Staramba Spaces has just announced that there will be a demo, closed alpha version of their platform launching by the end of this year. Only those who have purchased Staramba tokens will have access to the alpha, as explained by their CEO in a recent YouTube video:
Well, it only makes sense that those who have invested in Staramba Spaces’ cryptocurrency will have priority access to the alpha (Virtual Universe is essentially doing the same thing).
However, it’s still not enough to tempt me to purchase Starmaba tokens. I’ll wait and watch from the sidelines, as I intend to do for all the other blockchain-based virtual world platforms. Again, I warn any potential investors to do every single scrap of their homework before buying into anyblockchain-based virtual world platform.
Staramba Spaces (you remember, the social VR space/virtual world with links to celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Hulk Hogan) has launched their online shop, where you can buy… well, not much, yet. All they offer for sale right now are “bidding rights” for various sectors:
Plot Bidding Right for the Paris Hilton Sector. This early access Bidding Right enables you to bid for your own real estate plot in the Paris Hilton Sector of the celebrity cluster Primus of STARAMBA.spaces. You will have the opportunity to participate via your Staramba Tokens in the non-public Investor Phase (starting in November 2018) before any public bidding begins.
Be the first!
Bid for a real estate plot with your Staramba Tokens before the public bidding begins.
Next to YOUR star!
The plots will be in Paris Hilton Sector in the celebrity cluster Primus on our first planet, Pasyra.
Here’s a picture of what the planet Pasyra will look like, with the location of the Paris Hilton sector:
I note with amusement that these “bidding rights” are limited to one per buyer, and there are “only 412 left in stock”:
I’ve been trying to figure out what the bidding cost (25 STT, or Staramba tokens) works out to in US dollars, but I haven’t had much luck in finding a website that will do the conversion for me. All I can find is this rather long-winded Medium post explaining the projected lifecycle of Staramba tokens, with the following less-than-helpful timeline:
Now, I also follow the chatter on the Staramba Telegram discussion forums, where someone posted the following information:
After the ITO: restricted trade and trade of STT
In November a restricted trade will be possible depending on regulations. This trade is only possible inside the Leondrino Wallet. It is most likely, that initially trade restrictions must be followed: on a daily, monthly and yearly basis as well as per transaction. These specifications are imposed on us by the competent authority in Germany. This means that the STARAMBA.Tokens can be offered and bought once. The price can be made by the seller or the buyer but cannot be lower than 0.25 USD per STT, which was the last price during the ITO. As soon as the STARAMBA.Tokens changed the owner or wallet, the new owner cannot resell those tokens until token class A was reached.
But you can still use them to buy services and products in the STARAMBA.spaces shop.
Tokens which were not sold during the ITO will be offered by Staramba as sell orders (instant exchange) for 1.00 USD per STT, as this is the value per STT reflected in the shop offers, to give all interested parties the possibility to fill up their STT account and afford desired products and services in the STARAMBA.spaces shop.
The token class B will be the next step and an “advanced” restricted trade will be possible.
At this time trading on other exchanges (selection process has already started) will be possible. Furthermore, the possible limits defined for the restricted trade might be loosened.
That means that today, no exact date can be provided when token classes B and later A will be reached. Every step is made due to all regulations and has to be approved by the regulator in advance.
The aim is to have the STT listed on exchanges that meet all regulations. Therefore, we are in close contact with the regulator to get information about which licenses are needed. At the moment, there is no final decision on regulations regarding trading tokens on exchanges from the side of the Financial Supervisory Authority, but we know that they are setting them up and we are in close contact with them to meet all requirements with the highest precision.
Depending on the time it takes until regulations are defined, we cannot tell you when the STARAMBA.Token will be available on exchanges or which exchanges are approved by the Financial Supervisory Authority.
Our goal is to get the STT listed on established exchanges as soon as the applicable regulations are in place and to make the STT as liquid as possible by October 2019. Nevertheless, our product development team of more than 70 people is working on STARAMBA.spaces and the whole company with more than 100 employees is doing its best to have a successful STARAMBA.Token.
If you should have any further requests regarding regulations or trading of the STARAMBA.Token feel free to contact us and we try to answer all questions as good as we can in the next newsletter.
So, you got all that straight? You basically need a Ph.D. in crypto to figure this thing out.
