Curated commerce is shaping the future of NFT marketplaces! 💡✨

Nadja Bester brings together a powerhouse panel of experts including Mel Pint, Founder & CEO at OpulenceX; Ohiorenoya Precious Ailemen, Co-founder of Pepperlyl; and Sarthak Bakshi, CTO & Co- Founder of XDSea. Listen now for a front-row seat to the future!

#TheFutureOfNFTs goes live every Tuesday here. Subscribe for event notifications.

Curated Commerce : The Future of NFT Marketplaces

SPEAKERS

Nadja Bester AdLunam Inc Co-founder

Mel Pint, Founder & CEO at OpulenceX

Ohiorenoya Precious Ailemen, Co-founder of Pepperlyl

Sarthak Bakshi, CTO & Co- Founder of XDSea

Hey guys, while we are waiting for our speakers to join the room and get turned into speakers. Yeah, okay, I can see you can hear me. Wonderful. So we'll get started in just a few moments. Mel, maybe we can do a quick sound check with you. How's it going?

Hello. Nadia, yes. Can you hear me?

Yes, perfect. Where are you dialing in from? Today,

I'm from Hawaii. This is 3am in Hawaii, but,

oh my god, you know I was gonna say that I'm jealous, but I'm not. I'm no longer jealous

so, but I feel like this invitation is very important, because I like the topics, like a the Future of NFTs.

Well, thank you so much for sacrificing precious sleep time to be with us. We're very, very, very honored. Thank you, Mel,

anytime.

Thank you. All right, and then I see we have also, let me just see who is a speaker Sarthak? Are you? Are you able to unmute? I see your speaker under XDSea, hey.

Yes, I can hear you.

Wonderful, yes, can hear you. Where are you dialing in from? Today,

I'm dialing in from Dubai.

Okay, wonderful, yeah, and then Ohiorenoya. Are you able to unmute?

Good afternoon. Everyone. Good afternoon. From Lagos, Nigeria. I believe you can hear me. Yes, perfect.

Alright, great. So we've got everyone in the house, Let's get going. I'm gonna do a quick round of introductions, and then we can kick off. All right, so 3,2,1, hey, web3 world. This is Nadja Bester, co-founder of AdLunam and host of this show that you are listening to right now, the Future of NFTs that on a weekly basis, dives into the many, many possibilities that NFTs have to offer the world. And NFTs as one part of web3. I mean, there's so much happening in the space and even the show. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you will have, will have noticed that the show is also evolving. NFTs is touching on so many different aspects that it's really difficult to pin it down to, okay, this is a show about NFTs, but of course, in today's show, we very much go back to that sort of origin of what the show is all about, because we have in the house a panel of NFT marketplaces. Now, if you know the history of NFTs, especially in the previous bull market that we had in 2021 NFT marketplaces really came into their own. This is where the NFT art boom started taking off. And so over the years, of course, NFTs have evolved. We've just come through a very painful bear market course, if you, if you are in any sort of market and industry this week, this week itself feels like quite a dip, but we know that. You know, no matter what the market holds, innovation and technological development and community building is something that always continues no matter what the charts say. So very happy to introduce today our three panelists, all of whom are in the NFT marketplace space. So I'm going to very do a very, very brief introduction, and then I'll hand it over to them to really tell us more about their own experience and the journeys that led them here. So we have in the house Mel print, founder and CEO at OpulenceX, OpulenceX pioneers multi-currency NFT marketplaces with innovative staking pools and on chain artist verification. We have Ohiorenoya precious Alamin, co founder of Pepperlyl, transforming the African NFT landscape with a dynamic marketplace and virtual world ecosystem, and we have Sarthak Bakshi CTO and co founder of XDSea, leading the charge in multi chain NFT. Oh, sorry, guys, am I? No, I read multi chain and then I thought it was multi chain twice. So multi chain, NFT, marketplaces with cutting edge staking tools and cross chain capabilities. So guys, welcome very, very happy to have you here, especially Mel, who is dialing in from Hawaii, and it is 3am in the morning. So Mel, while you're still awake and honored, let me start with you. First. We'd love to know what has your journey been in the NFT space. And what are you kind of why are you here? Why are you in? Why are you in NFT marketplace?

