attention, then you just disappear into space. But I remember the NFT days, by the way. So we were really active on Clubhouse.
- [08:47]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
You remember, that's where everything. That's where everything happened was on Clubhouse.
- [08:51]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Of course, it was insane. So I remember when Bored Ape launched and my friend at the time's like, it was $600. And he's like, you gotta get in. He bought a couple at $600. And I was like, nah, that sounds. I don't. What. I don't even understand what it is. I don't even understand NFTs. But we did it. We had a pretty good community there. It's pretty large. So people were launching NFTs, like on the platform that we. That we created within Clubhouse, but I didn't really understand it and I missed the boat. Everything I bought was crap. So I never bought a Banksy or anything of value or I didn't buy any of the board apes. Even though he kept telling me to do it. I bought all crap that never turned into anything. But isn't it funny to think back to those days?
- [09:35]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
It was, you know, it's funny. Like, I remember after the Banksy auction, my whole thing was like, you know, I've seen a lot of grifters in the space and especially at the time. And I. I think, like, one of the things that I really wanted to drive home is because I was this Brand new identity online that kind of popped up a week ago and I didn't want people to know who I was. Like, I had worked beforehand, but I didn't really want to show that, you know, you, I a. I got like a pretty profound idea of what it was like to be a builder in the space or like an anonymous builder in the space. And I actually, I do miss being an anonymous builder because it's all about action and there's no aspect of Trust Me available, which personally I enjoy. And I remember, you know, I was. One of my big fears was like, oh my God, people are going to think that I'm here. Just, just like one, one and done. But afterwards I, you know, whether it was the Alec Monopoly auction or the Pussy Riot auction or Naked Philanthropist, you know, I ended up doing about 40 clubhouse NFT launches just based off of that. And, you know, and trying to, like, give back in the way that people help me. And, you know, a lot of the, like the Oni Force founder came out of the, the whole burnt Banksy thing. I remember he, he told me that he was a gym. He was a, he was a. I actually, I probably don't want to dox him. Sorry.
- [10:51]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
So how does one even buy a bank seat? I always wanted to know that this.
- [10:56]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Is a great story.
- [10:57]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Verify it, even if real.
- [10:59]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
This is a great story because I'm. I must have been 21 at the time, maybe 22. And I've never obviously bought an art. This has just never been a thing for me. But we go to, you know, I'm in New York and they have the exact piece that we wanted, which was morons. And we, we walk in, we just walk into this gallery. It's me and two friends who are dressed in almost equivalent of pajamas. It's like New York, winter time. And so like Adidas sweatpants, like an overcoat, doesn't match at all. No one. Who in the right mind is trying to buy art. Like, it looks like we're loitering and we walk in, we're like, we don't know what we're doing, so we're like, you know, one, one, please. Like, one, one, Banksy, please. And we originally were like, you guys, I imagine you don't take crypto. And they're like, no, we don't take crypto. Like, okay, like, how do we do this? Like, cash. Like, in my mind I'm imagining like a briefcase that's like handcuffed to me with a, with $95,000 in cash. And they're like, yeah, that works. You could also just wire us the money. We're like, oh, okay, yeah, let's do that. And it's just like this series of stupid events. We kept the Banksy and my friends, maybe 400 square foot apartment for like four months as we planned everything. It was, it was an absolute nightmare. But it was so much fun.
- [12:35]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
How did you then figure out, okay, so you buy it, which I, I would have no idea how to get one either, so. And you know what? It really is comfortable wearing pajamas. So it is. People don't understand how you can get judged. But, you know, when you're in New York or la, you, you want to dress down, right? You want to dress down. So you, you buy this art. Now you're planning it out and how do you start to get the attention before the launch?
- [13:06]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
So we, we created the profile picture or you the profile on Twitter, I would say maybe like two weeks before. And we got it circulating within the crypto community, I would say first, just because we knew the crypto community after years of already working in the crypto space. And so that was kind of like the snowball to it. You know, we had a bunch of friends who, you know, friends at OpenSea, which at the time, they were like the only one, you know, and opensea was crazy, crazy. Back in the day, it was like.
- [13:38]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
That from zero to a trillion.
- [13:40]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
And like.
- [13:41]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
I know.
- [13:42]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
And then right alongside Clubhouse. And then, you know, you had like, foundation too, if you remember that one. Um, but opensea was the one that survived, obviously. And, you know, so we started there.
- [13:55]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
We.
