Creating a new market for NFTs that reaches users who are unfamiliar with cryptocurrency: An interview with Mercoin’s Nakamura Keita

Last year, it was widely reported that Mercari had the most users in Japan. Did you expect this rate of growth?

Nakamura Keita (hereinafter, Nakamura): As of December 2024, the number of users of "Mercain" exceeded 3 million. Since March 2023, we have been able to gain more users than expected, and the pace is not slowing down.

The biggest factor is that we have removed the barriers for users. We conducted UX research*1 before the release, and aimed to create a service that users can easily start trading with. The fact that "Mercari" is an existing service is also a big factor, and we can propose it as a new way to use Mercari sales revenue to customers other than those who want to start using Bitcoin.

Recently, NFT sales have also started on Mercari. What has the reaction been from users?

Nakamura: We launched the NFT marketplace “Mercari NFT” in late January 2025. We’ve had a great response since the release, and NFT sales have been strong. With the NFT market in a slump, projects that hadn’t been able to gain traction are being unearthed, and we feel that people are experiencing the “digging” experience we were aiming for.

*1 UX research: A method for investigating user behavior and psychology to improve or develop something

*2 NFT: Unique data that cannot be replaced