2023 saw the full specter of Web3 opportunities for both professionals and newcomers. This marked the beginning of the Artificial Intelligence Era. It also affected people who held an opinion against new technologies in human life, and now we can finally live in an industry where innovation and disruption are the norm. That’s why the no newcomer to the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Moritz Pindorek, an entrepreneur, crypto influencer, and former athlete, was already awarded by established financial and mainstream media outlets as Top 10 Entrepreneurs and Top 10 Crypto Influencer by Forbes Monaco in 2022, and Top 10 Fintech Entrepreneurs by FinanceMagnates in 2023.
This professional athlete, track & field, is an early crypto adapter who entered the industry in 2013. Mopindo assisted with his first projects in 2017, ranging from founding a CBD company to, a social media agency, crypto marketing agency, and crypto advisory firm. In 2018, he assisted in growing brands and in 2019 began the transition to Web 3. In 2021 brought with it NFT minting & selling plus Mopindo developing a reputation as a go-to for marketing. In 2022, he held the role of chief marketing officer (CMO) for several projects and even more up-and-coming blockchain companies. In total, Mopindo has helped other endeavors raise a combined total of more than $100 million,” according to Forbes Monaco.
Q: While interviewing many successful people, they are often asked about who their role model was to achieve great goals and who inspired them to succeed. Well, our interview will be no exception, so I’d like to ask you, who was your role model when you started your career? And what motivated you to keep going?
A: Early on in my childhood and youth days, it was Usain Bolt who was an idol for me, since I was doing track and field (hurdles and sprinting for a long time). I even got a signature from him on his birthday and the day when he ran the world records in 100 & 200m, I walked around/waited 2 hrs at age 8/9 for him and managed to get it.
The Motivation to always keep going is to be in the history book and to provide for my mother and family, which is the original reason I always strive for entrepreneurship.
Q: In one of your last tweets, you quoted Marcus Licinius Crassus “A man is not rich unless he can raise an army at his expense”, what do these words mean to you? And what’s your favorite success quote?
A: The quote does have a symbolic meaning in the business context but also in the literal context to me.
Firstly, a businessman should raise and build his “circle” of trusted soldiers that he can trust and work with, and if it’s needed, cover the cost for that and help your buddies.
In the historical context, the world is getting more unpredictable day by day, and security on an international level is rare.
So an army of modern soldiers in a historical context is crucial, do not underestimate your security (many streamers do see the downsides of underestimating it).
Q: Which of the modern leaders in the sphere of new technologies do you follow and regularly read? And do you know these people personally?
A: I do follow many leaders on X in several Industries, like CZ, Kim Dotcom, Martin Shkreli, and others, and do watch a ton of YouTube videos (where I mostly know the faces but not the names tbh)
I do not know them personally, but CZ & Kim Dotcom followed me and did engage with me.
Q: Giving an interview in 2021, Elon Musk once spoke about Web3 technologies, calling them “more marketing buzzword than reality right now”. In 2024, he certainly had a radically different opinion on Web3 technologies, but my question is mostly about Web3 adoption into people’s daily lives. Considering your belief in tokenization as a world-changing phenomenon, what do you think are the key drivers for its widespread adoption?
A: Actually, he was right with it, since 99% of the projects in the last years were mostly Marketing and did lack a lot of fundamental work. BUT it still worked for a lot of them, especially talking about Memecoin Seasons, NFT Seasons, Airdrop Seasons, etc.
That shows that my Marketing in the crypto space should not be underestimated because mediocre projects with crazy attention usually do better than amazing projects with a big lack of attention. The key drivers are surely worldwide inflation, uncertain economic times, and ETF Approval as it is now seen as a financial asset in the public mind.
Talking about user inflow in the last years in general, media attention, influencers entering the realm, and Celebrities like Elon Musk talking about it gave it the biggest push.
The next few years, however, will mostly be dominated by the Utility projects. Since to onboard the first 1+ Billion people in crypto. We will need products where people don’t even realize they use crypto/blockchain technology in the backend.
It will massively be driven by gaming projects, real-world asset projects, and big utility projects by existing giant Web 2 brands that did/will enter the Web3 space.
Q: You’ve been in the Top 10 Entrepreneurs and Crypto Influencer more than once by the magazines Forbes Monaco, LA Weekly, and DailyMail, and like any other successful person, you probably have more than faced various moments of falls and ups. Can you advise newcomers who aspire to become crypto influencers and entrepreneurs, but not to lose heart when you fail?
A: I grew up getting hurt a lot in track and field, ran with bloody shoes, whistling glandular fever, and asthma, but I was able to manage it somehow and kept pushing through. I also had to take plenty of breaks because of Leg, foot, or hip injuries because of the hurdles. But it was never about that, it was about how fast you could recover and that I was able to break my old records after recovering and learning from mistakes.
Being 1% better every day, than the day before and always getting back up, no matter how, is key to pushing through bad things and downfalls. Remember, it will get better.
I start and fail new projects every other day, 2-3 projects a week – you only need 1 to hit. Remember that.
Q: Finally, what is your vision for the future of blockchain and tokenization in creating a more efficient, transparent, and stable financial ecosystem?
A: I do see a very bright future, especially for Bitcoin, it’s the Gold of our Age, and now we’re finally having the institutional players and states also backing it with millions/billions of positive inflow daily and trust in the ecosystem.
Bitcoin will play a central role in not only finance but also political and security/cybersecurity causes which are yet mostly undiscussed and discovered.
For the financial side, we finally have a stable global spread of fair usable currency/commodity accessible by everyone and used as a global P2P network without the control of central banks to print more as it was intended. Furthermore, I hope it will lead to a more transparent use, especially in government fund use.
Conclusion
The story of Moritz Pindorek is a great example of never giving up and having fierce faith in the success of what you do. To be honest, I’m a huge fan of stories like that and especially I like to read them about the people who are innovators in the industry like blockchain and Web3.
Because being a pioneer is always a big responsibility and a big benefit at the same time. Take, for example, the success story of Vitalik Buterin, the man who co-created Ethereum and came across Bitcoin in 2011. But he had neither the computing power to mine them nor the cash to purchase Bitcoin. He looked for work in Bitcoin on various forums and eventually began writing articles for a blog, earning him around 5 BTC per article.
Or the significant story of Volodymyr Nosov, the founder and CEO of WhiteBIT exchange, who didn’t have rich parents or a brilliant education. But he has worked hard, slogged away, day after day since his early youth and continues to do so today, devoting 20 hours a day to his work.
We can even recall the well-known story of Warren Buffet, the most admirable investor in the world, who seized every opportunity within his local neighborhood. Buffett engaged in various entrepreneurial endeavors, selling a range of items from chewing gum and sodas to newspapers and magazines.
All of these stories are the confirmation that when you want something so much you get it eventually.