- [13:56]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
The way that we did it was we. We had a photographer from VICE professionally photograph it. We had a, like a pr. Like a one off PRT just for this one thing. And they were really, really helpful in getting the initial circulation. I think the first one was Forbes was the first real article that we got. And the way that we did it was we bought. We burned the Banksy in my friend's backyard in Long island because we didn't have a lot of places to light anything on fire. Friends backyard in Long Island. We took an Uber and we took an Uber there, and there's this great photo of my friend holding the painting, getting into this Toyota Camry and then breaking down on the side of the Van Wyck Expressway in New York. And we're just standing there where the Banksy in the hand. Oh, that's great. But so then we, we. Then we light it on fire. And immediately the, the press starts rolling out, which is super lucky. Like could not have been more lucky with that. The press starts rolling out and one thing leads to another. We've had a week of like, really hard press. I'm on interviews pretty much 24 7. You know, BBC asked her a comment and then 30 minutes later they post a slam piece about us, which was awesome. Walk around with the New Yorker. It was really like, it was everything in the world that you could have dreamed it to be and more. And was doing those interviews. And then came time to sell. It went. When it did sell and it sold for $400,000 even more blew up. And the piece was called Morons, which I loved. And so everyone kept calling us morons, which was perfect. So it's like morons sell for $400,000.
- [15:36]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
It was incredible, man, that see that, that was the good part that I enjoyed about this space because there was a lot of this fun. Like people didn't want to take everything so serious, which I think I, I, I enjoy that. Right. And the fact that you, that you can do that as well. So you go from anonymous, nobody really knows who you are, to now being, you know, quote unquote famous, getting a lot of notoriety. Now everyone knows who you are. And I think you mentioned earlier that you got some hate. How did you deal with that?
- [16:13]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
It was, you know, that's a great question. You don't. What you really kind of realize in that moment, it's like it was more the people who didn't understand. And I was very public on Clubhouse. I pretty much lived on Clubhouse. And I very much welcomed all criticism because it was, how can you burn a Banksy? How can you do this to art? And I'm like, well, we're not destroying it. The ideas, we're transferring it. Still buy it, you know, and prerequisite with this is an experiment. Like, we're just trying something new and we want to see if it works. That's it. And, you know, I think that, like, I would say that like, maybe, maybe half of the people that I spoke to was just like, okay, like, I see this is like an actual experiment. Like, there's been other examples of destroying other art to change the medium of it, which I, I'm blanking on the names right now, but something that I commonly cited back in the day, you know, but I think that, like, if you understood what we were doing, it was, you know, it's one of these moments that this is either the stupidest thing in the world or the most genius thing in the world. And we didn't even know which is how you know you're doing something right.
- [17:19]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
I feel like a lot of things in history were like, either this is going to be amazing and we're genius, it's brilliant, or it's the worst thing ever and it's stupid or idiots. I wouldn't say probably the greatest moments in most, Most throughout history.
- [17:35]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
The.
- [17:35]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
The things that we consider great were probably in that moment. If it goes 50, 50, it could go, you know, left or right, you know, good, good or bad or whatever you want to say. And. And this one went good. You got some hate. And then you moved on. Obviously. NFT kind of like, you know, kind of fizzled as a whole. But then here we are. I think cryptos, I mean, it's been like, obviously just exploding the last few years. It's just the. The amount of people that I know that are in crypto that, you know, five years ago, even probably four years ago would be like. I would never touch that. Right.
- [18:11]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yeah.
- [18:11]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
All these institutions and all these people at the same time. Like, I have maybe two accounts throughout my. Throughout my time in crypto since about 2017, that I lost the phrases. And I don't know what happened to those accounts, and hopefully there's nothing left in them, so I don't have to get sad about it. But what, what was the problem that you were solving with crypto? Cause I think it's. It's. So. It's sort of related.
- [18:37]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yeah, I. It was. It was impossible. Like, it was impossible for people to use. And I think that the, you know, the idea that you needed a metamask, the idea that you need to bridge over and learn what an Ethereum wants and learn what gas fees are and learn all this stuff and save the phrases. I mean, crypto is unusable. It really is. Even to this day, it's pretty unusable. And there's no real products for it outside of pure speculation. So what we're trying to do is make it a real industry. You know, I feel like I've been in this industry for way too long and have not seen enough progress that I want to see. And that pisses me off. And so I want to change up.