Well, technically, the journey started with the NFT marketplace for OpulenceX, that's for sure, but the NFT marketplace is just the first step of our journey in these web3 ventures, to be honest, the OpulenceX ecosystem itself is a multi faceted platform, which We aim to be a cross chain and an agnostic blockchains provider, not just simply the NFT marketplace. And that's what I like about the web three is because in the web three, it's when someone asked me what I am excited the most about the web three, I will say it's in composability, because we are allowed to build things or applications on top of the other applications to create a, what we call it, like it's actually a modular system where we create, what we call it an ecosystem. And so our journey in OpulenceX begins with the NFT marketplace and but this is just the starting point of ours, and we launched it almost a year ago, actually, August 20. This in coming days, we are actually a year launch our NFT marketplace live on the XRP ledger network. So why I chose XRP ledger network? Because it's a little bit different from the other network. People not really knowing that. Oh. You know, there is an NFT on the XRP community, but in fact, yes, there is. To this day, we are very proud that through the bear market, we have able to survive and sustaining our ecosystem. And every day, although it's like, really low volumes novel, we never had any no volumes on the primary market so far, yes, in the secondary market is like, literally, really, really low right now, the number, but speaking about the NFT, why we are choosing to be NFT. Because I personally believe, while people see NFT as a GPAC, for me, personally, I see NFT as the digital transformations of the ownership, it's simply, you know, it's not just a GPAC, but it's the GPAC that they are. The thing that gets you, gets you the thing. I think that's how I pictures, or what I see about NFT. When people say it's GPAC, well, it's a GPAC, yes, but it's not just the thing, but they are the thing that gets you the thing. So that's how the idea, what I built on the NFT marketplace in the XRP ledger for OpulenceX what I visioning as a peak and soulful business where we providing the platforms and infrastructure, infrastructure for the artists beside for us, but it's also for the artists, for the content creators, to build their offerings, to create their sustainability on this digital, digital economy. So, yeah, I think that's the idea of us creating the NFT marketplace. About a year ago we launched it on the on the on the XRP ledger. But this is not just the big this is not the end of it, because we still have upcoming applications. We are currently upgrading our home page to blend all the ecosystem that we have from the NFT staking. We are going to have the NFT farming and the NFT lending protocol as well. So the cross chain we are, you know, I think the idea is to combine those NFTs into DeFi protocols that we basically, that's what is OpulenceX is, you know, what we the generally, OpulenceX is the DeFi protocols that we blend with the NFT, because we believe the future of NFTs, although, like what Nadja just said, right now, all of us right now, at the bottom, you know, even in the XRP ledger itself, people tend to US, is the NFTs Dead or fought. You know, I personally don't believe that. For me, I see that, that I see this, that we are witnessing the powerful new innovations that set to disrupt our digital economies. That's the way I look at how I look NFT it's not just JPEG, but again, if they are the thing that gets you the thing, and that's what we envision with the OpulenceX marketplace that we want to give this opportunity for people you know roam and build in a day or in a week or in a month, right? So it's a journey. It's a marathon, and for us to come to certain level where people accept this digital transformations of the ownership, that's what is NFT is all about. Well, there is some digital transformations on the identity, on the digital currency. What is NFT? NFT is the digital transformations of the ownership. And now we've seen it right, you know brand right now they're all touching this NFT, so yes, there is a bird pain, of course, when comes something new, then acceptance from people, but some speculators wanting to go crazy about it, but that's what causing the price, like crazy high and, you know? But for me personally, NFT will be evolved and still evolving, because right now everything is so nice, you know. So we are just at this first. I mean, it's the very early stage of the NFT involvements in in this digital transformations,

absolutely agreed. Mel, and I absolutely love your definition. It's the thing that does or that gets you, the thing I think that very much says what an NFT does without any technical explanations of. Very, very practical approach Sarthak, what has your journey been into the NFT space? And then specifically, NFT marketplace?

Yep. So thanks firstly, having me Nadja, so I think it's been, it's been an absolute roller coaster being in the NFT space. So we started operations back in 2022 so again, when, you know, after the entire 2021 so initially, you know, let's take it back to 2017 when the ERC 720 was initially be introduced, there was the launch of crypto punks, 2021 they were launch of, you know, NBA, top shots, open sea, sort of scene came out of resurgence. That's essentially also when we thought, You know what, what we'll do is we'll create a no code NFT marketplace where users can just come it's as easy as, you know, opening a Facebook profile again. Everything's going to be on chain. So that was the concept we initially launched with. I think in the first year of launch, we were able to reach about two and a half million dollars worth of TV up because, because we also did have the sticking pools back then. So we see huge, huge, huge sort of market back then, slowly, we started seeing the trend shifting a little bit. So from the art and collectibles. Now we focus now we started focusing more into RWAs and RWA use. So RWAs being in real world utilities. So essentially, I think you know as Mel, very, very well said, is the thing that gets you the things. So a lot of projects now that, you know, just come with, like a PFP or just an artwork, they don't tend to do really well on the marketplace. Instead people you know who have some sort of utility, let's say Be it like NFT ticket, be it an NFT subscription and NFT membership, or something on those lines, something which with the actual real world utility connected behind it is something that has been sort of performing way, way better in the NFT space, in terms of, you know, the entire journey itself, of the evolution. I mean that that's, of course, that's, that's an evolution curve with, you know, pretty much all pieces of technology. You start with the you start with the crazy, sort of go down the bucket, sort of free services. It finds its ground and then keeps going forward. So I think going forward, of course, we as a marketplace are also focusing more on the real world utility and real world asset aspects of things. We have a lot of types of different brands, a lot of types with different cafes. A lot of people want to have NFT menus. A lot of people want to have NFT real estate based on in especially in Dubai. So for us, we are more focused on that, that trend. So I think, in a nutshell, we started off in just pumping and shilling all these artworks and all these PFPs, and now we've sort of found our ground more stably in the real world aspect of things.

