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It is important to communicate the business structure as a member of the crypto asset exchanger
--Kensuke Amaha: How do you see the current state of crypto assets and the Web 3.0 area in 2023, and what do you think will happen in the future?
Kensuke Amaha (Amaha): I see Web 3.0 as ‘co-creation involving the token-holder community, including crypto assets and NFTs’.
Community access rights are becoming mainstream as a utility for NFTs, and highly sensitive people are beginning to realise that creating communities is inevitable, but knowledge of community management has not yet been established. It is important to dive in first and accumulate knowledge.
Just as NIKE and Starbucks have started to use NFT to form Web 3.0 communities, many major companies will bring NFT-based membership programmes to market in 2023 from a marketing perspective.
Celebrity fan clubs will also gradually shift and merge from existing subscriber-based fan clubs to NFT-based fan clubs as Fan Club 2.0. Tied to this, perhaps tickets for celebrity gigs, events, etc. will also become NFTs.
The traceability that is one of the characteristics of blockchain may help to solve issues specific to the entertainment industry, and it is likely that Web 3.0 and AI will also intersect and merge. The use of AI will be promoted and its diffusion will increase significantly.
The confluence of Web 3.0 and AI is the metaverse. People have slightly different personalities and identities that they present in their respective communities, such as at work, with their families, friends and lovers. The era of multi-personalities in multiverse, whether in the real world or in the metaverse, will come.
One of the differences between the real world and the metaverse is that we will be free from appearances. I think it is inevitable that when you are free from appearances, you will have the opportunity to think more than ever about who you are and what you want to do.
--What points will be important for Coincheck to focus on in its business in the future? Also, please tell us what you will focus on in the NFT and Metaverse businesses that you are currently pursuing.
Amaha: Coincheck is developing three businesses: the crypto asset exchange business as its core, the NFT business and the Metaverse business.
The first IEO in Japan, the first NFT exchange for crypto assets, and the Metaverse business, which operates communities across multiple universes, are all businesses that Coincheck has created so far by gathering primary information, diving in, struggling, improving resolution and making course corrections.
The trend in the area of smart contracts is likely to move from DeFi and NFT to DID and GameFi, which we are following. The important thing is not to be too short-sighted, but to look a little further ahead to the Web 3.0 era and create the framework for the token economy and form the Web 3.0 ecosystem.
This market will progress at a tremendously fast pace, so we see the trend coming sooner than we think.
As a first step towards creating a Web 3.0 ecosystem, we will issue our own NFT, the OASIS COMM UNITY PASS NFT, in May 2023. Issuing our own NFT is not an extension of our business that we have been doing as an exchange platform, but a statement of our intention to engage in the Web 3.0 business, which is a community business involving token holders.
--What do you think is necessary for Japan to lead the world in the Web 3.0 domain, and what points do you think you can contribute to the development of the industry because you are Amaha-san?
Amaha: In Japan, the revision of the administrative guidelines announced for crypto asset exchangers on 24 March 2023, which made the boundary between crypto assets and NFTs clearer than before, is seen as a major point.
The amendment took the risk of daring to clarify the number and quantity of units and quantities, taking a broad view of global trends and existing rules. This amendment is expected to promote the entry of businesses, and if more businesses enter the market, there will be more choices of high-quality products and services for users, creating a positive spiral.
The web3 white paper published on 6 April by the web3 project team of the LDP's Digital Society Promotion Headquarters is also a must-read. I feel that they are seriously trying to develop the industry as a national policy, and are trying to create an environment for Japan to compete in the world, rather than rules to bind it.
As a private sector operator, I believe that there are many things that we need to convey. The market in the Web 3.0 area is generally changing at a very fast pace.
It is too late to enter the market after it has been fully confirmed that there is demand, and you cannot ride the wave unless you are prepared and poised ahead of time. The image is that one moment you think it has arrived and the next it is passing you by. Nevertheless, it is not as if there is sufficient material for decision-making: the NFTs are not the only ones that are in a position to make decisions.
For example, when Coincheck decided to enter the NFT exchange business, the size of the global NFT market was 30 billion yen. Only a year later, it was 5 trillion yen, more than 100 times larger. No wonder no one believed it when we explained at the time of decision-making that the market would grow more than 100 times from now.
So what can we do about it: we need to try to make decision-makers understand that the market in the Web 3.0 area is structured in such a way that you can only win if you fight that way, or revise the decision rules as necessary. I think it is my role to convey this to them.
Kensuke Amaha
After graduating from university, Kensuke Amaha worked for a trading company before joining Recruit Co. After working in multiple new business development roles, he joined Coincheck Inc. in 2018. In 2020, he became Executive Officer, creating new businesses such as Japan's first NFT marketplace for crypto asset exchanges and Japan's first IEO. Leads the NFT and Metaverse businesses as head of the Web3 domain business in the company; Managing Executive Officer and General Manager of the NFT and Metaverse Business Division since April 2023. Chairman of the NFT Section of the Japan Crypto Asset Business Association (JCBA). Author of NFT Textbook (Asahi Shimbun Publications) and Nonfundable Me (Asahi Shimbun Publications).
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