- [19:14]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
What was the best coin that you ever bought at the best price? Like, did you buy Bitcoin at a dollar? Did you buy Ethereum at $0.25? Is there anything that you could put. You don't have to say the amount, but is there? I got it.
- [19:27]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
I am, I would say my mining days. I mean, the issue is, is it's Funny, my parents told me to sell immediately. Every time I mined it, I listened, like, and we made some good money. But it was. It wasn't until the last bull market that I did the math on it and realized that their advice lost me. I think it was like $78 million or something like that. And so I realized to stop listening. You kids at home don't listen to your parents. But that was. That was probably it. But obviously I sold. I think there was a funny one where I built on Solana really, really early, and I built up Solana when it was a dollar. And it was funny because you needed Solana to deploy Solana contracts. And I remember after all was said and done, I checked a couple years later, and it was like, I wish maybe a couple hundred thousand. That went right to, like. I mean, it was. It was company money. Not really, you know, not mine, but it was a couple hundred thousand, which is like, oh, okay. Well, that's. That worked out well.
- [20:28]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
You know, I. There's so many moments of that. I mean, the fact that you. I mean, you know what, though? But what's $78 million? You know, I mean, like, would you be happier today if you had.
- [20:38]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
I wouldn't be here. That's what I tell everyone. Like, the whole, like, oh, you know, I lost this in a hack or this. And so it's like, you wouldn't. Would you have sold? Like, would you have really held on to this day? I remember freaking out when Ethereum cost 50 and being like, oh, my God, this is it. It only, you know, it almost hit 5,000 the other day. I was just like, I don't think that through the cycles like this I.
- [21:01]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Would have been able to.
- [21:02]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
I will say that, like, I did ride, and I still do ride, like Ethereum. I think my. My average entry is like $700, which is good. Like, it's obviously 4,000, which is, you know, very happy about it. But it's not like I'm ever going to sell that either. Right. And that stays on a ledger.
- [21:19]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Well, that's. That's the thing, right? Yeah. If I bought Bitcoin at $2, I probably would not still have had it today. At some point, I would have exited out, or maybe it was during a dip or whatever it was. It's only the people that are already wealthy where they didn't need to touch it. I feel like ones that have kept it because they need to touch it.
- [21:42]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Exactly. It's like, it would be like, hey, let's use all the money we have. To buy this token that we know is going to go up. And it's just like, well, that's all the money that we have now. When is that right time? And it's annoying because it's a perpetuating thing, right? Like Now Ethereum's at 4,000. It's like, well, I'm not going to sell until it gets to 10,000. And you know, what's going to happen at 10,000? Same thing. But it's funny.
- [22:05]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Like, I want to.
- [22:06]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
You know, I just had a. I just had an interesting kind of thought which was like, you know, I saw something on Instagram the other day that embarrassment is a underexplored emotion. And I believe that, you know, to the point of the wild, wild west in crypto, I think that the anonymity really helped spur innovation because people were not afraid to try and be embarrassed and fail. You could fail bitter very easily being an anonymous account or being an anonymous user. And I think that there's actually something quite beautiful to that because, you know, and there's two. Two sides to that. Either you embrace your real name of Anthony Antalone and you say, I can be embarrassed and that's okay, or you can say, I burn Banksy and this can fail, but that's okay as well. So it's just an interesting anecdote that I little. I. I just kind of thought about right now and, And I think why we don't see, you know, in the same way that my PR team doesn't want me to be anonymous anymore. I think that's also why we're losing the, the spur and the innovation in the space is because there's so much criticism and there's so much almost hate that it's. Yeah, that's not that. That you, you, you really shouldn't explore embarrassment more, I guess.
- [23:18]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Well, you bring up a good point, right. I think it's. The original ideas is doxing or unmasking whatever. It creates trust because, you know, or see the person, however the person is now under a lot of pressure. That may be unneeded pressure because if something goes wrong, their name and everything gets dragged on. But we know business is risky in the sense. Look at so many companies that, you know, have tried. Look at we work or whatever, whatever company, right? Like, it could go amazing and then all of a sudden it can go south. Sometimes it's because of the founder and sometimes it's out of their control. It's, you know, like all these investors, you know, like you, you put your money in 10 and you hope one hits, you know, nine are gonna fail. 90 failure rate plus. So that is a fast. I, I really like that point though, around anonymity can spark creation. What I guess we even think be prior to social media, right? Like, prior to social media, pretty much everyone was anonymous and they were doing a lot of things. How do you feel about social media? I'm really torn about social media in general. Like, I obviously have benefited. I know people have benefited financially and it's created great things. But the same token, I'm also just scared around people like in your age bracket and others and, and how social media is going to impact the world.