Thank you so much for that very comprehensive overview of your journey. Definitely a lot I would like to get into in follow up questions. Ohiorenoya, what has your journey been with Pepperlyl I think it's especially tough in Africa. I mean, I'm South African, and I always experience when I go back for any sort of event in Africa that the amount of people in web3 is not and also, especially people building in web3 is not nearly as much as you would find in Europe or in Asia, for example. So I can imagine it's quite a challenge to then have an NFT marketplace that focuses on Africa, where there is currently a dearth of interest and of talent, although it's amazing that this is being developed. So I would love to hear your experience and your journey. Did we lose you just now I see you connecting? I'm not sure if. Yeah, that might be the case. Okay, let's just give him a moment. No, it's Twitter's sometimes a very unfriendly place to have a live discussion again, as I think when he comes back into the room, will get him in to speak again. So Mel, I will then just continue on with the questions, so we can get into, into the thick of things. I'm curious you, you mentioned, and congratulations on the launch, by the way. I'm curious because you, you mentioned composability, and, you know, really web3 being a modular system that we call an ecosystem, in terms of the different communities. So the XRP community, for example, has a sort of different culture, let's say, than a different community. What are you finding in terms of the XRP, XRP community, specifically in the work that you are doing that really sets it apart as a community. And do you think that communities also can be this composable sort of plug in system where different communities from different ecosystems are able to come together and then really work together to whatever the case may be. I mean, web three is an ocean of possibilities.

