Exclusive: Empowering Creators in the Open Metaverse with Justin Melillo, CEO of Mona

cryptonews.com:

At Consensus 2024 in Austin, Texas, Cryptonews’s Matt Zahab sat down with Justin Melillo, CEO and founder of Mona, for an in-depth discussion about the platform’s mission, its support for creators, recent achievements, and future trends in the digital art space, especially the metaverse.

Mona was Founded in 2021; it is a platform designed to accelerate the growth of the open metaverse . It provides tools and protocols that enable creators and developers to thrive.

Melillo, who has a rich background in 3D animation and visual effects, created Mona to address the lack of support for 3D artists’ tokenization and sharing of their work.

Melillo explained that Mona’s mission is to build tools that help creators and developers succeed in the metaverse. He said,

“Mona’s mission is to accelerate the growth of the open metaverse by building tools and protocols that help creators and developers thrive.”

The platform allows users to upload and tokenize various digital assets, such as immersive worlds, 3D objects, game items, and avatars, which can then be bought, sold, and traded. A key feature of Mona is that its tools are free for artists and creators. Melillo highlighted,

“Our tools are all completely free for artists and creators to use to upload and tokenize their work and then sell it.”

The platform also emphasizes perpetual royalties, ensuring that creators continue to receive payment for their work, which supports long-term sustainability for artists.

One significant differentiator for Mona is its approach to virtual land. Unlike other platforms that require users to buy expensive virtual land, Mona values the creative merit of the assets.

“There’s absolutely no concept of land in Mona.”

Melillo noted that this