INTERVIEW

Since the beginning of 2021, NFT-related news and seminars have been buzzing in the media worldwide. This is a topic that is gaining a lot of heat in Japan toward the end of the year. At the moment, individuals are still the mainstream participants, but overseas, companies are increasingly entering the market in earnest. They range from luxury brands such as Burberry and Louis Vuitton to consumer brands such as NIKE and Adidas. From the perspective of "How can Japanese companies succeed in the NFT? Mr. Mitsugi, who is in charge of launching NFT Conf. Tokyo, spoke with Mr. Joe Conyers, Executive Vice President, Global Head of NFTs at crypto.com, one of the top three virtual currency exchanges in the world, from the perspective of how Japanese companies can succeed in NFTs. We had a chance to talk with him.

Speaker Profile

Joe Conyers III

Executive Vice President, Global Head of NFTs | crypto.com

Possibility of NFT in Japanese Market

From your perspective, what is the possibility of NFT in Japan?

I think it'll really take off in Japan, just knowing the culture of collecting there. I think it'll end up being the de facto way. Once people get their heads around it and once there's a lot more utility. For now, going into NFT is like winning a Willy Wonka golden ticket, and it is going to be really exciting for those folks who would have paid for access and some other medium anyway.
I could see the existing IP is being very successful and NFT's I think they have to find the right market entry. My guess is there'll be some acquisitions in the space just because for some joint ventures is very common in Japan, with big companies and whether they're IP holders or management or other organizations, that can actually solve for the complexities and uniqueness of the Japanese market.

How large enterprise should get into this new business opportunity

In your opinion, how do brands and creators benefit from NFT at this point?

I think you have to think of it as a proper art project or creative art at the moment. One of the ways is that it's taking a story that you only told a little bit of. Any studio which makes movies, anime, or games has always a side story that they may be told a little bit about. You can tell a little bit more through an NFT. You can also talk about a backstory of a certain character. Extending a specific IP is a really good way to leverage.

You can go beyond and create an ecosystem in the same way trading cards like Pokemon or magic cards. With its items, characters, or places, you can create universal places that you can buy and sell your digital collectives. I think you have to find the thing that really is authentic to your IP, and think about what would be really exciting to people.
If you don't think it's compelling on its own, like your audiences and prime to buy NF T's they provide a utility. Then, you can provide something where you get a physical reward when you buy these.
Providing some “money can't buy experience” has been very well received from our community. It is trust based. That's why we're really bringing the folks who are real believers in here.
At least you got something as a buyer or a chance to get something that's a good way for folks that maybe are not certain your brand is 100% serious in the space.
You need to bring a little bit of your fans, a little bit of the empty collector community.

Why NFT now

Why is NFT trending now? and Why does it matter?

I think one of the reasons is that there is a promise that there will be digital collectibles for a long time. I've been playing video games and buying up some digital skins over the last two decades. Once the company’s gone, whatever the reason is, you will lose it. It doesn't even have any provincial value. Blockchain tech allows you to keep your collectibles for a long time.

The other thing is the notion of a decentralized passport to things has always been a promise of the internet. Blockchain took it from trust based on centralized organization to owning personal keys. People used to trust that big company like they trust a bank. Over time, we've seen that people can't necessarily trust big companies because they're too big and they have a lot going on. Thus, people rather have the keys to their own destiny. It is not that you wouldn't ever trust big companies at all. It's just that big companies go through different phases and they get hacked. I think that we can have this decentralized utility passport as an NFT is just very promising and people are finally coming around that this is going to be the way you interact with the world in a way that is forever.

The Future of NFT : what will happen in the next couples years?

There are a lot of possibilities.At the moment, everyone is trying. Those who featured in the media are the ones who took the risk to try. You might fail, but you might succeed.

Yes, totally. We are seeing new brands being created; the next Hello Kitty, the next GUNDAM, the next big IP creation vehicles are being created today. These things will be created in this space over the next five years,and you're going to see creation from huge studio houses like Marvel, Disney, Star Wars and others generated from NFT faster than ever before because the money can get there more quickly. There's a shared ownership and value. You have a liquid market for it potentially.
I think we're finally bottling that excitement into more of a financial vehicle in a way that appreciates the value chain of where collectors are in that because they're telling their friends about it right.
Right now I still think we're in the trinket phase. There are some incredible creations, but we haven't just had enough time to create whole universes, whole worlds and whole stories. It takes years and years to come up with a really good canon for a really great story, books or movies. Creativity takes a lot of time and momentum and I think we're so early that we'll see that come out of this phase in a couple of years, but there's certainly going to be some ups and downs throughout this.

Role of Companies and Creator economy growth

In your opinion, how do brands and creators benefit from NFT at this point?

I think you have to think of it as a proper art project or creative art at the moment. One of the ways is that it's taking a story that you only told a little bit of. Any studio which makes movies, anime, or games has always a side story that they may be told a little bit about. You can tell a little bit more through an NFT. You can also talk about a backstory of a certain character. Extending a specific IP is a really good way to leverage.

You can go beyond and create an ecosystem in the same way trading cards like Pokemon or magic cards. With its items, characters, or places, you can create universal places that you can buy and sell your digital collectives. I think you have to find the thing that really is authentic to your IP, and think about what would be really exciting to people.
If you don't think it's compelling on its own, like your audiences and prime to buy NF T's they provide a utility. Then, you can provide something where you get a physical reward when you buy these.
Providing some “money can't buy experience” has been very well received from our community. It is trust based. That's why we're really bringing the folks who are real believers in here.
At least you got something as a buyer or a chance to get something that's a good way for folks that maybe are not certain your brand is 100% serious in the space.
You need to bring a little bit of your fans, a little bit of the empty collector community.

Career Path Change: Music world to NFT

You were a chief strategy officer Delta music holdings before crypto.com. What made you make that move?

I've been around crypto since 2011. I tried to find my first Bitcoin back then. Started mining it. It started getting very hot in my room and it was costing me a lot of electricity, so I stopped, but I've been regretting that ever since. Around 2016, I had a client named Imogen Heap, who's a famous songwriter. She was starting to experiment with Ethereum. Then, I met Joe Lubin, but it was just an Ethereum foundation at that point, but then it became huge. They were experimenting using Blockchain to create interesting ways to transact. I would have never thought we'd be here. The idea that you are bringing a new scarcity into what the old medium was is really interesting. I'm not the biggest music NFT person, but I think it's an interesting format for musicians to interact with their fans.

Writer's Comments

I thought it was very interesting to see the perspective that the best way to enter NFT in Japan is through CVC and M&A. The other day, I attended a members-only gathering of executives in the U.S., where NFT and crypto were the focus of discussion. This means that there are two types of blockchain. This means that there are two types of companies: startups with knowledge and speed, and those with financial resources. Tokyo community will be launched in March.

Interviewer Profile

Natsuko Mitsugi

Pivot Tokyo / Vueloo

Pivot Tokyo 主催。D2C Summit、NFT Tokyo 立ち上げ。日本からグローバルに挑戦する人を増やすため、GKCorsという英語の幼児教室の運営も。