So based on. All, almost a year journey. I have to say, it's not an easy journey. XRP, our community itself. It's kind like divided. I would say maybe some of you guys out there have seen it as well as witnessing you know, XRP ledger community has been dealing with a lot of stuff since the XRP lawsuit about three years ago. I believe so, as a builder ourselves in the XRP NFT community, which is just a small part of the XRP ledger itself. It's not an easy path, to be honest. There is like tribalisms there. But I do believe this has not just happened on XRP ledger, because I see that. I see this also in on the open sea. I see this also in polygon. I think people are tend to be tribal when they already the culture that really, really showing is the tribalism is always there and but, but, but that's just one part of it. Despite of those tribalism I do see a lot of great potential supports from certain community member, and that's to include our OpulenceX community itself. Because what inspired me building what I'm building right now with the OpulenceX first on the XRP ledger, although we aim as a multi chain on and cross chain defi protocols, but we started with the XRP ledger because we see a lot of potentials on the XRP ledger, and the ledger is not as big as The other chains that already booming. And that's what as a builder, I see that as potentials, because you want to build on the ecosystem that are still developing. Because this is when we started our groundbreaking and to get to the certain level that we want and we can get fully maximized what we want to do or what we want to build in our offerings to our users, you know? So, yeah. So speaking about the community, it's really interesting, because, like I said, again, there are some people that really tribal in the NFT community, but they are people that supportive? But again, it doesn't matter for me as a builder, because you will see it anywhere, like, there's bad people, there is good people, like in our life journey, right? But we cannot just stop just because we see there's a bad people, and it means like, okay, we're not going anywhere, or we're not doing anything. I don't believe those kind of things. I think it's a challenge, but we have to embrace it. And so how do we embrace it? We just be persistent and consistent in what we are doing and keep evolving even with the what we are building. I'm not just stopping. I like the XDSea, NFT before saying that, you know, as they are groundbreaking on the NFT, but they are not stopping there right now. They found their ground focus on the reward asset applications. And that's amazing, because that's what we want. We want to introduce something like I said in the beginning, the things that gets you, the thing it means the NFT is just to start it, but with the NFT is your entry point for building something like a digital or the Ecommerce, or something with X is saying about the real world asset or the property in Dubai. And that's the thing, right? Like, that's what I like to see, that that's, again, it's a thing that gets you a thing, because it's an open door for us to create more something. So to me, the challenge in the community, for sure, it's not easy, especially I launched NFT marketplace a year ago, which on the bear market, where x20 on the XRP ledger. Man may net was already live over a year, which I was basically far from the hypes and the enthusiasm of the NFT community on the XRP. And then when I launched our NFT marketplace, XRP was only like at 30 cent, it's really low, and we only taking like 1% broker fee. That's it as an NFT marketplace. So yeah, this journey is truly challenging for us. But again, I, like one of our community members. Was saying, if you can build on the bear market, you can build any times, and that's what I like about it, and about this, I see this as an opportunity. I think our perspective matters. So in terms of the community, it's the same thing. I see the tribalism is something a challenge that we have to embrace. But I don't see that as something that should stop us on building what we want to build, because, you know, like I say to my community, we are not building a casino here. I try to give them understanding that you know about the value of NFTs and see NFT differently in the different perspective than just a GPAC. I want them to value these creators that creating something in the digital economy, participating to create an ecosystem for their brand, because that's what we are heading how this NFT going to evolve into create an ownership or branding to their to their business, or tokenizing everything for their business, or you know, or the ownership of unique, something that will relate it with their asset, for example, for merchandise, for something that's physical, like property, in a real good asset or Treasury bonds, you know, in the in the T bills, for example. So yeah, I mean, that's pretty much how XRP ledger. We're going through a lot on the XRP ledger community, but nevertheless, we are still strong, and our community is also very strong. We have some people that, of course, prefer, oh, they are so used to and that's another thing about human right. Because we are coming on the late already, few NFT ahead of us, marketplace ahead of us, that, of course they came or when the X, 20 goes live on May, on the mainnet, on the XRP ledger. So they come when the hype was really high, but we are opposite. We built and we launched it when it's on the bear market, when XRP is only 30 cent and but here we are a year later. We are right now on the top three in terms of our sales volumes on the NFT marketplace, I mean, on the XRP ledger. And we're going strong with the support of the OpulenceX community members. And we have such a great community on the opulence X ecosystem, which is, I'm very grateful for that. But, yeah, I mean, the work is still not done yet. You know, this is just a groundbreaking in terms of how the collaborations with the others I see that's coming and, well, it's already done, but because of XRP ledger has a different type of NFT, you know, the then the other network, I would say it's hard for us to get to the point where, like the other collaborations on the open sea, or on the polygons, on the Tezos, or even Algorand, for example, we are a little bit difference how the cultures that we have in terms of collaboration is more within, you know, between one creators to the other creators. You know, especially in this bear market, I see the collaboration even in our own ecosystem, which is we have in our on chain. I mean, on our NFT marketplace, we have the opulent Art Society. This is a collective, collaborative artist within the opulence X ecosystem that they working together. They collaborating, but together, you know, to kind like blending their community to create more offerings. So they, sometimes they do together an options, like a combined options, like a big sales, and it's, it has been really, going really well, and they do a lot of things that I personally as the NFT marketplace owner, I'm amazed, because the initiative really coming from them side, and they were just, I just give reports, and I got the reports. Oh, we gonna do this. We're gonna do the tipping for the people that buying our NFT on these collections of the artists of the opulent Art Society member, you know. So the collaborative within is really strong on the XRP ledger, and I love that. But as far as the culture, we still have to deal with the tribalism in terms of the future, I do believe that that's the key, right, how the interoperability within the ecosystem or the different chain can blend in? A very powerful collaborations initiative within the content creators and the artists and the NFT project. Yeah.

thanks Mel, and thank you for that insightful insight into the XRP community, I definitely will say I think tribalism exists everywhere, and specifically in the web3 space. And if a tribe is not for you, it just means it's not your tribe. So go find another one. Ohiorenoya, are you able to unmute now? Hopefully we can get you online. Wonderful, wonderful. Yeah, so I don't know if you heard my question earlier, but yeah, we'd love to know more about your journey and specifically the work that you do in Africa.

