BeinCrypto spoke to Elena Obukhova and Olga Filatova, co-founders of FlashBack, a digital ticket non-fungible token (NFT) platform that plays on nostalgia and the blockchain.
As our world becomes digitized, parts of our paper-based past are being lost. From concert tickets to festival bands, the era of collecting paper tickets is behind us. However, Obukhova and Filatova saw NFTs as an opportunity to combine this nostalgia with this rising popular tech.
From finance to crypto
Obukhova found the crypto sector in 2014 after living in China for three years studying finance.
“At that time I wasn’t active on a professional level, but more on a personal level. I’ve followed all the news and updates in the space.”
Her interest in the crypto and wider fintech space led her to build FinTech Advisory Services (FAS). A company with a vision to help start-ups and small businesses grow and participate in new technologies.
Black hoodies, cryptokitties and NFT
Filatova had a slightly different journey into cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
“Five years ago, a friend of mine invited me to a strange event. It turned out to be a crypto meeting that I was the only girl at. People in black hoodies were talking about some nonsense, and I didn’t understand anything. It seemed to me, a girl in a white dress as if they were speaking Japanese. That day I decided to learn more about crypto,” she says.
She later founded a marketing company that supports ICO projects in marketing and community management.
Later, together with a friend, I founded a marketing company that supports ICO projects in marketing and community management.
“And in the following year 2017, actually at the end of 2017, NFTs came into my life. I was the marketing director of the crypto game similar to CryptoKitties where we sold and “bred” robots. We had great success with this project. We were always second to CryptoKitties for a few months.”
In 2020, she found herself in China as the pandemic was sweeping the globe.
“It was quite a frustrating experience as everything, including flights, were closed, and I found my inspiration in art. I started getting acquainted with the arts and the art business,” she explains.
“I came back to Russia with the idea of doing something in the art world. It was a challenge due to the pandemic and closed borders. But then this NFT hype started and it really helped me achieve my dream. I opened an online crypto art museum. We organized two major online exhibitions and a crypto art residence with well known great artists. And that actually brought me to New York.”
Teaming up in New York with an NFT
Meanwhile, Obukhova began thinking about creating a project with a “memory character.”
“This later led to ticketing. I felt that NFTs go beyond digital art and add value to people outside of NFT and the art space. Compared to Olga for example, I’m not that close to the arts, but I found this to be an exciting opportunity to engage people like me, event enthusiasts, artists and event organizers. That is why we are a perfect fit for this project.”
She met Filatova in New York, and the two exchanged ideas about ideas around “memories and ticketing” in the digital world.
“We talked about the idea of creating a place where users can store and collect their tickets. Olga was thrilled and said “Let’s start!”. The very next day we spoke to developers. That was a really exciting start to the project.”
“A platform for tailor-made experiences where everyone feels they belong”
Filatova found the idea of digital tickets especially vital after experiencing the positive response to the ideas at the Crypto Fair Tulum.
“When talking to organizers and friends, I quickly noticed how well our idea of digital tickets in NFT form was well received. With our offer, we solve problems that the big players in the market are also confronted with,” she explains.
“When we went public with our idea, we received extremely positive feedback. We want people to feel part of the FlashBack community and feel the unique culture of our event organizers. FlashBack is not just a ticketing platform, but a platform for tailor-made experiences where everyone feels they belong.”
NFT technology solves the problem of queuing for a ticket and then showing the pass.
“NFT technology solves the majority of the problems and removes this headache from event organizers. FlashBack ensures a secure environment with simple but unusual ticketing.”
Filatova explains that it is also a platform that can showcase and promote digital artists, which opens up a new source of income for them.
“We can now work with promoters and help them create not just designed tickets, but a real work of art.”
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