The Future of NFTs and Japan: An Interview with SBINFT’s Jangdeok Ko
SBINFT is the creator of Japan’s biggest NFT marketplace is providing tools for creators and companies to issue, sell, and manage the secondary distribution of blockchain-based digital assets. Recently, we sat with Jangdeok Ko, the CEO of SBINFT on the NFT landscape, the future of NFTs, Japan’s role in the market and more.
Q: What is your vision for the future of the NFT market?
A: In Japan, Web3 is attracting attention as a new frontier in the digital economic sphere and is positioned as a national strategy. In particular, NFT is compatible not only with finance and art, but also with IP such as anime and games, and major companies as well as venture companies are entering the market one after another.
However, while there are high expectations for the growth of the industry, there is still no clear method of utilization in the business arena, and the market is still at the stage of trial and error for those who have entered the market.
Therefore, we aim to create an environment where anyone can trade NFTs with confidence by providing a trusted platform and making NFTs a common practice in society. Our vision is to realize the statement, “Be the FIRST Be the STANDARD.”
Q: How will SBINFT Market empower creators to monetize their work?
A: First, creators’ NFTs handled by “SBINFT Market” are divided into gaming NFTs, art NFTs, and other NFTs.
Last year, SBINFT Market announced that it would rebrand itself as a marketplace optimized for game users. However, we will still continue to handle art-related NFTs and other NFTs. To make it easier for users to find the NFTs they want, we have added search items such as genre, price, and credit card payment availability to the filters.
In addition, the formation of a fan community is important for creators to monetize their work, but community management generally requires mastery of multiple tools and is a high hurdle to overcome.
In addition to “SBINFT Market,” SBINFT offers the marketing team platform “SBINFT Mits,” which is equipped with 11 functions useful for managing NFT projects providing support for the management of creators’ fan communities.
Q: How do you view the competitive landscape of the NFT market?
A: We believe that the boom in blockchain games and PFP, whose enthusiasm was only transitory, has subsided, and that we are finally in a phase where practical use cases in the general public are being sought.
We are seeing examples of NFTs being used by existing companies for new loyalty programs, ticket memberships, etc., and major game makers entering the blockchain gaming space.
Competition has already begun to emerge in these areas, but the number of players is not yet large, and it is difficult to predict what kind of competition will arise when large companies enter the market in the future.
In terms of marketplace operators, even a few globally well-known companies have been shifting their rankings.
In addition to the increase in the transaction volume, the key to winning the competition will be how to create a business model that does not depend solely on the volume of marketplace transactions, as we do with our “SBINFT Market” as well as “SBINFT Mits”.
Q: How will SBINFT Market stay ahead of the competition?
A: SBINFT’s strength lies in its outstanding visibility in the Japanese Web3 market and the trustworthiness of the SBI Group brand.
In this capacity, SBINFT will work with game developers to expand the market and build an ecosystem for blockchain games, aiming to become a portal service for blockchain games with a large user base in the future.
In the future, we aim to create a portal service for blockchain games with a large user base. In the ecosystem, we will contribute to maximizing the liquidity of game NFTs by utilizing the SBINFT Market.
In addition, we have more partners than our competitors, and our payment methods are also very rich, such as credit card payments among users.
By offering many simple and easy-to-use functions not only to users familiar with Web3 but also to users in the existing market, we will take the lead in the market and build a dominant position by working aggressively toward many partnerships.
Q: With the rise of play-to-earn games, what role do you see NFTs playing in the future of the gaming industry, and how is SBINFT positioned to capitalize on this trend?
A: With the creation of play-to-earn games and NFTs, game items have become assets and liquid. With the creation of assets and liquidity, we can expect an influx of not only pure game users but also light game users who aim to recover their original investment while having fun, as well as users whose goal is to earn money. We believe this has triggered the diversification of gaming, and new games such as STEPN (Move to Earn) and SNPIT (Snap to Earn) are being created.
Since SBINFT is optimizing “SBINFT Market” for game users’ transactions, SBINFT Market will capture the transaction demand that arises in the process of users having fun and recovering their original funds.
Q: Japan has taken a proactive stance in promoting Web3. In your view, what are the key factors that will determine Japan’s success in becoming a global leader in the Web3 space? How can SBINFT contribute to this goal?
A: The current trend of the public and private sectors working together on We3 should be continued. In the government, we would like to see continued support and legislation for new technologies, as in the past, and in the private sector, we believe it is important to accumulate use cases in actual business settings while working across industries and borders.
In addition, SBINFT intends to support and contribute to Web2 companies entering the Web3 market through the NFT marketplace “SBINFT Market” and the marketing platform “SBINFT Mits”.
As a specific example, “SBINFT Market” will start handling the BONSAI NFT Club, where actual bonsai trees can be obtained by increasing the number of NFT holdings and circulating prices, and through the technology cultivated in the process of marketplace operation, will start issuing NFTs with preferential treatment for Securitize Japan Inc. and Rim’s Capital Co. Ltd. and RIM’s Capital Corporation.
In addition, Futabasha, a company with national IP content, has held a campaign linked to X (formerly Twitter), and while distributing NFTs to the winners, SBINFT Mits has achieved anonymous delivery through SBINFT Mits.
Q: How do you see SBINFT Market evolving in the future?
A: In order to rebrand “SBINFT Market” as a marketplace optimized for game user transactions, we plan to implement features that will improve the user experience (*5).
In addition, the SBINFT Market will actively attract NFTs for new game titles both domestically and internationally, and actively capture transactions in the gaming market, where the number of users and the volume of NFT transactions are expected to increase.
At the same time, by introducing Ponta points, a common point service that currently has more than 100 million members, as a service for domestic users, we will create opportunities for users who have no experience with Web3 or NFTs to encounter NFTs and experience Web3 services. We plan to create a marketplace with a high level of user satisfaction.
Q: Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals for SBINFT, and how do you see the platform evolving within the ever-changing NFT landscape?
A: Our goal is to widely disseminate the various use cases of utilizing NFT both domestically and internationally.
To this end, we provide all the functions and platforms necessary for companies and project teams to utilize and liquidate NFTs.
In addition, we believe that an ecosystem must be formed that enables deregulation in each country, proactive use by companies, and returns to users.
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