How AB de Villers learned to invest in crypto after getting scammed

Hi there. My name is Gareth Jenkinson from Cointelegraph, and welcome to the very first episode of beyond the Game, exploring crypto in sports. We're joined by a very special individual. AB Devilias is his name, and he is a South African cricketing icon. He's widely regarded as one of the best to ever play the game. Ironically, we're not here to talk about cricket today. We're here to talk about Crypto. More specifically, AB is becoming an ambassador of a new Web3 investment platform built on Ethereum. We'll touch on that a little bit later in the interview. But to start things off, ab, I think myself and all of our viewers would love to know how your journey into Web3 began. Did it start with Bitcoin and Ethereum? Are you a hodler? We're dying to know.

I actually learned about crypto the first time through my brothers. I was very, very skeptical, I always am, of any investment they take on, but they're big believers in XRP and Ripple, and since about 2016, 17, they started playing around with that. I just turned a blind eye completely, didn't want anything to do with it. Only a couple years later, I was actually in the gym one morning and I sort of downloaded this app and I just started to follow some of my favorite stuff. Obviously the markets as well, gold and commodities, but also the NASDAQ and S&P 500. I just found a bit of interest, started reading a little bit about the markets around the world, and then obviously also crypto, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP were my first interest. And not long after that, I started investing a little bit in XRP, which did pretty well over, over 12 to 18 months. And I found myself in Dubai in 2020, I think, if, if I'm not mistaken, 2021, where I heard about NFTs for the first time this time. And I, I know this friend, Jonathan Wooley, lives in Cape Town, good friend of mine, and I actually just literally just randomly asked him, what do you know about NFTs? And he gave me a long list of pointers. Where to start? Download your Metamask wallet. It was all very confusing and complicating. So that was my first introduction to crypto and also NFTs. And I've been involved ever since through lots of ups and lots of downs as well.

Yeah, definitely plenty of ups and downs. I think the same thing probably goes for cricket. Just out of interest, why was XRP something that caught your interest over Bitcoin? The preeminent cryptocurrency or even Ethereum, which pioneered smart contracts.

Yeah. Obviously Bitcoin and Ethereum are possibly the two safest crypto assets, if there is something like that. But I've always had this interest in xrp, obviously through my brothers. I started reading a bit more about the coin, about the whole SEC filing and the lawsuit that's going on. And I quite like that about xrp. This controversial nature of the coin and the pain it's been through because of this SEC lawsuit that's been going on for ages now. Whatever the outcome, I do believe in the blockchain technology and Web3. I think it's revolutionary. It's going to be. There's no doubt about it in my mind that it's the future.

I want to switch it up to NFTs because I think there's a lot of synergies between sports and NFTs, and it's a massive space in America. You've got things like NBA Top Shots, which revolutionize taking highlights packages and turning those into digital collectibles. You've got things like Bored Apes. I wanted to know if you've acquired any interesting NFTs over the years. What have you dabbled in?

AB My favorites are obviously the Mutant Ape Yacht Club. Bored Ape is a little bit expensive for me and I'm not prepared to spend that amount of money. Neo Tokyo Citizen. I bought one of those imposters. I'm a big believer of Elliot Trades and Alex Beckham, what the guys are trying to do. They're quite controversial on Twitter. This journey will just grow and grow as time goes on. I do believe the NFT industry will have a boom pretty soon, but we'll see about that. Other NFTs? Quite a few, actually. I earned up to 300 at one point.

Wow.

And then comes the little curveball. So I was a victim of a scam which really set me back big time. I sort of lost a bit of faith. I was involved for 18 months at that time. When that happened to me, it was around the Pudgy Penguin project, which I also believed in big time. And. Yeah. But anyway, I was victim to scam, lost quite a bit of my investment there of my portfolio. But I'm still involved. I still have some of my NFTs. Not all of them, obviously. A few of them disappeared, unfortunately. But that's the nature of the game and I guess if you don't do your research properly, if you're not very diligent in what you do. I made a couple of mistakes and it cost me dearly just out of interest.

Avi, maybe you can chat a bit more about how the scam took place so our viewers out there can get a better understanding of how social engineering works and how quickly you can actually lose control of your digital assets and if you're unlucky, lose everything.

I was really guided well by, by Jono, my friend. His first rule was always never to touch anything that doesn't look like it's legit. Visit the website, go to Twitter, make sure that they are, they are 100% legit. Even go into Discord Telegram. There are so many different platforms to verify this and to make sure it's a, it's a legit project. Obviously the budget penguins are very legit, but the, the little pudgy hoodie that arrived in my on my main page on Metamask was obviously wasn't legit. I never thought anything like that could actually end up on my main page. I always saw it in the hidden box. But for one to appear on the day that budget being given on Twitter released something about there will be some drops and for the long term holders. So this little hoodie up here, there, I didn't want a hoodie but I thought it's pretty nice receive a pudgy hoodie. And that's what I fell for. I tapped on that, it looked very legit. There was a $1 gas fee. The minute I hit that gas fee, it stalled. I hit it again. I hit it about five times, which ultimately meant that I gave this guy access to my whole wallet. Within minutes I saw some of my NFTs starting to be be removed. Luckily you can only remove, I think about 15 NFTs at a time. I can't remember the exact number, but I, I saw a batch of 15 go and I was like, that's weird. What happened? I immediately started calling some friends. Panic. Big, big time panic. It was absolute chaos. And ultimately I trusted my friend. He gave me his address. I sent the remaining batch of my NFTs to him, luckily in time. And yeah, I'm still in the NFT game. I won't give up, but hopefully never fall for something like that again.