And for what?!?? A coveted space next to Paris Hilton or Hulk Hogan?? Or rather, a possibly-animated “lifelike scan” or “lifelike 3D avatar” of Paris Hilton, or Hulk Hogan, or some soccer star, or Gene Simmons from KISS?
How much interaction with real celebrities will you actually get, with all this talk of “lifelike scans” of celebrities and soccer stars? Why would you want to hang out with a 3D scan of a famous person in the first place?
I would dearly love to see the market research that shows people are willing to spend money hanging out with a 3D scanned likeness of Hulk Hogan, for any reason.
As far as I can tell, all that Staramba seems to have at this point, that its competitors do not, is a large and growing collection of 3D celebrity scans that they can (possibly) animate. How exactly does that translate into a virtual world platform that people will want to visit? How will people interact with Paris Hilton and Hulk Hogan? It sounds like Staramba Spaces is creating a version of Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. “Get closer to the stars!”
I just don’t think this idea is going to fly. (Sorry, Hulk!)
An established company that is listed on the stock exchange in Frankfurt is creating a decentralized, social virtual reality world which gives users the chance to rub shoulders with some of the world’s biggest celebrities.
Staramba has already created what it claims is the world’s largest database of 3D avatars, which features 7,000 stars. They specialize in creating lifelike avatars for Hollywood studios, as well as companies like Konami, the brand behind the ProEvolutionSoccer video game – with its scan of David Beckham featuring prominently in the title’s 2019 edition.
Its upcoming venture, Staramba.spaces, allows users to immerse themselves in a virtual world and engage with their idols in a whole new way. Training sessions with an internationally renowned football star would become possible – as well as enjoying a singalong with a famous musician.
The platform also offers users the opportunity to buy virtual plots of land. Examples highlighted by Staramba’s white paper include the prospect of becoming a neighbor to Cristiano Ronaldo or Paris Hilton, or gaining a prime property with a balcony that overlooks the grounds of a major football club.
These investments could prove lucrative, as it will be possible to rent out these plots to other users – or sell a desirable space at a premium. The company envisages that demand will be high because properties in the most fascinating locations with the highest footfall are going to be finite.
Aaah yes…playing the land scarcity card again. Buy now, because there are only so many coveted spots next to Paris Hilton! Decentraland and its many investors are another social VR space trying to pump up the prices of its virtual land using that angle as well, and it seems to be working…or is it just creating a financial bubble?
Of course, there is the requisite, slicky-produced promotional video, with “pre-alpha in-game footage”, whatever that means:
Staramba will use a cryptocurrency called the Staramba token as an in-game currency. They plan an initial token offering (ITO) this summer. The actual platform, to be called Staramba Spaces, is not expected to launch before the fourth quarter of 2018.
Staramba has signed agreements with various celebrities and sports clubs:
Staramba has already forged a series of partnerships – including with top-flight football clubs such as Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, the world’s number one table tennis player Timo Boll, and wrestling legend Hulk Hogan.
Other official licensing partners include the English Football Association, Paris Hilton, SLASH and KISS. It expects further A-listers from the worlds of entertainment, music and sport to join in the future.
I wonder how much Staramba is paying Paris Hilton for the use of her likeness…I mean, who is actually going to get excited about hanging out with a 3D-scanned replica of a celebrity like Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo?
Again, this is yet another blockchain-based social VR space that I plan to watch (from the sidelines) as it develops. Mark my words, all of these companies in this increasingly-crowded marketplace are not going to survive.
I’ll leave you with yet another promotional video for Staramba Spaces, featuring Paris Hilton herself. Turns out she’s an investor in the project. “That’s hot.”
UPDATE June 20th: A recently published due diligence report on the Staramba ITO by the self-described “open, collaborative ICO due diligence” service called ConcourseQ has plainly stated one rather obvious problem with Staramba’s planned platform:
Drawing 3D models of the celebrities does not mean that those celebrities have accepted to interact with their fans on the Staramba platform.
Now, I don’t know anything about the bona fides of the people who run ConcourseQ, so you can accept or reject their recommendation as you see fit. But they have touched on the one thing that has been bothering me the most about Staramba Spaces: How much interaction with real celebrities will you actually get, with all this talk of “lifelike scans” of celebrities and soccer stars? Why would you want to hang out with a 3D scan of a famous person in the first place? And, for the love of God, why would you want to be neighbours with Paris Hilton?
I guess we won’t find out answers to those questions until Staramba Spaces launches later this year. I can’t wait to see what they have to offer.
