Exclusive Interview with Silly Dragon: More than a meme, but a cultural movement

Interviewee: Rahim Mawani, Head of Community Growth at Silly Dragon

Interviewed by: Peng SUN, Foresight News

On Halloween in November 2023, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko appeared at the Amsterdam Solana Breakpoint 2023 conference dressed as "Silly Dragon." Subsequently, on December 5, the memecoin "Silly Dragon" officially launched on Solana. From an initial price of 0.00002875 USDT to 0.15 USDT, SILLY surged over 5200 times in just over 20 days.

However, the Silly team is not satisfied with just being a memecoin; they aim to develop Silly Dragon into a powerful cultural movement. This cultural movement also marked a temporary halt to SILLY's rise in January, and over the past two months, SILLY plummeted to around 0.019 USDT, leaving the Chinese Silly Dragon community in a slump.

Recently, however, the SILLY market has shown signs of recovery, currently fluctuating between 0.05 and 0.06 USDT. Meanwhile, Foresight News has invited Rahim Mawani, the Head of Community Growth at Silly Dragon, for an exclusive interview to discuss what the team has been doing over the past two months, the state of ecosystem development, and the future direction.

1. From Cosplay to Memecoin

Foresight News: Please introduce yourself and your team members. What are each of your responsibilities, and what were you doing before Silly Dragon? How did you all come together?

Rahim Mawani: I am Rahim, the Head of Community Growth at Silly Dragon, primarily responsible for enhancing our brand influence through strategic partnerships within the Solana ecosystem. Prior to this, I was the community lead for the Solana Collective, a global ambassador program of the Solana Foundation.

I discovered this project through my friend David, a core contributor to Silly Dragon who assists with community activities and other collaborative projects beneficial to Silly's development. Other core team members include co-founder and Chief Development Officer SillyDev, and Chief Operating Officer SillyDragonRed. SillyDragonRed oversees all affairs and collaborates with anonymous artists to manage our art and design. We met on Twitter and agreed to help grow the Solana community.

Foresight News: What do you think contributed to Silly Dragon's success in achieving a 230-fold increase in December? Aside from the cultural significance of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dragon, what does Silly Dragon symbolize in Western culture?

Rahim Mawani: The inspiration came from Solana co-founder Anatoly (also known as Toly), who cosplayed as Silly Dragon during the Solana Breakpoint conference on Halloween; then on November 8, 2023, he tweeted about the "Year of the Silly Dragon."

After that, Toly began to recognize us, follow us, and retweet our posts, and his support drew attention and support from other elites within the Solana ecosystem. The silly dragon is full of positive energy and is very inspiring, resonating with people all over the world. It is the mascot of Solana. Of course, we also believe in Chinese astrology, as there is a shared cultural magic and influence between East and West. Let’s work together to bring good fortune to the world.

2. More Than a Meme: The Cultural Movement of Silly Dragon

Foresight News: You mentioned on Twitter that Silly Dragon is not just a memecoin but is evolving into a cultural movement and a community-oriented social financing plan. Can you elaborate on this? Why choose to shift from memecoin to building an ecosystem and projects?

Rahim Mawani: Yes, Silly is inseparable from Toly; we will always be a memecoin, but we are evolving into a movement and expanding into other areas of the Solana ecosystem, such as NFTs, Metaverse, VR, DeFi, etc. We also plan to venture into GameFi, with the ultimate goal of expanding SILLY Dragon into the entire Web3 ecosystem, starting from Solana.

Foresight News: Will Silly Dragon replicate the IP-based success of Pudgy Penguins, focusing on "branding" and cultural peripherals to expand market influence? What is Silly Dragon's biggest advantage compared to other memecoins and NFT projects?

Rahim Mawani: Imagine Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog; they are classic figures in blockbuster games. Silly Dragon has not yet been recognized by the world, but it is still early to discuss this. As we integrate with the Solana ecosystem and develop games, the influence of the Silly brand will improve. Our 8888 PFP NFT will take longer because we are integrating new features for Token Extensions, and hybrid DeFi will enhance the liquidity of our small images.

