Why the OnlyFans leaders are moving into Web3 avatars with NFT startup Zoop
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Tim Stokely and RJ Phillips had a big unicorn with OnlyFans, and now they’ve turned their attention to a new startup called Zoop, which is making Web3 gaming avatars with non-fungible tokens (NFT).
Zoop’s platform will allow users to buy, sell, collect and trade 3D digital playing cards of their favorite celebrities. It uses NFTs on the blockchain to authenticate unique digital items. Ahead of the summer launch, Zoop is selling priority passes.
Stokely was the cofounder of OnlyFans and Phillips helped run the company’s Asia operations. Both will serve as co-CEOs of Zoop. They hope it will be a stepping stone to the metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One.
Phillips said the company went through a number of ideas and pivoted to a plan to target Web2 audiences who have no tech knowledge but want to engage with celebrities and influencers using cool-looking avatars. And over time, they will bridge to Web3.
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“They want to have that sense of community and be able to do things with these avatars that they’ve collected,” Phillips said in an interview with GamesBeat. “It’s a cool-looking 3D avatar and the dream is one day they can be Serena Williams playing in Tomb Raider.”
In the meantime, fans can collect avatars and be able to play simple blockchain games and
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