——Please tell us again about SBINFT's current business activities.
Jangdeok Ko(Hereafter, Ko):We have two main businesses. The first is the operation of the NFT marketplace. In 2021, we released "nanakusa" as an NFT marketplace, but in September of the same year, we joined the SBI Group and changed the service name to "SBINFT Market".
The other is "SBINFT Mits", a comprehensive support service for NFT projects. This is a new service that we announced with great fanfare at the "WebX" event hosted by CoinPost in July last year.
Since we released the NFT marketplace in 2021, we have received many inquiries from not only the gaming industry but also general companies who want to do business using NFTs or provide new experiences using NFTs to their loyal users.
However, many businesses, including us, have not been able to effectively utilize NFTs for blockchain, which is not yet common, and for the general public who are a little wary of cryptocurrencies.
In order to solve these problems, we have systematized SBINFT's know-how and released a service called SBINFT Mits. This business provides the various functions required to utilize NFTs in the form of a web service that is easy for even beginners to use.
Even if you have no knowledge or skills of blockchain or smart contracts, you can use NFTs to create a community that connects directly with users, hold events such as stamp rallies and voting, and create web pages where only NFT holders can use services.
——Some of the well-known NFT projects in Japan are also participating as partners.
Ko:That's right. I think the partners who participated were attracted to the value of this new marketing platform that utilizes NFTs. Ultimately, when a project starts to gain popularity, it becomes necessary to have opinion leaders in addition to the management team.
SBINFT Mits supports measures to cultivate and acquire KOLs (key opinion leaders) for the products of general companies. Then, the companies can use NFTs to reward opinion leaders in some way, while creating new opinion leaders and loyal users within their own companies.
One of SBINFT Mits' unique features is its ability to realize marketing that utilizes NFTs, which circulates this kind of system.
——Please tell us about your career up to now.
Ko: I have been working for a long time, more than 24 years. I worked as an engineer in C and PHP in the days when there were no web development languages like the ones that are now mainstream.
When DoCoMo's i-mode service, which has now ended and attracted attention from around the world, was launched, I also developed and directed the official website for i-mode.
After that, I worked on SNS-related services at major portal service site companies such as GMO and Yahoo!, and was in charge of operating and managing game platforms, then moved to social games and became a producer of smartphone games.
The experience of working as an engineer in the early days of the Internet is still a source of nourishment in my work today.
I think there are about three big waves in the IT revolution, and I think Web 3.0 is the third wave. The first is the always-on Internet, the second is SNS. And the third is the current Web 3.0. I have been able to be involved in all of these areas in my career, and I feel the potential of Web 3.0 even more strongly.
——Did you start your current company after having a career as an engineer or game producer?
Ko: In 2015, my boss at Mobcast started a company called Smart App, the predecessor of SBINFT.
At the time, I had started my own company after leaving Mobcast and was running a different company. At that company, I was helping with development together with Takashi Sato, the founder of Smart App.
In 2018, he contacted me when he decided to enter the blockchain industry, and I had a hunch that blockchain would be the third big wave of the so-called IT revolution. At that time, we joined forces and joined the predecessor company, Smart App. The following year, in 2019, I became president, and have been in that position ever since.
——What first got you interested in NFTs?
Ko: When I entered the blockchain industry in 2018, a game called "My Crypto Heroes" was being run by double jump.tokyo, a company created by a colleague at Mobcast.
When I learned that they were trying to create a blockchain game using NFTs, I thought it would be a revolution not only in the gaming field, but also in terms of information technology. I still remember being shocked by the fact that blockchain could be used to prove a world that had been difficult to realize in the digital world up until now.
——You originally had experience working on a variety of things, including game development, so you were shocked by the new proof of existence of digital data using NFTs.
Ko: To put it another way, traditionally digital content existed on top of applications. But with the advent of NFTs, a new world has been created where NFT technology exists on top of the chain layer of the blockchain, and applications are then added on top of this, creating a world that is different from the existing system.
This was quite a shock to me, and the biggest reason why I decided to invest in NFTs. I felt that this would definitely be the catalyst for the next internet revolution.
——As mentioned earlier, you have announced "SBINFT Mits" as a comprehensive NFT management support service. It is being developed under the catchphrase "What NFT can do, united by Mits," but what roles do the SBINFT marketplace and "Mits" each play?
Ko: I mentioned earlier that SBINFT Mits is a marketing platform for creating new loyal users and KOLs, but I would like to explain further with an example.
