EXCLUSIVE: This Web3 Investor, Adviser Talks Early Bored Ape Days, Going All-In On NFTs And Speaking At Benzinga's Future Of Crypto

Web3 adviser and investor Hunter Orrell is among the people who can say he was a minter of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Outside of his Bored Ape, which is often his Twitter profile picture, Orrell is working 24/7 in Web3 to further develop the growing sector.

Orrell will be speaking at Benzinga’s Future of Crypto event on Dec. 7 at Pier Sixty in New York City to share his story on going “all-in” for Web3.

Intro to NFTs, Bored Ape Yacht Club: Orrell got his start in the world of cryptocurrency in 2014 with Ethereum ETH/USD. Orrell first experienced NFTs at the end of 2020.

“My experience has been buying, trading, getting a sense of the ecosystem,” Orrell told Benzinga of his early days of NFTs.

Orrell then got the “bug to go all-in,” from the beginning of 2021 until now.

In mid-2021, Orrell said he was one of the people who caught on to Bored Ape Yacht Club in the early days.

“I was a minter of Bored Ape Yacht Club, I minted four,” Orrell said.

Orrell said Bored Apes looked cool and he minted one after he saw someone talking about it. After awhile, Orrell checked the status of Bored Apes again and minted three more. One of the Bored Apes minted by Orrell was a rare trippy fur trait Ape, which he didn’t know what it was at the time.

“Right off the bat, it was really strong vibes,” Orrell said of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community.

Web3 Full Time: Orrell is now listed as a co-founder, CEO, board member, adviser and what he calls “almost every role imaginable” across the sector of NFTs and Web3.

Orrell is the CEO of Futureproof, a company providing advisory services and angel round and seed round investments for Web3 companies.

Orrell is also the co-founder and member of Ready Player DAO, a $150-million gaming organization.

Earlier in 2022, Orrell was announced as one of the co-founder and co-owners of WAGMI United and the associated soccer club Crawley Town (more on that story here).

Orrell is also the founder of 555 Collective, a NFT collection.

During the interview, Orrell also said he is working on more projects still to be announced. 

“The biggest thing for me is that I got into this space because I saw what was going to reshape an incredible list of industries.”

Orrell said the opportunity to have a good impact on the space and the people he gets to work around are reasons why he shows up everyday in the Web3 space.

“I’m proud to tell people I work in Web3.”

Related Link: Exclusive: Yuga Labs Co-Founder Greg Solano, AKA Gargamel, Is Coming To Benzinga's Future Of Crypto Event: Here Are The Details

The Future Of Crypto Event: Orrell is one of several Bored Ape Yacht Club holders who will be speaking at Benzinga’s Future of Crypto event on a panel titled “Unpacking Why Bored Ape NFTs Make Sense: Ape Talk.”

Orrell is excited to speak at and attend the event, noting the strong lineup of speakers on the panels. Orrell said he has not attended many large crypto events in 2022, instead preferring to meet with smaller groups of people for dinner and small events.

“There’s incredibly, incredibly high-quality speakers, incredible minds,” Orrell said. “You guys have really taken the time to shape this and it does not go unrecognized.”

Orrell said the strong lineup of speakers isn’t just from NFTs, crypto and finance but also from the art world and collectors within the Web3 community.

“[It] offers quite the palette of minds.”

When asked who he is most excited to hear speak at the Future of Crypto event, Orrell said that person is Kevin O’Leary.

“The reasoning for this has to do with global economy, macro market sense. Not only does he understand crypto and NFTs I believe very well, I think he understands the reality of everything else that’s happening.”

Orrell said he is excited to be around O’Leary and hear his insights and knowledge on the space, which might be more than just the near term, also providing a better 12-to-24-month outlook.

“He comes with such a different perspective than we’re used to seeing.”

Tickets for Future of Crypto are on sale now and can be purchased here.