We will not replicate or imitate any projects; our goal is to continuously innovate and become a leader in the Solana ecosystem and the entire Web3 world. We approach growth with a collaborative mindset, and among the many cats and dogs, you will notice only one dragon, which is SILLY. This year is our "Year of the Dragon."

Foresight News: What are the short-term and mid-to-long-term plans for Silly Dragon? Which areas will you focus on? Are there any financing plans?

Rahim Mawani: In the short term, we will focus on enhancing brand influence, marketing, merchandise, and increasing content creation. We also hope that the families in the Silly Dragon community will be happy every day, enjoy peaceful times, and spread positive energy. We are preparing for strategic partnerships to promote the overall growth and development of the brand and the Silly movement.

In the long term, we are developing a cutting-edge Web3 mobile game and exploring the AR/XR field, integrating new interactive spatial technologies into Solana mobile games. This aligns with the Solana ecosystem's goal of bringing 1 billion users to Solana.

Currently, our top priority is to increase community engagement through fun and unique activities. At the same time, we do plan to collaborate with current market makers or new market makers and VCs for financing to better develop Silly Dragon DAO.

Since the community holds nearly 100% of the supply and has access to liquidity pools, the co-founders have already repurchased some to develop Silly Dragon. Additionally, we will collaborate with partners and the Solana Foundation grant projects to scale up.

Foresight News: What progress have you made in building the ecosystem over the past two months?

Rahim Mawani: During the recent months of correction, we have made significant progress. We launched the Zebec Instant Card for SILLY holders, allowing cash withdrawals via Visa or Mastercard. We sold all 3333 Toly Dragon avatars on 3Land in partnership with Indiglow Studios, and these avatars can be traded with SILLY. We also launched our own SILLY NFT marketplace on 3Land. Furthermore, we collaborated with Back an Underdog and the Metaplex team to airdrop cNFTs to the Solana Mobile community.

Hey Wallet has also integrated Silly Dragon, allowing anyone to send SILLY via Solana on Twitter. Teams like Orca and Kamino Finance have also supported us. With Toly's support, we became a validator node on the Solana network. In the Solana Mobile Chapter 2 leaderboard, Silly Dragon is one of the main contributors, ranking 11th.

Currently, we are busy launching a new website, releasing a new deck, and roadmap. We also collaborated with the NFT marketplace Tensor on Solana to host a Chinese Lunar Year-themed party in Toronto.

Foresight News: Can you introduce Silly Dragon's metaverse project SILLYVERSE and how you plan to use the SILLY token to mint the entire metaverse as NFTs in Apple Vision Pro VR? What is the relationship between the two? How can ordinary users participate and experience it?

Rahim Mawani: SILLYVERSE is a plan we initiated in collaboration with our partner 3 Land, allowing the community to mint, build, and design their own metaverse using SILLY, with opportunities to showcase designs and win cash rewards.

We attended a Solana event in Utah, where we met other members of the Solana Foundation and teams like MarginFi, who experienced our XR version of SILLYVERSE for the first time on Apple Vision Pro. We also minted for one of the projects using VR and created a video for demonstration. Additionally, we will launch Sillyverse on the new website for users to purchase.

Foresight News: Toly mentioned that 2024 is the Year of the Silly Dragon, and the Solana Foundation has invited you to develop GameFi games on Solana Mobile. How will the Solana Foundation support Silly Dragon's development this year? What breakthroughs will the combination of GameFi and Solana Mobile 2 bring to the Solana ecosystem?

Rahim Mawani: The Solana Foundation is very willing to provide us with various resources, assistance, or guidance, and help in game development. We also plan to apply for game development funding. The Solana Foundation will continue to share support and guidance with us in terms of technical development, marketing, and business development. Currently, we have not received official public recognition. In the future, we hope to introduce AR/XR into Solana mobile games in collaboration with partners from Indiglow.

Foresight News: You have launched a variety of NFTs. What utility will these NFTs have in the future, and how will they empower the ecosystem and users? What are your thoughts on NFTFi?