Maybe your involvement in the web3 and crypto space is ramping up a little bit. You've become the ambassador of a new project called Commonwealth, which is a web3 investment platform built on Ethereum and as I understand it allows retail investors to gain access to invest in early stage projects or companies. And that's something that's typically reserved for venture capitalists. Right? The Proposition is pretty interesting. You can invest in a variety of funds and projects, you can get access to your capital through an ownership representing nft. And you can take that, you can hold it, you can fractionalize that nft, you can sell it depending on what you want to do out of interest. A.B. why did you decide to get involved in this project and how does it resonate with you?

I've always wondered how did the early investors get involved with the Boredad Yacht Club and all the new amazing projects out there? And I think that is a really, really big issue out there is not to give the common person an opportunity to get involved with good project, good or bad. I mean, we can't all just invest in the good stuff, but just to have an opportunity. As you know, it's reserved for VCs mostly and the retail investors always come jump on a bit late, sometimes to the downfall. And I think that's where Commonwealth is completely different. It's a fund. You can invest in the fund, your average person can do so and I think that's groundbreaking. Whether you're a person that's got a job from nine to five, you don't really have time to sit in front of your laptop all day and have a look at different projects, do all that homework. These guys will be investing on your behalf. And as you said, you can buy a fraction of NFT, you can literally spend $50 to whatever amount. And the trick in that is it's liquid, as you said. I'm not exactly sure whether it's immediate or a day or two, but. But it's not like your normal investments where you sometimes have to hold onto your funds for eight to 10 years before it becomes liquid.

Becoming an ambassador in the cryptocurrency space. Obviously you have a huge sphere of influence in the world of cricket and in the world of sports. You know, many millions of followers on your various social media channels. It does feel like you have a bit of a compelling story to tell in alignment with this project. It's built on blockchain, it's built on Ethereum, it's giving people access to investment in Web3. Is that a compelling story that you feel like you want to align yourself with going forward now that your cricket career is behind you?

I feel 1000% confident about this. I know the people that are on board, I know the people that have created this and I understand the simplicity thereof. And even, I mean that's. That sort of resonates with my upbringing as well and us people in South Africa, the Way we were brought up with our different cultures, the racial issues we've had in the past, different people with privileges, others not. I think that's the issue around the world. And this project sort of tackles that and that resonates with me. I love the fact that the common person, that's why it's called Commonwealth, can get an opportunity, as with the most wealthy person out there, the guy who has been involved with this space for 10 years, who knows all the tricks, the ins and outs. This just gives you a level playing field, gives everyone the same opportunity.

And AB just to finish off with the crypto side of this conversation, obviously it seems like behind the scenes you've been pretty involved in the web3 space already. You know, dabbled in NFTs and invested in various cryptocurrencies. Do you see yourself being more involved in this web3 and crypto space going forward? Can we expect more of this from you?

I'm still involved. I'm not going anywhere. I truly believe in the technology. I believe in the space. And as I said, I could never put my finger on which projects will work, which won't. I have the fear that I believe in. I do my research, research with it. I follow certain people. I'm on this in the space every single day of my life, whether it's 30 minutes, sometimes two hours. I just like to know what's going on. Follow the right people. I always enjoyed following Elon Musk. He's quite controversial on Twitter obviously as well, but you follow the right people on Twitter, you get a. A decent understanding of what's happening in the space and then you do your own research as well.

All right, A.B. i thought we'd finish off the interview with some cricket focused questions. Obviously, my. My background in sports broadcast means I have plenty to ask you. I'm going to try and keep it short and sweet. Starting off with your favorite team to play against your favorite opponents. I think I know what the answer is going to be.

Since I was a little boy, I think I was five or six years old, I quickly learned with my family that Australia is our biggest rivals and that's the team to beat. There's no team that even comes close when it comes to competitiveness and especially to travel there. It's not an easy place to travel to. They really get behind the boys. So it's always been Aussie off the.

Top of your head. The worst bowler to face. Was it any particular seamer or maybe one of the trickiest spinners out there?

The first guy who comes to mind is Sh Akhtar facing him was, I never felt that he's going to get me out all the time. But just like you knew if you missed the ball, you would be in a lot of pain. So there was that fear factor. Rashid Khan, in the T20 business, especially at nighttime when you can't pick the ball, those are one of the guys who feel like this guy can get me out at any minute and I'll have to sort of be proactive and take it to him, get him off his game. And those are the guys that you're never comfortable playing against.

All right, Abby, thanks very much for taking the time to chat to me. It's been a really long and enjoyable conversation. I look forward to seeing your involvement in the web3 space. Going forward. I hopefully look forward to hearing more of you in the cricket commentary box. If that's what you're going to be doing more of in the future, that's fantastic. Thanks very much for your time, and I look forward to catching up with you very, very soon.

Yeah, it was nice talking to you as well, Gareth.