From Gamer To Burnt Banksy: Anthony Anzalone’s Invisible Crypto Revolution

 In nan frenetic world of blockchain innovation, Anthony Anzalone stands retired arsenic a visionary who doesn’t conscionable build technology—he reshapes really we interact pinch it. As nan Founder and CEO of XION, nan first consumer-centric Layer-1 blockchain, Anzalone is stripping distant crypto’s complexity to make Web3 seamless, intuitive, and portion of mundane life.

In an exclusive interview pinch Euro Weekly News, he shares nan travel from teenage gamer to taste provocateur, revealing nan lessons, risks, and obsessions driving his ngo to redefine spot and ownership successful nan integer age. Anzalone’s communicative doesn’t statesman successful Silicon Valley boardrooms but successful nan high-stakes lobbies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. As a teenager, he climbed to #16 globally successful Hardcore Search & Destroy mode, a feat requiring relentless focus.

“Gaming taught maine that mastery comes from repetition, failure, and showing up,” he told us. That aforesaid grit fueled his adjacent obsession: building computers from salvaged parts. Soon, he stumbled into cryptocurrency mining, enduring overheated rooms and tangled wires. “It wasn’t glamorous,” he laughs, “but anticipation is addictive.”That addiction led to risk. While mining Ethereum successful college, his rigs tripped dorm breakers, drafting scrutiny. Initially, he dodged questions, claiming he was conscionable streaming.

Burnt a Banksy worthy $95k and ‘lit myself’ connected fire

When nan truth surfaced, administrators mistook mining for hacking, and Anzalone was expelled. “It felt for illustration nan end,” he admits. “But nonaccomplishment is fertiliser. It forces you to decide: are you done, aliases will you grow?” Growth came successful a blaze of controversy. On March 3, 2021, Anzalone burned a Banksy people unrecorded connected camera, minting nan enactment arsenic an NFT. The stunt went viral, covered by nan BBC to Bloomberg, earning him nan moniker “Burnt Banksy.”

To some, it was vandalism; to others, a revelation. “I wasn’t destroying art,” he insists. “I was creating a signal: nan aged rules of ownership don’t use anymore.” The enactment proved integer scarcity could rival beingness value, thrusting Anzalone into nan spotlight arsenic some provocateur and innovator. But he didn’t extremity astatine symbolism. In May 2021, he launched Burnt Finance, a decentralised auction protocol connected Solana, backed by $3 cardinal from Multicoin Capital and Mechanism Capital. By 2023, he co-founded Vessel Capital, a $55 cardinal Web3 task money supporting bold startups. “We’re empowering builders to rewrite nan rules responsibly,” he says, emphasising effect complete hype.

Anzalone’s imagination crystallised pinch XION, launched successful 2024 pinch a $25 cardinal raise led by Animoca Brands, Spartan Group, and others. By 2025, backing deed $36 million, and XION boasted complete 100,000 regular progressive users and partnerships pinch giants for illustration Uber, Amazon, BMW, The North Face, and Lego. What sets XION apart? It hides blockchain’s complexity. “Most group don’t want to woody pinch crypto wallets aliases state fees,” Anzalone explains.

“They conscionable want things to work.”XION achieves this pinch user-friendly sign-ins—email, passkeys, aliases biometrics—eliminating clunky seed phrases. For brands, it offers fraud-resistant campaigns tied to existent outcomes. For users, it ensures power complete information and credentials. For developers, it simplifies nan process of building user apps. “Blockchain should beryllium invisible infrastructure,” he says, “like spot built into regular life.”

From coder to world disruptor

Anzalone’s journey—gamer to coder to world disruptor—feels cinematic, but his insights are grounded. “Obsession is an advantage,” he says, linking gaming leaderboards to late-night coding marathons. Failure, too, is non-negotiable. “Getting expelled wasn’t nan end—it was nan start.” He credits storytelling, for illustration nan Banksy stunt, for sparking movements. “Symbols matter arsenic overmuch arsenic code,” he notes. Above all, resilience outlasts hype. “Markets crash, trends fade,” he says. “The ones who triumph support showing up.”

As XION redefines Web3, Anzalone remains a provocateur astatine heart. “Burning that Banksy wasn’t astir destruction,” he reflects. “It was astir building a caller world without waiting for permission.” Through XION, he’s doing conscionable that—creating a early wherever crypto vanishes into seamless utility, spot is infrastructure, and everyone tin participate. For Anzalone, nan gyration isn’t conscionable digital. It’s invisible, inevitable, and already here.