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The founder of Animoca Brands, Yat Siu, commented on Non-Fungible Tokens, stating that NFTs are an important component of digital capitalism.
Summary
Animoca Brands: NFTs as pillars of digital capitalism, according to Yat Siu
In an interview with CoinDesk, the founder of Animoca Brands, Yat Siu, commented on what Non-Fungible Tokens mean to him, which are tokens that provide users with ownership of digital or tangible assets.
In practice, for Siu, NFTs are still underutilized, while they can become an important component of digital capitalism, transforming sectors such as rights management and education.
Not by chance, by using NFTs, the blockchain would act as a sort of political system, favoring a consensus-based democratic process.
In this regard, Siu said:
“NFTs can revolutionize the distribution of educational content, offering significant financial opportunities, especially in less wealthy regions. […] Property rights and capitalism are the foundations of democracy.”
To give a practical example on this matter, the founder of the Web3 giant highlights his company TinyTap, acquired in 2022 and specialized in information technology. On this platform, teachers can monetize their content, overcoming traditional barriers such as publishers.
The key to disrupting the multi-billion dollar industry of rights management and content distribution, which affects all sectors, remains the ability to have proper digital ownership on the blockchain.
Animoca Brands and NFTs: genuine interest in the utility of technology
Looking at the numbers of the NFT market, it is clear that compared to the bull market of 2021, the sector is currently experiencing a certain decline.
Actually, for Siu, these current lower valuations of NFTs indicate a healthier and more genuine interest in the utility of the technology. Moreover, this situation could be crucial in addressing global financial inequality and promoting financial literacy.
In this regard, Siu argues that without speculators, the only people left are those who are truly interested in technology, strengthening its foundations.
Not only that, the founder of Animoca Brands also spoke about the different legal frameworks around the world related to the sector. About the USA, for example, Siu explained that there is still a need for evolution to support the idea that NFTs are the antidote to inequality. In fact, according to Siu, in the United States there is a rejection of digital capitalism.
On the contrary, Siu speaks about Asia as follows:
“In Asia, NFTs and blockchain cryptocurrencies are popular because they are seen as an extension of digital capitalism. The biggest threat I see now is that we don’t understand capitalism and therefore when we see what happens in the world with money, we think it’s unfair.”
The 2023 report: volume is decreasing but not users
A few days ago, NFT18 published its annual report for 2023 regarding the performance and key metrics of the NFT market.
In general, the report highlights how 2023 has been a year of significant decline for the NFT market, but despite the bear market and massive losses, the community has remained active.
To confirm this theory, there seems to be a 62% reduction in the overall volume of trades, which dropped to 10 billion dollars, offset by a decrease of only 10% in the number of active wallets, both compared to 2022.
In practice, despite the decrease in interest, the number of active addresses for NFTs is still a solid 2 million.
The report also specifies that the NFT Art, which refers to artworks in the Non-Fungible Token format, is losing the largest market share.
Not only that, looking at the annual trend of 2023, the fourth quarter instead showed signs of recovery both in terms of the number of active wallets and the volumes traded.