- [24:47]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
You know, it's a great, it's again, a great question, but I, I think it's. It's again, so much. First of all, like, I think that social media is one of the most addicting things in the world. I think on a pure time, this is a dopamine basis. It's probably one of the most addictive things, you know, one of the highest causes of anxiety, one of the highest causes of mental strain, you know, and, and I fully subscribe to it. Like, I really. There's a book by Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism that I come back to every few months and it's just about like, pretty much just unplugging. And, you know, I find myself in these habits of like, consistently checking Instagram or Twitter. And, you know, I think there's an obfuscation with some of it that's like, you know, personal versus work. Right. Where, like, my Twitter is my work. Right. But I also, I'm lucky enough and I'm fortunate enough to love what I do. And so it doesn't really feel like work. And there's a. There's like a bad. It's like a bad omen there in a way where I'm excusing myself because it's work, you know, but there's a lot of negatives. There's a lot of negatives. But then, you know, there's also a lot of positives. Like, I think to your point, this is now an attention economy. Like, that is what this is. And there's a lot of times where I'll look at like a pitch for something and it doesn't need to make revenue. It really doesn't need to make revenue, but show me the attention that it can capture. And sometimes that's better than revenue. And I think that that's, that's going to be the case for a lot of things. And, you know, you get messages that can be spread quicker, but they also dissipate quicker, you know, and so you got to choose your poison. And I think we're way too far gone to be able to go back.
- [26:30]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
That's deep, man. I want to read that book. Digital minimalism. Going to pick that book up. How do you feel about AI? So and when it relates to how it's going to impact currency, how it's going to impact jobs, the world? Like, are we going into Star Trek or do we go into Terminator? Or is it none of the above? I was just reading something around. It was like, all job. 99% of jobs will basically disappear by AI. I know. I mean, you don't want to know my side is because everyone hates on me for my. My personal opinion because they think it's negative. But I actually have a very positive opinion. Like, I don't want to work 40 hours a week. I want to work two hours a week. I would rather do this. Like, I want to go hang out with burnt Banksy and just chill and like, I don't want to have to work. So like Liz, I don't even want to have a job. Well, how do you see the thing on technology?
- [27:28]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
I think that the way that I look at, like, the way that I look at AI is very similar to like a calculator, right? Like, we're not going to stop doing math now that we have this computer doing math for us. We're going to do more complicated things. And I think complexity is going to rise and the menial things are going to ideally dissipate. There's a. This is. Rick Rubin said this, but I really resonate with what he said where he compared it to, like the punk rock music, music where before you needed to, like, go to a conservatory, you know, really learn the instrument, really learn, you know, really learn the sound, find your own sound, learn all the music theory, et cetera, instead of years to be a musician. But then when punk came on the scene, all you needed was like three chords and you really could just get started. And you really. If you wanted to be and you had something to say, you got started immediately. And I think the way that he looks at AI is kind of the way that I'm starting to look at AI, which is the. If you have something to say, it gets easier to have something to say. And you don't need to be technically complicated or you don't need to do that menial work and the menial labor to actually say something where I think that, you know, it's Funny. You could tie this into crypto as well, but it's like, there's not a lot of real people saying real things. There's a lot of technically, you know, knowledgeable people doing technically complicated things but not really saying anything with it. And so I think that AI is going to be, you know, a step up in civilization. Do I think it immediately gets us into Star Trek? No, I think it's another tool. I think it's another tool that can help us. I think it can, you know, ideally mitigate menial stuff. But machine learning has been going on for a while. Chatbots have been on for a while. Like, I think with every new technology narrative, similar to what crypto was in 2017, how everyone's like, it's going to change the world. It's like, oh, we. Are we already. You know, are we destroying the banks yet? It's like, no, it's going to take time. It is a. It is an amplifier. It is not a replacement. Is how I view AI.
- [29:29]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Well, I'm excited about robotics and humanoid. I feel like.
- [29:33]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yeah, me too. Like, if I hit it wrong. Me too.
- [29:35]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
I was just arguing with someone. I'm like, dude, there will not be a plumber. My robot can learn from YouTube and do my plumbing, like, or my mechanics, like, whatever. I'm excited about that. But if I could have any job right now, I would want to be a dj. Like, if. If money was. Live your truth, dude.
