Nonfungible token (NFT) infrastructure is growing, with more people interested in the technology than ever before. However, with this high magnitude of momentum, the industry needs to catch up with effective solutions to fulfill users’ needs without complicating the overall experience. Cointelegraph talked to Jeff Mei, ChainUp chief marketing officer, about the current NFT landscape and ways to improve it.
1/ Tell us about ChainUP.
ChainUP is a world-leading blockchain technology service provider. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Singapore, ChainUP implements a comprehensive group-based global operations strategy, with subsidiaries operating in in Tokyo, Hong Kong, The United States, Canada, Toronto, and more.
As the leader of blockchain and crypto technology services, ChainUP has relentlessly strived in the past four years to embrace a number of product lines including digital assets trading systems, NFT trading systems, wallet infrastructure, and mining and staking. We have built an end-to-end technical service provision platform that can help clients build as well as allocate the right traffic and liquidity.
Presently, ChainUP has provided BlockChain technology services to 600+ clients around the globe, including 400+ crypto exchanges, 150+ wallets, and currently cover clientele in over 30 countries and regions in five continents of the world, with a total of over 60 million users. Among the top 100 exchanges ranked by CMC, over 30% are ChainUP clients.
2/ How is ChainUP Proceeding in the NFT field.
In regard to the ever more popular NFT space, ChainUP has launched an NFT trading platform, which is divided into privatized and SaaS versions. The privatized NFT services involve marketplace transaction processing, storage, or other related operational functions. We can provide services to clients through a decentralized server with both front and back-end code. The SaaS products would involve a centralized NFT trading platform with cooperates with ChainUP’s existing exchange systems to provide a centralized concentrated NFT market. This can help reduce difficulty of deployment for merchants. At the same time, in regard to gaming, we are also preparing a NFT gaming cloud platform where game providers can easily add their own games. This can synergize games with blockchain and NFT functions such as in game currencies and NFT ownership, transactions, and related functionalities.
3/ What’s ChainUP’s involvement with NFTS and where do you think its place is in the growing NFT ecosystem?
ChainUP has various NFT trading systems solutions. Here we provide NFT technology infrastructure services to contributors in the NFT space which can lead to a one-stop-shop type NFT trading platform. We can create foundational infrastructure which can allow clients to have NFT-transactions functionalities such as support for digital collectibles, works of art, valuables, assets and securities, and more. The rapid integration and ramp-up time can help quickly reduce tech and development-based barrier to entry, which can enable the entire NFT industry as a whole to be more efficient and bring in more stakeholders and players.
4/ How exactly does the platform work, and who are its potential users?
We have already created the technical infrastructure and foundation both front and back end for some of the top NFT marketplaces today. A lot of the underlying technology and security protocols are similar to what the top household names are currently using today. Our client-base is pretty much anyone who wants to be able to have NFT trading or storage on their platform. This can be existing crypto/blockchain- based startups who want this pre-developed tech, or it can also be players from traditional industries who also want to allow their users to hold and use NFTs on their platform. Some of our more popular clients are tech companies who want NFT functionalities, artists, platforms which deal with collectibles or unique goods, precious metals, securities companies, or investment institutions.
5/ How are ChainUP’s NFT solutions different from its competitors?
Currently, as NFTs are becoming more and more mainstream, there are both large and small NFT exchanges existing on the market. There are also many service providers which can help them build, improve, and expand their product offerings. One key edge that ChainUp has, aside from having the experience as a 4-year veteran in the industry is that much of our NFT systems can be privately deployed as customized and tailored to a customer’s exact needs. Asides from a pre-packaged base, we have many options that can allow clients to access the most advanced functionalities on the market. Of course, these NFT solutions are just one component of the greater ChainUP ecosystem, users also have access to many integratable parts of the other products and services we offer, which can help them create a more comprehensive platform for their users.
6/ What does the NFT solution roadmap look like?
Our typical roadmap consists first of a thorough understanding of each other’s current state products, services, and future needs. We will spend time with our clients to see their positioning in the space, and their specific needs and goals of their product. From there after identifying the core business needs, we can demo various different options that we can offer and further better understand how the requirements match up. After solidifying the exact customized package, we can start deployment and configuration and have multiple conversations throughout the build-out to make sure each checkpoint is covered the customer is getting exactly what they want. Upon completion we also have scheduled status checkups to ensure smooth operations throughout.
7/ What do you think about the current state of the NFT ecosystem?
Just like many other parts within the greater crypto/blockchain world, NFTs are also a young space. Since the early basic NFT creations in 2015/2016, there has been significant development especially its use case and prominence to mainstream communities. In 2021, with many of the creations from Dapper Labs, NFTs got on the map, led by Hollywood as well as creatives and artists around the world. This was a wonderful spark because it touches on the essence of the what the crypto/blockchain ecosystem needs as a whole: more adoption. NFTs had widespread adoption bringing a new wave of people into blockchain. Many people who didn’t own cryptocurrencies and tokens before, owned NFTs so it was an entire new sect of the population also interested and getting their foot in the door. This spurred the ecosystem and now, as more world renown celebrities and media leaders are getting involved, the bridge between the “traditional” world and the “crypto community” is getting closer.
8/ Why do you think Bored Apes have received so much attention and popularity?
I believe Bored Apes are so popular because they were one of the first symbols of “mainstream adoption.” For a long time now, people didn’t understand crypto or blockchain. People believed crypto and blockchain was only for super-smart engineers or mad-scientists and stuff. Either way, the point was, they didn’t believe it was for them. With Bored Apes, they saw “normal” international celebrities such as actors and actresses from their favorite movies, music artists, and athletes buy these NFTs. These are the same people who usually market “normal” products such as sportswear, clothing, or food and drinks. By bucketing NFTs with these “normal” consumer goods, people now feel like they are more real, more accessible, and the basic sense is, if that cool celeb does it, I want to do it too.
Frankly speaking, Bored Apes proved that crypto/blockchain was cool , was attainable, and was popular and “real” because so many celebrities and “real” people were buying them.
9/ What is the future for NFTs and NFT-related products?
Personally we are bullish and believe the future will start to evaluate more and more use cases of NFTs. By having everything have the ability to be tracked and housed on-chain, the possibilities of security, transaction efficiency, and sharing will be enhanced significantly. We believe in the future, there will be less of a need for centralized entities to intermediate between NFT transactions and these transactions between people, artists, companies can happen directly. It will be important to have robust tech in place for this to happen. It all depends on how ready people are. Anything can be made into a NFT. Asides from art, many security tracking systems, or industrial supply chains can also leverage the advantages of NFTs. It’s all about how strong the tech is to provide something valuable for everyone to use. With that the NFT space can then step up to the next level.
