MEET THE CANDIDATE: Max Song Is Running For Metaverse Working Group Steward

ApeCoin DAO Contributor Max Song is running to be one of the DAO’s first-ever Metaverse Working Group Stewards so that he can champion $Ape creators, work to bring more games into the $Ape ecosystem, and create ways to encourage builders to contribute to the ecosystem!

The winter election season of 2023 is underway at the ApeCoin DAO, with 12 contributors officially running to be the community’s first two metaverse working Group Stewards.

Among the candidates vying for this position is Max Song.

I am at my core, a team player and a consensus driver,” Song wrote on his candidate page. “I like to lead by bringing people along with me, and I am a tireless and passionate advocate for web3 adoption and real world use case creation. I believe that we have the once in a lifetime opportunity to build a revolutionary ecosystem around Yuga Labs and Otherside. I believe that my extensive real world experiences can be an invaluable asset to the Apecoin DAO. I believe that I can bring many business leaders, game studios, and government officials to the Yuga metaverse ecosystem. The future is bright. LFG.”

To find out more about Max Song .and why he’s the right $Ape to be a Metaverse Working Group Steward, the Bored Ape Gazette reached out to him for an interview. Check it out below:

1.Why are You Running for This Position?

“As a BAYC holder, and lover of the Yuga community, and long term participant in the digital asset sector (BTC since 2014, ETH since 2017), I am excited to be running for Steward for the Metaverse Working Group. Having attended three Apefests, met numerous members of the BAYC/MAYC community, and hosted NFT HK (nfthk.events)

during the most recent APEfest in HK, I have a strong desire contribute and grow the Apecoin DAO, and think my skillset, network, experiences make me a strong candidate for Steward.”

2. What is the Metaverse? How Do You Define It?

“The metaverse is the next iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive meta-reality facilitated by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality devices.”

3. What is the Purpose of a Metaverse Working Group?

“To build APECOIN as the dominant and universal metaverse currency.”

4. What Would You Like to Accomplish in This Role?

“I believe in the power of the metaverse sector to drive the multi trillion dollar use case for web3 and ultimately deliver the vision of a better future. Yuga has managed to build an incredible ecosystem and with the appointment of Daniel Alegre (ex Google executive, former President and COO of Activision Blizzard) as CEO, Yuga is going to focus heavily on Metaverse. As an angel equity investor in Yuga Labs, I believe in the

long term promise and mission for Yuga to create something similar to Oasis from Ready Player One.1.Representing Yuga’s metaverse efforts, working with SC, and other WG members to promote, highlight, celebrate and share the Metaverse portfolio of APEcoin DAO. 2.Bringing more metaverse and game developers into the Yuga ecosystem through partnerships, hackathons, talks and lectures. 3. Creating tools, incentives and visibility for the APE coin in adoption with ecosystem partners, to drive value to APE coin holders.”

5. Why Are You the Right Person for the Job?

“I am a futurist, a former Teaching Fellow for Singularity University, a data scientist who has worked with Fortune 10 clients, a web3 native investor for a multi billion dollar family office, a board member of a regulated financial institution, a scholar of one of the most prestigious academic programs in the world, and venture-backed entrepreneur of one of the most selective startup programs in the world (YC China). I think that the Metaverse Steward need this caliber of experience, network and capability. As an entrepreneur building my own company for the last 4 years, I have had to raise money, build teams, articulate vision, fight fires, solve complex personnel issues, overcome adversity, and hustle hustle hustle. I believe that this strong entrepreneurial muscle and drive will be a big asset to the Metaverse Working Group.

As founder and Chairman of ImpactNFT Alliance, we authored a paper for describing NFTs potential for social impact, built an alliance of 100+ organisations across 20 countries, and hosted one of the first NFT exhibitions in HK: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3151228/nft-art-show-opening-hong-kong-sustainable-development

As an early investor in Web3 for one of HK’s leading family offices, I had a chance to make many friends across the industry, especially around APAC. As a Schwarzman Scholar (described as the Rhodes Scholarship of Asia), with a 0.4% selection rate, I am part of a cohort of 1000+ international alumni from 50+ countries, many of whom are rising stars in their respective fields of politics, international relations, finance, business, medicine and art.