- [29:53]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Live your truth. You.
- [29:54]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
I'm thinking about getting the DJ set. But if you could have any job or do anything and it had nothing to do with money, what would it be?
- [30:04]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
What I'm doing now, I'll be honest with you. Like, you know, there's a. There's that. I feel like if I was doing this for money, I would have stopped a while ago. I. I really love what I do. I believe in what I'm doing, and it's fucking exciting. Like, there's going to be more burnt Banksy stuff. And I think that that is, like, doing more of that is going to be exciting. But for the past four years, I had to build the platform to be able to do that so that people could use it. And now that people can actually use the platform and I can build what I want to do, like, I'm excited to. Are you familiar with the company Mischief? M A C H F Y. That's my dream. Like that. And I think that that's where we're going to as a company, which is extremely exciting because it's guerrilla marketing. Like, it's product launching in an attention economy.
- [30:52]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
So when we interviewed Gary V. He said the same thing you said. I asked him the same question. He said I would be doing what I'm doing right now. Are you going to. I mean, this is like the event season. Every year. I always go to token 2049 in Singapore. Great event. Love the side events. Marquee is this is going to be an epic event this year. Korea Blockchain Week. I need to go because I'll be. I was supposed to, but I'm, I'm not going to be in. I know I'm actually in Southeast Asia leaving in a few days. But are you going to be heading out to any of these events, any conferences? Where can people find you out there? Can they meet you?
- [31:30]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
We're going to be doing KBW really, really hard. We're not doing TW, we're not going to do token 2049 this year, but we're doing Create Blockchain Week. Really, really hard. And so we're excited for that one the most.
- [31:40]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
I will say, man, well, I have a lot of friends in Korea. I'll connect you. Please.
- [31:46]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yeah, let's. Let's reach out after this too.
- [31:48]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Yeah, no, I'm excited. So we. The reason Asia really excites me. So, number one, we have a nonprofit around AI and we provide education around the world. We have a lot of chapters in Asia. But at the same time, we also, three years ago started a. A crypto type event in Southeast Asia. And I got it. I got to tell you, as like, as the excitement of NFTs and stuff was dying in the US that excitement was like, really building up in Southeast and Eastern Asia, surprisingly. And going into like, Korea. And I know Korea Blockchain Week's huge, so it's, it's a really. I think it's great and exciting when, when you can go all around the world and you can see different communities and different people and, and just the excitements and like, what, you know, how people will benefit from something. It used to be like, it would only be in, you know, your country, your town, your. Your city, your home, but now you can, you know, do something like what you're doing, which can impact people all around the world and it's amazing feeling. But if people want to get in touch with you, Burn Banksy. If they want to meet you at Korea Blockchain Week and be a part of the events, how can they do so?
- [32:55]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Yeah, I mean. Follow me on Twitter. Burn Banksy. The. Yeah. Discord, Burnt Zion, Twitter Burnt Zion. But Burnt Banksy isn't Twitter for me and yeah, I should post a lot, so heads up.
- [33:11]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
I like that Burnt Banksy. Well, thank you, Mr. Burnt.
- [33:16]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Mr. Please. That was my father.
- [33:19]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Ms. Dr. Burnt. Now Mr. Burnt. I appreciate your time though. I like the name that. So I really. Man, you got me thinking about like how, how you know, what other type of. Of attention creations can happen in this world. There was a guy who. There was an author. What is his name? Ryan. He does the books about uh. Oh my gosh, what is it he used to do write books about marketing, digital marketing. Now he writes books about stoicism. I'm blanking on his name.
- [33:48]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Marcus Aurelian. Just kidding.
- [33:50]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Yeah, right. Maybe that. So his first book was all about doing wild. It came out like a long time ago. All about doing wild stunts and, and getting it.
- [34:01]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Oh, send it to me.
- [34:03]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Oh yeah, it's like maybe 15 years old. It's really, really good book. Now he just writes about stoicism, but it really opened up my eyes maybe 10, 12 years ago. And he did some very interesting things. But man, this has been great. I wish I could see you in Korea, but hopefully I'll see you in New York since we go there frequently as well or some weeks.
- [34:22]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Definitely.
- [34:25]
Podcast Host / Interviewer
Amazing Zion. Burnt Banksy. Thanks for joining us on Founder Story.
- [34:29]
Anthony Antalone aka Burnt Banksy
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
- [34:31]
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