Our strength lies in truly understanding NFT and making it popular.
Delivering new experiences through initiatives with major companies
In the NFT field, the balance of power is beginning to change. Leading the trending Japanese market with the SBI brand.
Since the NFT boom, numerous marketplaces have been unleashed on the world. However, due to the fact that NFT penetration has not caught up, only a limited number of marketplaces are currently being used.
While there are many NFT marketplaces in Japan, SBINFT's representative director, Chotoku Taka, exudes confidence in his company's efforts. Mr. Ko, who has been involved in various businesses since the dawn of the Internet, what does he think of the current state, challenges, and future of the NFT field?
Solving problems and creating killer content
Setting up a wallet and managing assets are barriers to entry. Simplification, including UI/UX, is necessary to reach the masses
Ko: A historic event occurred in the NFT field this year. Blur, an emerging NFT marketplace, surpassed OpenSea in trading volume. This was the moment when OpenSea's stronghold, which had been at the top in the NFT field, collapsed. As for NFTs that are gaining popularity, I think that "blue chip NFTs" such as BAYC will continue to lead the market this year, but we will also see the rise of quasi-blue chip NFTs that only NFT holders can vote on and that have utility. In Japan, famous and powerful IPs are moving into the blockchain game field, and major game companies are also becoming more active. It is noteworthy that major companies are entering this field.
In light of the recent situation, major companies, regardless of industry, are considering the NFT business or conducting investigations in response to the actions of their competitors. This year's major trend is that the number of entry cases is increasing due to such circumstances.
In fact, the transaction volume of NFTs originating from Japan is increasing every month. Despite the downtrend overseas, Japan is on an uptrend. This shows that not only domestic holders but also overseas holders are paying attention to the Japanese market.
I think that future trends will include securities and assets under management related to NFTs. If that happens, I believe that the term NFT will become as broad a term as the Internet.
On the other hand, the current environment surrounding NFTs has many issues, such as setting up wallets and managing assets. These issues are directly linked to the lack of killer content that is strong enough to become popular.
In order to bring NFT to the masses, there are many issues that need to be resolved, including UI/UX. We are already working with Lawson Entertainment Co., Ltd. to issue ticket NFTs, and we believe it is important to deliver new experiences to users in each field.
We will develop a service that allows even those who have never experienced NFT to easily interact with it.
Furthermore, we have not specifically defined competitors. The domestic NFT market is still in its infancy, and in that sense, overseas markets such as OpenSea and Blur are likely to come into the picture.
I believe that SBINFT's strength is that it truly understands NFTs, and can provide a one-stop service for turning them into products, buying and selling them, and making them popular, and I believe that they are one of the top companies in Japan with a proven track record.
Profile
◉Ko Jangdeok
After working at Sier and content business since the dawn of the Internet in 2000, he has worked as a game producer and platform business manager at GMO Media, Yahoo! JAPAN, Drecom, Mobcast, etc. In 2021, Japan's first public chain integrated NFT marketplace "nanakusa" will be released. In September of the same year, he became a consolidated subsidiary of SBI Holdings and became the representative director of SBINFT Co., Ltd. 2022 Release of “SBINFT Market” which is a rebrand of nanakusa.
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