All right. Thank you so much, everyone. I really appreciate and yeah, for us, the journey started back in 2022 and that was when we had this NFT hype. And everyone, everyone wanted to get on what NFT is. They wanted to know what this technology is about and all that. And for us, we wanted to make sure that we were onboarding traditional artists on board and also digital artists to make sure that these two people get have overview of what this market is about and what they can do with this, with these NFTs over time and we and here in Africa, we are not moved by emotions into buying. We are moved by what we see. And like you said before, you are in South Africa, you can start what I'm saying, you know, and we're three. Ecosystem here in Africa is not as much as it is over there in Europe or any other places out there. For us, we have to be very well, like very meticulous. We have to be very we. For us here in Africa, we are more, more likely to crypto and, you know, and you coming in and you're telling someone that, okay, this is an artwork. I want you to buy this artwork, and the person have to ask you, oh, you just asked me to buy an honorary artwork. And we're like, No, it's not just honorary artwork. It's beyond artwork over time. So we started out in that 2022 we built an NFT marketplace on Polygon, and we found out that, also that people were not really into what the NFT is, all more all about. And we're like, okay, you know what? Let us go offline for a while, and it will look at the market space, and let's say what it is for Africa. And trust me, Africa is still coming up in the NFT space. And it's not like we don't have artists who are willing to do this work, but we are. We are looking at in a crossroad where we feel like before, for us to get into this innovation, for us to get this market up and running, we need to do more of education for people out there, and I think that's how our journey all started from, from the NFT marketplaces, we find out, okay, artists out here are not really moved by what you want to, want to sell. We are really moved by what you can really give them in return for what you are offering them over time. And yeah, other countries or other ecosystem out there, you can really sell by stories. You can still buy emotions. You can sell by letting them know that, okay, I give you this in return for this, but they want to be sure that in Africa, what are you really, really giving us, that that's where we come back to the utility aspect of this. NFTs Over time, and for us, it was very difficult, difficult for us to build because people were not really interested in what these things are over time. It's more like, I can also walk into a museum and buy an ad talk like I can see. I can hang on my wall and I can feel. I can sit all the time, maybe when I'm there with in that environment. And we found out also that for us to be really involved in this, in this NFT spaces, we need to integrate virtual reality into what we are doing over time, so that even when you are in the virtual space, you could also still have a fee of what this technology is all about, what this NFT is all about, and all that. And we were back and forth, building, going off and all that. And we just felt that okay for now, we need to really do the more education out there. And I think that's what where we are right now, doing the education for the artists, doing the education for the community, and bringing more people into the world three spaces and into the NFT spaces over time.

Thank you so much. I 100% agree that this mindset shift that needs to take place from people understanding that it's not just a JPEG, as Mel said, and as you pointed out, if you can't hang it on your wall, it's difficult to understand what the value. You, and the utility is absolutely a completely new way of thinking. I have a question. Sarthak, I noticed that all of us actually on this, on this episode, were building very much so building during the bear market. So that always is a very interesting experience. This has not been my first bear market, but I think every bear market feels like the first one, because everyone has, you know, their own, its own unique challenges and also opportunities. So we'd love to hear in terms of, I think you've alluded to this already, that x dc, you started off as marketplace focused on art and collectibles, and now have pivoted, or at least very much, focuses on RWAs and real world utility, as opposed to just the JPEG, even, you know, even if that's just the trope. But we'd love to know in terms of the bear market, specifically, what are your thoughts as a founder and someone who, especially in the NFT space, I think the bear market was really, really difficult for us as an investment ecosystem. It was exactly the same, very difficult to get VCs to say yes to funding anything when no one wants to invest any money. So what has your experience been then, in building an NFT marketplace, and in pivoting that marketplace as well to adapt to the needs of the market in the moment.

Yeah. So also, you know, I think again, initially building we, we were also, you know, looking for a lot of different rounds of VCs. We were almost about to close the deal, essentially. Then the entire crash happened. The VC backed out, saying, Okay, I didn't think I want to be in the space anymore. So I think our midway, our funding was sort of pulled out. That's essentially when we realized, okay, the NFT is, of course, the art and PFP, same thing. Every cycle, there's a new narrative that comes in. In the bull market, the narrative sort of just was at a halt. So essentially, that's also when we realized that we do need to sort of shift from the PFPs and artwork side of things, getting into more of the real Vala side of things and the real world chili side of things. Now there were a couple of things we needed to do, of course, as you know, Nadja mentioned that one of the things that education is really, really important. So what we did is we tied up a lot of different education. Universities used to get NFT seminars. That's when we realized that if people don't even know how to operate a crypto wallet, so NFT is like a really, really long shot for them. So that's exactly when we also built something we call a no code console. So no code console essentially, when you just, you don't, you don't need any basic knowledge of crypto. You can, it's fine if you don't know how to use the wallet. Essentially, everything happens on chain. It's just the UI front end that just makes it really simple, as simple as, you know, opening the Facebook account. So that's essentially what we started building. So we essentially rebranded the entire website. We rebranded the entire fundamentals of the company itself, and we saw a scripted narrative. Now, when we did that, we did see a lot of different investors coming in wanting to invest in the platform. So we were luckily enough, we were able to secure a deal back when RWAs weren't that big, but since we were in the right place at the right time with the ranked narrative, so the bull market wasn't, as I would say, horrendous, as it first to everyone, to us, we were luckily. I mean, I'm sorry, this was just an absolute luck that we were able to find an investor. We were able to find some projects that did really well in the bear market as well. I think one I still remember, one of the major projects that really, really well on the marketplace, was, there was this company in the States. So it's jewelry brand. So they essentially wanted to launch shares. So they did it in forms of NFT so they fractionalized the business. They said, if you own one single NFT, and if I make $10 profit, and you own one NFT out of 10, you get 10% of the profits. So essentially, just like how share market was going to limit that into a fractionalization of NFTs, and that sort of launched it. So I think then we started realizing, okay, in the bear market, people are looking for more of safe assets, because no one wants to get into the risky asset, because people don't live the market going up or the market going down. So it's always a safe bet to, you know, just invest in the blue chips or the safer assets. So that's actually where we started our journey into the RWA and RWAs side of things, and that's essentially how we started onboarding a lot of different brands or different projects and companies to launch their collections on the marketplace. Yeah.

