WAXing Lyrical: Malcolm CasSelle Interview

Malcolm CasSelle is a busy man. Following the Token Sale of WAX back in November last year, the company raised $80 million, or rather nearer $160 million due to the rise in Ethereum since last year. Even the recent price dip in Ethereum cannot cool his ardor. He is looking towards development and hiring the best team to take this gaming marketplace phenomenon further.

OPSkins is the world’s largest marketplace for video game customers looking to purchase cosmetic items or digital skins. The company’s success is already legendary with a turnover of several billion USD. It’s only when figures are so vast that ‘several’ can be considered a legitimate expression of value.

Appealing to gamers globally

Originally a centralized platform, it makes sense, according to CasSelle, to move to a decentralized model. “There are 400 million PC gamers out there trading $50 billion in transactions every year.” he says. “It makes sense to extend that.”

By extending, CasSelle means a decentralized platform, offered by WAX — of which he is president — enabling gamers who produce content across a range of platforms to monetize their content.

“Gamers who blog or vlog often monetize their content using AdSense or advertising. That typically earns them pennies. However, we will address this by developing a WAX widget that they can plug into their platform and allow them to sell multiples of that by linking directly to the OPSkins marketplace. It is like having OPSkins in a box.”

The team has already spent some $40 million developing OPSkins tech to be used on the WAX platform. “We want to uplift and empower the users on the marketplace.”

ICO and beyond

Behind move into cryptocurrency was a strong belief in the industry. “While on our roadshow we visited every crypto expert and source of funds we could find.” he says. “What we found was universal appreciation of our product.”

CasSelle does not downplay the hard work involved in raising funds, even such spectacular funds as achieved by the ICO: “Each fund we visited loved it and gave us the energy to tackle the next. Having such a strong userbase was also critical — but we worked hard.”

Already WAX and OPSkins are inundated with partnerships by credible companies who also expressed belief in the idea, such as SALT Lending, Bancor Network, and GIFTO.