As a YC-China alumni (now Miracleplus), with a 0.6% acceptance rate, I am part of a cohort of the most talented technology entrepreneurs in China, and we are invested in and part of legendary computer scientist Qi Lu’s network. He was the former Executive Vice President of Microsoft and chief lead for the creation of Bing.

I have also been honored to be selected as part of the Forbes 30u30 community, the Tatler Gen.T change makers community, the Global Shapers community, the HuRun (Chinese Forbes) U30 community - these networks give me 5000+ incredible trusted links to some of the most successful and influential movers and shakers in the world.

Finally, lets talk geography for a second. There is no doubt that Asia is going to be at the forefront of gaming market adoption, application development and use case discovery. Today, According to Statica, there are 1.8B video game players in Asia Pacific, compared to 0.57B in the Middle East and Africa, 0.45B in EU, 0.33B in Latam and 0.24B in North America. As a fluent speaker of Mandarin and English, with extensive connections in APAC, I believe that I can easily contribute to bridging the language divide and onboarding APAC game development expertise hungry to participate in metaverse use cases.”

6. What Kind of Budget Do You Plan to Ask the Community For?

“I think that we will formulate a very reasonable plan - the purpose is not to spend a lot of money chasing deals, is to actually create a visible self- sustainable incentive scheme for integrating APECOIN into new metaverse projects, games and etc .

On the note about setting and maintaining budgets:

Compared to many peers in web3, I have had a more professional board experience for both regulated financial companies, global standard setting bodies, and technology companies that I think will serve me well as a Metaverse Steward.

In 2019, I was nominated as one of the youngest board member in HK banking history, and after passing interviews with the central bank of HKMA, was appointed to on the board of PAO Bank (Corporate Governance | PAOB). Since then, I have served for the last 4 years as the Chairman of the Nomination and Renumeration Committee, and sit on the Strategy, Risk, Audit committees. I have extensive work experience dealing with complex board dynamics, company operating issues, regulatory response and approval, and senior management transitions, for a regulated financial entity that manages hundreds of millions of dollars under the supervision of the central bank.”

7. What Does Success Look Like for This Working Group?

“Over the last 2 years, APE coin has suffered a precipitous price decline. As the dominant ecosystem token for the biggest metaverse project, a trailing price of 491M USD does not and cannot reflect the true value. I see the need for stronger applications and use cases across the web3 world for APE coin adoption and utilisation. I have a vision for scaling the reach, scale and prominence of APE coin as a common metaverse settlement currency. In fact, I hope to get some ex-central bankers involved in this effort.”

8. Do You Have Anything Else You’d Like to Add or Say?

“I believe that we have the once in a lifetime opportunity to build a revolutionary ecosystem around Yuga Labs and Otherside. I believe that my extensive real world experiences can be an invaluable asset to the Apecoin DAO. I believe that I can bring many business leaders, game studios, and government officials to the Yuga metaverse ecosystem. The future is bright. LFG.”

ApeCoin DAO Contributors who would like to find out more about Max Song’s campaign can reach out to him via Twitter @ Pericarus

The window to vote in the first round of the ApeCoin DAO’s Metaverse Working Group election is currently open and $Ape holders will have until December 6th at 9 P.M. EST to cast their coins in support their preferred nominees. After the first round of voting, the top five nominees with the most votes will proceed to the second round of voting and officially become ApeCoin DAO Metaverse Working Group candidates. The DAO will then conduct one more election from December 7th through December 13th. During this second vote, the community will officially elect first two Metaverse Working Group Stewards!

Take a look at the full Election season timeline below:

The Bored Ape Gazette has reached out to every candidate running for $Ape office this winter and is working to bring you reports on all their candidacies. Stay tuned for updates!