Thank you so much for that. I definitely want to come back to our WA is, but before we get there, oh, hey, curious. Then you mentioned education. And of course, we all know how incredibly important education is, I mean, in any space, but especially in this space. Because I think, as we were just hearing, you know, when you go to university thinking you're going to teach someone about NFTs, but they don't even know how to open a wallet. That that knowledge gap and that skills gap is massive. And I think we've all experienced this when we try to explain what blockchain is, what crypto is, what NFTs are, what web3 is, even the very definition of explaining to someone what this is incredibly difficult, because one, let's say block of understanding, builds on another block. And the thing is that people don't even understand money. People don't even understand how money works in the traditional financial system, so it becomes incredibly difficult. The education and the education is incredibly important if it's going to lead to onboarding and adoption, of course. So we'd love to know what are the approaches that you guys are taking in terms of focusing on education in onboarding users and artists in Africa.

Thank you so much. I think for us, we've been able to adapt to the conference system where we go out there to do conferences to let them understand that, you know, and if is beyond music, you could tokenize real estate, which is tokenized, it will burn, and I will have one of my friend who was we're talking about there was talking about tokenizing stock, and I was like, oh, so how does that work? Because for me, out of curiosity, I wanted to even learn more over time. Like I said before, African is not an ecosystem where we really adopt so fast in these technologies over time. And if you look at the statistics, you will find out that where, where I come from, we are one of the top crypto users in the world, but I need to this image do for me. How can I liquidate when I'm when this this particular piece of artwork is being, is representing a piece of land over time. So these are the questions people are asking all the time, and we are in terms of education. We do webinars. We do a am is most times private, anybody we do, most of it will increase. Send out newsletter to in terms of education purposes, just for people to understand that, you know, what distance is this NFT is possible. It's possible for us to adopt this NFT over time. It's ready for us to use this NFT. How can we use these things to advance economic growth over time? And yeah, for us, we'll be using conferences. We'll be using one on one teaching also is has been very helpful for us. We where we have to sit with you one on one to explain choice artwork. Is it beyond artwork? Is it can you do? Can you use NFT in terms for when we talk about tokenization, is it just beyond tokenization? Is it just beyond music? Is this just beyond other things out there? Collectibles? Yes, you might be interested in just playing around with them. Okay, yes, you can use we can come in time. You can fall, fall in terms of collectible, you can do all manner of things with this technology over time, but at the end of the day, the question is, if you are coming to this ecosystem at any point, you need to look out for over time. Yeah, if this thing you are buying is not going to yield back in two for three months time from now,

I think you're breaking up. I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but you keep your voice keeps breaking for me, if someone can let me know if I'm the only one as well. Yeah, okay, maybe, you can just, if you can leave and rejoin, maybe that'll help.

Okay, awesome. So in the meantime, Mel, I want to project us into the future a little bit. We've seen the role of NFT marketplaces, and I think the experience is a very, very clear example of that, in that originally NFT marketplaces were very much focused on, you know, on art, on collectibles, on PFPs. But of course, as NFTs continue to evolve, we are for sure see a lot more specialization. For one, I mean, we've had previous guests on the show from NFT marketplaces, and I've definitely noticed that having some sort of specialization is what builds you that community. But I want to, I want to know what are your thoughts on, let's say, 5, 10, years into the future. Of course, none of us know what NFT what role NFTs are going to play at that time. But how do you envision the evolution of the role of NFT marketplaces, and perhaps, is it going to look the same at all, as it as today? Is it going to look very different?