Rahim Mawani: All our NFTs are unique and have their own utilities; some are just collectibles. The Chibi NFT is a series of 50 rare animated PFPs. We have a "Dragon Avatar" for use in the 3 Land metaverse. Sillyverse is a customizable world. The red, green, and gold pocket dragons are royalty rewards for positive collectors and traders, which may also be exchanged for benefits for our early supporters in the future. Other cNFTs airdropped to various communities serve as souvenirs and POAP gifts for participating in events.

We are also preparing a 3D NFT gift for SILLY whales, which will be announced soon. The final NFT series for Silly will be the 8888 PFP series, which we just discussed.

NFTs are our on-chain brand, and each digital asset signifies the expansion of the Silly business. Regardless, the future of the Silly Dragon community is bright, and we are exploring ways to integrate our NFTs.

Foresight News: In your Chibi NFTs, there are many Chinese elements. For example, what does "Chibi" (赤壁) symbolize? Will there be more Chinese elements in the upcoming PFPs and games?

Rahim Mawani: We are very willing to learn more about Chinese elements from the community and welcome everyone to share creative ideas in our discussion area. Chibi (赤壁) means a cute and charming style, which is a form of anime.

We are also very open to incorporating more Asian elements into the upcoming PFPs and games, as Chinese culture is inspiring and resonates with traditional art.

3. "Staying Authentic is Most Valuable"

Foresight News: Over the past two months, SILLY has continued to weaken, and the confidence and activity of the Chinese community have noticeably been affected. Many joke that they hope you "do more market making and less work," but I noticed that the number of SILLY holders has exceeded 30,000. What is your take on this issue? What actions will you take to boost community confidence?

Rahim Mawani: During this time, due to our airdrop rewards to cNFT holders during the Lunar New Year activities, the number of SILLY holders has actually increased to 32,000.

**We are not interested in "pump and dump" tactics; instead, we are conducting a movement driven by experienced individuals that naturally inspires others, *and we do not care how low the current price is or the harsh feedback from the Chinese community*.

The Chinese community really needs to understand what we are doing; no one is leaving; we are continuously building. I believe our efforts will soon be reflected in the price. When you pump, community confidence will naturally increase. There is a saying: "Success does not have to be attributed to me, but the effort must not be in vain."

Foresight News: You mentioned that the team currently consists of only five people, yet you are working on over 100 projects. Are you managing to keep up? How many hours do you sleep each day?

Rahim Mawani: We are hiring and expanding the team. Managing so many projects is not something that happens overnight; we prioritize the most impactful ones at the moment. Therefore, we are not overworking ourselves but balancing work and rest. I typically rest about 6 hours a day, spending an hour on yoga, qigong, meditation, or fitness. Since joining Silly Dragon (10 days after the project launched), I have been working about 16 to 18 hours a day, always believing in "SILLY to a BILLY!"

Foresight News: I see that you have ambitious plans in various fields such as DeFi, GameFi, Metaverse, and NFTs. Given the current market situation, surviving in any of these fields is challenging, let alone standing out. How do you plan to differentiate yourselves in such fierce competition with limited team resources?

Rahim Mawani: Our resources are abundant, and we have access to some of the smartest people on the planet; we lack nothing. We hope Silly Dragon can bring more joy to everyone, and we want to share unique ideas while maintaining a positive, open, and innovative collaborative mindset to attract high-IQ and high-EQ development teams, project parties, and designers. At the same time, we will put more effort into AR/XR, mobile, and gaming fields while maintaining our brand identity.

What belongs to us cannot be taken away; staying authentic is most valuable.

Foresight News: Finally, what do you think Silly Dragon's positioning in the Solana ecosystem will be in the future? What kind of impact will it bring to the Solana ecosystem?

Rahim Mawani: Silly Dragon is the totem of Solana, symbolizing luck and happiness. SILLY will represent the future of Web3 mobile games and will lead as a cutting-edge spatial technology in XR, combining the digital dimension with the real world, bringing billions of active users to Solana.