Andy Tian Interview, CEO Of The Fastest Selling ICO In Asia, $30 Million Raised In 1 Minute!

GIFTO Enter the blockchain

Andy Tian has been labelled a ‘traditional’ entertainment man coming as he does from the world of online, mobile, gamified entertainment. ‘That was before I moved into the blockchain arena,’ he says, ‘it is funny to think that pre-blockchain is considered traditional.’

He has the last laugh, however, with the ICO for GIFTO, the virtual gifting protocol, closing out in one minute to the tune of $30million. ‘Two third were institutional investors and the last $10million came in one minute.’

GIFTO was the fastest selling ICO in Asia. It was four times over-subscribed and it will be the largest non-crypto adoption of blockchain technology by a mile. Tian expects a minimum of 5million users and 100,000 content creators when the product launches in Q1 of next year.

How can he be so confident? As CEO of AIG, Asia Innovations Group, Tian brings a wealth of ‘traditional’ gaming experience to the table. Previously he was head of Zynga China and there he learnt the business of gaming.

‘The millions made in the gaming industry are from virtual purchases and assets.’ He explains. ‘Gamers buy virtual swords, armour, tools — all digital assets — with which to play their games. That is the real powerhouse of the industry.’

Tian also looked at the issues surrounding monetizing content. ‘Right now, the obvious step is to place advertising on your channel. But this sucks. No one makes any real money from advertising. It is a broken model and needs a change.’

This is where Tian is disrupting traditional advertising models; that word again. ‘Unless you are a major brand with millions of followers it is next to impossible to make money from your content. Also, once you get advertising companies involved then they want to dictate the content to suit their audiences not the content creator or artist.

‘It is the wrong way around,’ he says.

A year and a half ago Tian and AIG launched UpLive, a live streaming platform. In just 18 months it now boasts 25million users and 60,000 broadcasters or content creators. There is no advertising. Instead fans of the broadcasters can show their love by giving virtual gifts.

‘We can customise the gift to suit the content creator,’ Tian explains. ‘Giving a virtual gift is…