What are your thoughts? Oh my gosh, if it's 5 to 10 years, I think we are going to be very mature as the nifty marketplace. You know, I couldn't, it's for me myself. I don't even put ourselves in the next 5, 10 years, because I do personally. I personally believe, with this movement of these tokenizations right now that massively beyond the buzzwords, right? I think the next three, four years, the NFT marketplace will be very mature as the onboarding users is going to be more, a lot more than just from personal to institutions, to organizations. Right now we see the onboarding of the brands right now, right So, and it will go to the tokenization itself is going to institutions, financial institutions, broker, you know. So if you're talking about five to 10 years, oh my gosh, it's going to be really massive. Because the digital transformation, as I always say, to my community, to my people, is invisible. We cannot avoid we have to embrace it. So either you're going to be in it or, you know, are you going to be late to the party, because at the end of the day, you're still going to join it, because this is something that you cannot avoid. I think the covid outbreak was outbreak was just a simple example how things are changing in the in our society. And you know, right now, even in the cultural level, you know, things are changing. People right now, more into digital right now. Who doesn't have, like, right now 3/3 grade here in America, they already have, like, a cell phone. They go online with Tiktok and everything's, you know, so it's, this is why this digital transformation is invisible for me, I mean, for all of us. And so if you're talking about 5 to 10 years, we are going to be very mature as an NFT marketplace in terms of adoptions. Right now, you were mentioning before how to educate people, how to introduce this NFT. You know, we recently also trying to bring this into a toddler to kindergarten level, to the youth, how to introduce the NFT, or the onboarding users from the children's ages between, I think, I don't know, I forgot. I think they were talking like five years, you know, just a simple colorings with digital the way, not just like with the paper and pencils, but more in the digital side. You know, they providing some forms that they can coloring for the five years old, you know, and then for the teenagers. In the teenagers level, they're creating like an art the onboarding, and we have it right now in our community, in our part of our Opal art artists, where, I think seven, eight years old, by the assistance of their parents, they minting their creations into our marketplace. So right now, we are still at the early stage, but speaking about five to 10 years is going to be fully mature, because the onboarding right now, from the personal level, going to brand businesses, it will go more further than we already started with the tokenizations, which the financial institutions, and soon it will be government, with the CBDC, and so, yeah, I mean, 5 to 10 years is going to be amazing. I couldn't wait for that moment. But for me, I think I stood for three, four years, we're going to be fully, fully established, and this is what we want. I think everyone's hard work is going to pay it off fundamentally, like a like a toddler, the critical age, it's usually between. Zero to two years. And I always say this, this is in happening, in our human being journey, which the two years is a very between zero to two years is a critical age. How things are developing, how things are growing, fundamentally, physically, mentally. You know, the same thing, every starts up, like 99% startup. You can see it fail. If they're not, there's no growth within the two years period. And the same thing, we passed those two years in this NFT through the bear market, like what you said, Nadja, how many times we've been in the bear market. Same with us. I mean, same personally with me. You know, I've been in the crypto for a while, in the blockchains for a while, so I've seen a bear market, and I've seen how the NFT grow three years when it's just a buzzword. Three years ago, right now, XRP, NFT is not anymore a buzzword, but it's a reality that we are facing right now. It's because the brand itself utilizing NFT through the loyalty, even right now, airlines, with their loyalty reward and now hotel started, so 5 to 10 years, oh my gosh, I couldn't imagine it's going to be massive, massive.

Yeah, I love the enthusiasm, and I also love the fact that you bring it down to the fact that it's a digital transformation, because, as you rightly say, we are undergoing an incredibly transformative time in the world right now. I mean, technology is at a point of, I don't know what it's turning into. We have so much on the horizon, so it really is absolutely inevitable. There's no optional. There's no choice. You're either with it or you're still inside it, but you're not with it. So yeah, I love the love the reminder that ultimately, it's all about digital transformation, which is global and applicable to pretty much everyone who's part of the modern world. Oh, hi, Ohiorenoya, I hope I can hear you now. Yeah, it's unfortunately, sometimes on Twitter, it's just one of those times when there's tech issues. So if you are able to unmute, would love to know, especially the, I mean, I know the work that you guys are doing in terms of adoption, as you say, having even one on one calls with people to onboard them. I mean, this is really, really difficult work that takes time and takes effort. What are the things that you see people being the most curious about? What are the use cases for NFTs that most people that you speak to get or are very interested in? I think we've lost them. Okay, so maybe Sarthak maybe I can ask you the same question. Then, of course, you guys have seen a lot of different use cases and also engage with a lot of stakeholders in the NFT space. So maybe, maybe answer the question in two parts, and really just talk about how the evolution also of the industry reflects the fact that people are interested in different things at different times.