For example, let's say a company runs a campaign with NFTs as an incentive, asking people to sell a certain product. When the campaign is successful, the NFTs given to contributors will change according to their level of contribution, so that those who have contributed more to the campaign's results will be able to receive some kind of reward.
The NFT can be a commemorative item or something with utility. The more you contribute in this way, the closer the communication between companies and influencers and KOLs will become. SBINFT Mits functions as a tool to utilize NFTs while communicating with users in this process.
The marketplace is basically a place for secondary distribution of NFTs, so it will have a synergistic effect with SBINFT Mits as a platform where anyone can buy and sell utility items, such as selling the NFTs mentioned above or buying those that have been sold.
The marketplace has many partners, mainly game companies, so we can do cross-marketing promotions, such as collaborating with SBINFT Mits on new projects. In this way, I think that operating both the marketplace and the platform is one of SBINFT's strengths.
——The role of NFTs seems to be changing with the times. What do you think the role of NFTs will be in 2024 and beyond?
Ko: Terms like RWA (real-world assets) and digital twins came up a while ago, and I'm personally paying close attention to the fact that we may see an increase in demand for things that are linked to real things.
For example, it would be nice if you bought an NFT of sneakers and the person who owns the NFT sent you the actual sneakers.
A world where utility is attached to things that are useful, where the rights themselves can be bought and sold in secondary distribution, and where NFTs are linked to real things. I think that this is an area that holds great potential.
——Is there a good chance that in the future you will develop services for the useful NFTs you mentioned earlier, including SBINFT Mits or the marketplace?
Ko: Yes, that's right. I think this is the way it should be in order to convey ease of understanding to the market. Also, depending on what products, goods, and services a company is offering, we will be able to support them in making effective connections.
——What do you think experiences and businesses utilizing NFTs will look like in 10 years' time?
Ko: It's difficult to say what it will be like 10 years from now, but one possibility is that in the future, just as we have gone paperless and digitized through so-called digital transformation, all data will be managed on the blockchain or related technologies.
For example, blockchain may be used for DID (Decentralized Identity) or for title certificates for real estate, etc. I think we will see a world where all particularly important data will be digitized and stored digitally as our identity.
By that time, the term NFT may already be accepted as a technology that is rooted in real life, just like the Internet.
——The name NFT may seem a little hard to grasp. What do you think will trigger the mass adoption of NFT?
Ko: This is just my opinion, but I think NFTs are the only option (laughs). I mentioned the Internet, but I think the term IT was also hard to grasp at first. On the other hand, I think most people can imagine what IT is, even if they don't know what it stands for.
So, I'd be happy if NFTs became so widespread that people started saying "NFT-related" when asked "What kind of work do you do?"
——Please tell us about your future prospects.
Ko: In the near future, I would like to make this the year in which SBINFT Mits makes an impact on the world as a new marketing platform. I would like people to know, "So this is what marketing using NFTs is all about!"
In addition, the entire SBI Group is a large financial conglomerate and also a platform operator, and our business model is to "have users and provide services." Therefore, we ourselves would like to remain consistent and make our presence known as a platform operator specializing in NFTs.
As technology continues to evolve, companies and brands are beginning to explore business models and marketing methods that incorporate new technologies such as blockchain and NFTs in order to create new value.
However, there are still high hurdles to overcome when joining businesses related to these new technologies and introducing tools, and the success of NFT projects requires the use of a wide variety of tools, making it difficult for non-professionals to take on the challenge.
With the mission of spreading NFTs throughout society, SBINFT has released "SBINFT Mits," a comprehensive support service for NFT projects, to solve the issues faced by businesses entering the NFT business for the first time and those running NFT projects.
Through SBINFT Mits, we aim to create a society where more people can use NFTs as a matter of course.
SBINFT Market
SBINFT Mits
◉Jangdeok Ko
President and CEO of SBINFT Co., Ltd. After working at a system integrator and content provider since the dawn of the Internet in 2000, he has served as a game producer and platform business manager at GMO Media, Yahoo! JAPAN, Drecom, and Mobcast. In 2021, he released "nanakusa," Japan's first integrated NFT marketplace using a public chain. In September of the same year, he became a consolidated subsidiary of SBI Holdings and became the representative director of SBINFT Co., Ltd. In 2022, he released "SBINFT Market," a rebranded version of nanakusa, and in 2023, he released "SBINFT Mits," a comprehensive support service for NFT projects.
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