OKEx Jay Hao: NFT market isn’t as hot as DeFi, but the innovative gameplay is worth learning
With the DeFi market falling back in popularity, the NFT market, represented by crypto art, DEGO, MEME, etc., has risen rapidly. According to NonFungible.com, the NFT market traded more than $7 million in September, with crypto art platform SuperRare and NFT trading platform OpenSea both recording record monthly transactions. As of press time, the NFT market volume exceeded $131 million, with nearly 4.94 million NFT units sold and the average selling price is $26.61.
The rise of the NFT has caught the attention of exchanges. On September 30, Jay Hao, CEO of OKEx, launched an NFT top-up poll on his Weibo. 6 NFT hot projects, 8 days to vote, the top 2 projects will be listed online on OKEx. On October 13, the official website of OKEx announced that the online trading of GHST and MEME was officially launched.
Against this background, 8BTC spoke with Jay Hao about OKEx’s criteria for choosing NFT projects, DeFi+NFT and NFT investments. He admits that the NFT market is not as hot as DeFi, and that OKEx maintains strict standards for currency approval, which can be adjusted according to market conditions. He also revealed that the company is studying a new way for the integration of OKB and NFT, suggesting that everyone keep up with the market and actively learn to meet the new situation.
“The market for NFT tokens is not that hot.”
NFT (Non — Fungible Token) has a long history, from 2017, represented by CryptoKitties, to the virtual world, represented by Cryptovoxels, then to ENS domain, NFT tickets, game assets, crypto art and so on. Everything in digital form can become an NFT, and its market is also booming.
“What do you think of the NFT?” On the night of September 28th, Jay Hao posted a Weibo that seemed to indicate something. Sure enough, two days later, OKEx launched an NFT top-up poll, which would select two of six popular NFT projects to be traded on the exchange, including:
- GHST: The first NFT digital collection platform based on aToken loan asset in Aave ecology, which combined with DeFi loan, NFT staking mining and DAO management mode.
2. MEME: liquidity mining +NFT, one of the most creative ways in the field of NFT.
3. RARI: Governance token based on NFT digital collection and trading platform Rarible, mainly used to buy and sell NFT digital assets, as well as platform decision voting.
4. WHALE: Founded by WhaleShark, one of the largest individual NFT buyers in the cryptoasset market, and it is indirectly supported by WhaleShark’s NFT assets.
5. DEGO: It is inspired by LEGO, each DeFi protocol is cast as a brick. The token is minted by liquidity mining and it is the governance and fairness token for the DEGO ecosystem.
6. BONK: The whole ecosystem is an NFT project with staking mechanism and unique art certification mechanism.
According to the result, the top three NFT projects are DEGO (195 votes), MEME (108 votes) and GHST (91 votes). Surprisingly, OKEx chose to trade MEME and GHST, while DEGO, the most popular, did not make the cut. “In terms of token selection criteria, the six tokens launched this time are among the most popular ones in the NFT market,” explained Jay Hao. “The community votes by deposing corresponding tokens in OKEx. The top two deposited tokens or tokens with more than 2000 votes will be put on OKEx.”
NFT is widely seen as the next hot topic after DeFi. Once the quasi — phenomenon level project emerges, it will quickly attract the attention of whales and media, and then attract market capital and flow. Such as the DeFi MEME, and the Batman-themed NFT animation, which hit auction records last week.
Unlike previous bulk launches of DeFi tokens, tier 1 exchanges, including OK, are taking a wait-and-see approach to the new NFT and are less aggressive. While some say that NFT is still in its early days, others say that NFT is not as profitable as DeFi, Jay Hao argues,
“The current NFT market is not as hot as it was and the number of premium projects is not at the levels seen in the DeFi hype a few months ago. OKEx has always maintained strict standards for currency approval. In the future, we will make adjustments according to the actual market conditions and the specific needs of users.”
“DeFi+NFT”
The DeFi market peaked at $16.042 billion on 1 September after three months of continuous gains. During this period, OKEx launched tokens of premium items in DeFi, such as DEX, lending, oracles and other segments to meet user needs. But there are also risks. As Jay Hao has said before, “The DeFi market is a bit overheated and there are two main concerns: the stratification of the DeFi mining sector and the lemon market created by a number of inferior or air projects.” After September, DeFi’s market value fell rapidly due to multiple events such as the project’s absconding, and it dropped to August levels in a week.
During this time, the NFT market rose rapidly. What’s different is that the popularity of NFT driven by the big players has added more new ways. The NFTFi and GameFi formed by DeFi+NFT have attracted the most attention from the market. There are three types:
First, bringing NFT in DeFi projects, such as MEME and DEGO;
Second, staking NFT for DeFi mining, such as WHALE and CARGO;
Third, directly bringing liquid mining to NFT platform, such as Rarible.
These new projects, to some extent, cause CEX traffic anxiety. Take DEGO for example. Kucoin, Matcha, Gate and other second-tier exchanges choose to list tokens for free, while other exchanges are also eager to try. According to Jay Hao, the highlight of DEGO is the combination of NFT and air drop. NFT is non-fungible, the quality of NFT received by users varies, and the market price varies. This kind of random lucky event makes users feel more involved in NFT air drop.
“This not only increases the popularity of the project itself, but also enables NFT user education and attracts more users to the NFT market, so it has a positive promotion effect on NFT.”
On October 10, Kucoin made a proposal to the DEGO community, offering to donate 100,000 KCS to build an NFT mine pool with DEGO. At the same time, it hopes to collect 30,000 DEGO from the community to cast special NFT for mining. So, is it possible for OKB to incorporate with NFT? “Currently, the company is conducting an internal evaluation, and the progress will be subject to official disclosure in the future,” Jay said.
NFT Investment: Risk and Opportunity coexist
NFT introduces scarce assets for DeFi, improving the gameplay for DeFi. DeFi’s liquidity mining solves the problem of low liquidity in the NFT market. As long as the volume of transactions and active users keep growing, the technology and business model innovations derived from them will continue to flow, and various fancy projects will start to appear.
“Compared to other markets, the innovation in cryptocurrency is very much there and it’s changing very fast. To this end, all employees should keep up with the market, actively learn and meet the new situation, so as not to be eliminated by the market.” Jay Hao suggested.
At the same time, we must be aware that speculation and manipulation by large investors will cause the bubble for NFT market. When the liquidity mining participants appear aesthetic fatigue and rapid withdrawal, the NFT market will enter the winter again.
As for NFT investments, he cautioned,
“NFT art investment requires luck and vision. It is advisable not to follow blindly. NFT+DeFi is a better place to start, but it should also be aware of the risks involved. In addition to common risks, NFT is naturally rare, and investors are prone to be FOMO. Therefore, investors should beware of irrational investment brought by FOMO.
Article from Li Xiaoping
Translated by Yang(Milian Tech)