Scaling AltCryptoGems: Sjuul Follings on Web3 and AI Innovation

Faces of Web3: Sjuul Follings on Crypto Content, AI, and Building AltCryptoGems

The Evolution and Origins of AltCryptoGems

• Sjuul Follings first encountered crypto in 2016 through Counter Strike skin arbitrage, making them one of the industry’s genuine OGs who have survived multiple market cycles.
• A 100x return on PancakeSwap in 2021 was the moment that turned a dormant Bitcoin holding into a full-time career in crypto.
• AltCryptoGems grew from a public Twitter bookkeeping page into a full content ecosystem across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and a podcast, with a team of ten.
• Sjuul sees Web3 and blockchain as the foundational infrastructure for AI-powered transactions, a layer that traditional finance built on COBOL simply cannot provide.
• The next phase of the business is building internal AI tools, several of which are already attracting interest from people outside the company.

Running a crypto media company was not at the top of Sjuul Follings’ list of things to do in life, but after publicly sharing his crypto moves on X, the community naturally grew around him and then a random message from Binance planted a seed of a new idea.

In 2021, during a bull run that launched tokens like SafeMoon and Shiba Inu into the mainstream, Sjuul started posting buys, sells, and portfolio updates to a public Twitter / X page, not with the intention to build anything, but because it was a convenient way to stay organised. The page took off, Binance noticed, and by the end of that year what had started as a simple public ledger habit, had become AltCryptoGems, a full-time business with a growing audience and a content vision far bigger than chart screenshots.

Today, Sjuul leads a team across content creation, technical analysis, editing, and creative direction, with platforms spanning YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and the Alt Crypto Cast podcast. 

Their focus for the years ahead is twofold: preparing for the next market cycle, and building AI tools internally that colleagues are already asking to buy.

Louise MacFarlane, Web3 Strategist at Take3, sat down for a chat for our Faces of Web3 series with Sjuul about his journey so far in the crypto, Web3 world and where it is all heading.

How Did You First Get Into Crypto?

It was a chance encounter, something that I didn’t plan or see coming, but I was playing the game Counter-Strike, which led me into the world of crypto.

I noticed you could trade in-game skins, and the prices varied across different gambling websites, so I started doing basic arbitrage. When it came time to cash out, the only way to do it was through Bitcoin. That is how my first crypto holdings happened, almost by accident.

While I was studying, I left those holdings where they were, and they sat there untouched until late 2020, when a friend messaged me about DeFi and earning APY.

PancakeSwap caught my eye, and I bought CAKE at 40 cents, and sold it for $40. That was my first 100x, and it was mostly luck.

But it was enough to make me want to understand what had actually happened, and from there I committed fully.

What Has Surviving Multiple Market Cycles Taught You?

Starting in 2016 means I have been through the full cycle a few times, and I have made peace with the fact that bear markets are not enjoyable but they are useful.

Back in 2017 I ran Python trading bots on Cryptopia for a while and made some money there, but the exchange was hacked and I lost most of it. Some compensation came back later through the liquidators, though it was worth considerably less than it would have been. That kind of experience teaches you not to be precious about any single position.

The cycles have their own rhythm.

Bull runs are loud, busy, and commercially lucrative for a content business like ours because projects have real budgets to spend.

Bear markets are quieter and more honest. The noise falls away and you can actually see which projects have something real underneath them.

I think of it like a donut: in a bull run everything is glazed so heavily you cannot tell what you are eating, whereas in a bear market you are working with the plain version and you either like the taste or you don’t.

What Motivated You to Go All-In on Crypto Content?

When AltCryptoGems started attracting followers, I realised there was an audience that wanted more than what was being produced.

Most crypto content at the time was desk-based chart analysis and exchange promotions, and honestly it was very basic and quite boring. I thought there was a genuine opportunity to create something with more personality, more lifestyle, more of a behind-the-scenes feel.

The message from Binance confirmed there was commercial interest too, and that made the decision to go full-time straightforward.

