Meet the man behind the technology that allowed Metaverse Fashion Week to be the mega success it was
How I’m Making It is a weekly series in which Tatler speaks to influential individuals about their unique journeys and what keeps them going.
When Justin Banon founded Boson Protocol in 2019, during what he considers a “crypto winter“, the serial entrepreneur didn’t expect that his technology would soon become so integral to the metaverse. It was used to power large-scale virtual events such as Metaverse Fashion Week in Decentraland and also to onboard various luxury brands on the platform.
“I wanted to build the blockchain version of a rewards program,” Banon explained. “However, I noticed a few issues. For example, if I tokenise a car, how do I know that I’m going to actually receive the item or get my money back?”
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Currently, according to Banon, the only way to do this is through an intermediary which Banon wanted to eliminate.
In 2019, Banon founded and launched Boson Protocol, a decentralised network that helps people sell physical products as NFTs, without the need for a centralised intermediary. Essentially, the company bridged the gap between shopping online and in a physical store.
“Boson Protocol’s technology solves the problem of connecting smart contracts to real-world physical assets. This allows for the exchange of digital value for physical assets,” Banon continued.
Of course, the journey to Boson Protocol was nothing close to easy for Banon who wasn’t always interested in the metaverse.
“I actually always thought I would be a theoretical physicist in my early days,” shared Banon who attended Imperial College London and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics. As bitcoin and crypto became more popular, Banon continued his education and also accomplished a master's degree in Digital Innovation at the University of London followed by another master's degree in Blockchain and Digital Currency at the University of Nicosia.
Upon graduating, Banon began to work in tech where he held various roles and positions.
“In my life before Web3, I was the Global Director of Priority Pass. Here, I took a US$50 million revenue loyalty rewards business based around paper and plastic vouchers and massively scaled it to a US$1 billion-revenue digital voucher platform,” Banon explained.
He also passionately spoke about two startups that he had founded. These were Meltfactory, a blockchain strategy consultancy focused on blockchain venture architecture and decentralized business model design, and Redeemeum, a venture-backed marketplace for exchanging crypto-assets for real-world products and services.
In 2019, Banon decided to start Boson Protocol despite the fact that no one was interested in what he was doing and that many investors were insisting that crypto was dead.
“Only a few hardcore believers thought selling physical items as NFTs or building a universal settlement layer for commerce was a good idea,” Banon said. “However, we persevered and a year later we raised US$36 million and assembled one of the best teams in the space. Now, we have an avalanche of adoption across major brands.”
True enough, Boson Protol today has had the privilege of counting companies such as Tommy Hilfiger, Cider, IKKS, Deadfellaz, The Rebels by House of Kalinkin, Christine Massarany and more as loyal clients.