The crypto project focused on family-friendly NFTs

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are currently all the rage in the art world, but Ricardo Griffin thought they had other applications too. Along with his wife, he set up AlphaBetty – an increasingly popular NFT project that aims to help children and teachers through charitable donations. Until now blockchain technologies and NFTs hadn’t been accessible to children because most projects aren’t suitable for them. With a passion for helping young people learn innovatively and in ways that speak their language, Ricardo and his wife decided to change the space. We asked him how it works.

What was the inspiration for starting the business?

The AlphaBetty NFT isn’t so much of a business, but more of an initiative. The aim of the NFT project was to create a collection that could help to increase the profile of the AlphaBetty brand and raise money for educational causes in the process.

My wife self-published two children’s book. The second being AlphaBetty Doodles, which is where the idea for the NFT project came about. The book follows a character, AlphaBetty, through the alphabet to help three to six-year-olds learn the alphabet in a colourful style. It is the illustrations of this character, also created by my wife, which has become the basis of the NFT project.

We quickly realised we’d hit on a niche in the market that appealed to first-time buyers who were nervous about stepping into NFTs. Parents can use AlphaBetty Doodles to teach their children some of the basic principles of the NFT space alongside a physical book to read.

AlphaBetty is the first family focused NFT project to launch on the blockchain.

How difficult has it been to enter such a new field like NFTs?

There is a reasonably steep learning curve in terms of understanding what an NFT is and how it represents digital ownership. Having a good handle on crypto previously really helped me get started. The community made it a lot easier by being amazingly helpful and welcoming.

What more could the government do for entrepreneurs like you?

Consideration for tax breaks and possibly more defined tax laws and guidelines to make crypto taxation clearer. Decentralised finance (DeFi), by definition, is not centralised and shouldn’t be governed or regulated by any one particular entity. If anything, governments should give back power to the people.

You obviously started off small and are growing. How have you found that transition and what do you think helped you achieve that?

I believe our project inadvertently hit on a niche market that appealed to first time buyers who were new into the NFT space. Parents/teachers can engage their young children with the AlphaBetty artwork and teach them the basic principles of an NFT. The fact that we already had a physical book and character brand established also helped – this was also quite unusual in the NFT space.

At the time we launched AlphaBetty Doodles, buyers were starting to get hesitant about projects led by anonymous teams or had been burnt by ‘cash grab’ projects. I think people warmed to our open and honest communication and what we were trying to achieve. Giving a percentage of our profits to educational charities is something we’re very passionate about and that was also highly commended.

We also had several high-profile American sport stars and influencers that bought Betties which helped give us more momentum.

What kind of impact have you had trying to do something like this for kids when we tend to think about Banksy and multimillions?

A large percentage of the NFT space really resonated with the AlphaBetty project and appreciated the philanthropic approach we have taken so far. I think the project is in a niche as we have not seen any other children’s book characters come from the physical world to the digital world yet.

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