How Do You Define Web3 in 2026

My definition has shifted a lot over the years, and right now I think about Web3 primarily in the context of AI. The way I see it, blockchain and Web3 are the infrastructure layer for how transactions will be handled in the age of AI agents: automated, fast, and verifiable.

Think about what an AI agent actually needs to do its job. If it is booking a flight or managing a treasury function, it needs to execute transactions at scale, without friction, and with a clear record of what happened.

Traditional finance systems were not built for that. A lot of banking infrastructure still runs on COBOL (Common Business Orientated Language), and integrating that with modern AI is genuinely difficult. Crypto and blockchain, by contrast, are built around APIs. The connectivity is there by design.

What Opportunities Does Web3 Create

Speed, automation, and verifiability are the three things I keep coming back to. For an AI agent managing large volumes of transactions simultaneously, whether that is content optimisation, financial settlement, or something else entirely, those properties matter enormously.

The traditional banking system was not designed for this.

The infrastructure that underpins most of it is decades old and has not kept pace with the demands being placed on it. Web3 offers a different starting point, and I think that is where a lot of the most interesting development over the next five to ten years will happen.

What Challenges Does the Web3 Industry Still Face

Adoption is still the hardest problem. The industry can be intimidating for people who have not spent time in it, and too much of the communication around it makes that worse rather than better. There is a lot of jargon, a lot of performance, and too many people who make the technology sound more complex than it is, sometimes deliberately.

I also have genuine frustration with how some of the biggest budgets in the space get spent. A company spending an estimated $250 million on a Formula 1 sponsorship with no clear strategy for what they are getting from it is not doing the industry any favours. You can tell a compelling story around that kind of partnership for a fraction of the budget. The willingness to try often is not there.

Building AltCryptoGems: Content, Community, and What Comes Next

How Has the AltCryptoGems Ecosystem Evolved

It started as a single Twitter page in 2021 and from there it expanded to YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, with a focus on higher quality production across all of them.

In 2023 we launched AltCryptoTalk as a more in-depth platform targeting experienced users who want specifics: airdrop tutorials, wallet setup, that kind of thing.

Earlier this year we launched the AltCryptoCast podcast, which covers market movements with a technical analyst, and we have recently added channels focused on Polymarket and AI documentation.

The team is ten people now, managing content, technical analysis, editing, administration, and creative direction. I am the public face of the business, but the operation behind it is what makes the output possible.

What Is Your Vision for the Future of Crypto Content

The content I want to make does not really exist yet, which is partly what motivates me. Most crypto content is still very desk-based, very chart-focused, and very transactional. What I want to build is closer to lifestyle and documentary production, content that brings people into the world rather than just giving them information to act on.

The AI tools we are building internally are part of that vision too. We started building them to improve our own efficiency and output quality, and the interest from people outside the company has been significant enough that some of them will likely become separate products. That feels like a natural next step.

What Keeps You Going Day to Day

Honestly, I still enjoy the work. It does not feel like I left something behind to do this. It feels like I turned what I was already doing into a job, and the people I meet through it make it worth it on the days when it is harder.

The team matters enormously. I have people who share the creative energy and will follow an idea wherever it goes, but I also have people who act as a check on that, who will tell me when we are trying to do too many things at once and pull the focus back. That balance is what allows the ideas to actually get finished.

Outside of work, I have two young children, a dedicated day each week where the phone stays off, and a Friday evening barbecue tradition with the family that I protect. The office is close to my house, so the team lunches at ours every Wednesday, and somehow it all fits together in a way that feels sustainable.

Sjuul Follings turned a Counter-Strike arbitrage habit into one of crypto’s more ambitious content operations. With a team of ten, a growing portfolio of platforms, and AI tools that colleagues are already asking to license, AltCryptogems is preparing for whatever the next cycle brings from a position of genuine intention rather than hype.

Thank you, Sjuul Follings, for sharing your story with us at Take3. Find Sjuul and the AltCryptogems ecosystem on X/Twitter, YouTube, and across their podcast and social platforms.

If this story resonated with you, explore more voices from our Faces of Web3 series and get in touch at Take3 Contact to share your story.