Yes, I think, you know, in terms of, you know, where we headed in terms of NFT as a ecosystem of space as a whole, is, I think we're going to see a lot of different brands, a lot of different content creators, a lot of religious identity products come on to the NFT. A lot of governments are going to be using it. A lot of different record ownerships are going to be using it, be it medical, be it land ownerships, be it digital music ownership so whatever it is, I think a lot of them are going to be starting, starting to get NFTs. So I think here in Dubai especially, I can tell you that there are, there are Hilton NFTs. There are software NFT there are emirate airline NFTs is coming up in NFT there's Dubai government NFTs. So I think Dubai is really, you know, at the forefront of leading that for now. Another thing I've sort of also realized is, every time, you know, we go to these different universities to give speeches, there's one constant question that usually comes from, from, from the audience, which is, how do I go to web3? Is it like a website is web3.com, so I think people really don't know a lot about the technicality. And for, you know, for mass adoption, we need to simplify it. So be it Sam ultimate that you know that that's leading the way with World coin, digital NFTs. It's essentially using, it's a digital passport. So I think the terms that we use today, which is known as NFTs or web3, because let's say, you know, if I go on the internet today, I don't say I'm surfing on web2, I just say I'm surfing on the internet. So I think it's the same shift will be happening where we won't, pretty much say web3 or NFTs anymore. Maybe another buzzword comes in, maybe just going to be a digital asset. And I think a lot of different people, when they actually start using NFTs, they won't really know they're using NFTs. It is going to be a digital asset to them. Wallets would be sort of something to be subsidiable accounts. Maybe it can follow the same logic. Is just the word that sort of changes. So I think a lot of simplification needs to come in, and also liquidation will be coming in, especially for the Creator economy as well. So for influencers, I see a lot of different NFT. Gateway website coming in. So essentially, it's just another added on layer to content creation, to digital memberships, digital ownership, being part of community. But again, I think in the next five to 10 years itself, a lot of simplification will be coming in.

Yeah, 100% agree with you. And thank you for using the NFT to buy examples, because I think that very much speaks to the fact that despite not engaging that much with NFTs in your everyday life, there are pockets on this planet where it is already far more a part of everyday experience, even though, yes, it's still hype at this point, it's still something that brands are kind of dipping a toe into but you are seeing that there are pockets in the world where people are becoming far more willing to really just onboard it as part of part of their toolbox, and that's what they use. So yeah, thank you for that example, Sarthak, Ohiorenoya, if you are able to unmute now, I don't know if you were able to hear my question earlier, but would love to know that the that the artists perhaps, is more simple, more simple in that, of course, the art is what they want to sell, but the users that you engage with in terms of adoption, what use cases are they interested in,

In the NFT space, what really speaks to them most, most are in gaming environments. For us, gaming environment and for us also tables and it's, it's, it was recently we started drifting to RWA that has its own platform, right? Marketplace, in most cases, RWA would function on its own. You're talking about NF marketplace, game and you combine the artwork new videos together. So most, in most cases, are like focus more on community at to build certain use cases over time in response to what they are likely to achieve. Okay, so for us, it's more like the gaming and collectibles for now, these are the users, so we are really adopting and traditional art also goes a long way for us here in Africa, because these are the things that we ourselves can understand. Yeah, we can really understand what we're doing. We can really feel what we are doing over time. So for us is gaming, traditional art, collectible and more of music too. But in response to other things we have gaming artworks and traditional artists doing painting most, in most cases, also, and converting this painting into acting to NFTs and having to say to users based on what stories they can they can take around this artworks over time,

perfect. Thank you so much to all of you, I think we've had a very enriching discussion in many different directions. Sarthak from XDSea, Mel from OpulenceX and Ohiorenoya from Pepperlyl. Thank you all so much for the insights. Thank you for the time that you've spent with us, and if you are in the audience, thank you for investing an hour of your time, whether live or if you are listening to this via Spotify or Apple Music. Yeah, you are investing in yourself right now, the insights that we are able to really get from these guests that we have on the show each week is a testament to the fact that, yeah, it doesn't matter what's happening on the charts in the market. The fact is, knowledge is power, knowledge is education, and education is really what takes you from one level to the next. So thank you all so much for spending another hour with us and to the guests, fantastic work to just hear about everything that you guys have built through a bear market. I think for me, that always is the absolute testament of whether a team is able to make it, whether they're able to pull something off. It's very, very easy to build a company in a bull market where you know money is flowing, hype is there? Attention is there? Everyone wants in on the action. It's incredibly difficult to do it when no one's out there. It's like a desert, you know? And Mel was saying earlier about covid, I think all of us experience a moment in covid where it felt like we were alone on the planet. And that very much is how it feels building in a bear market. It feels like you alone out there. But really, if you are supporting a project. Back that has been building in the bear that is the due diligence that you need to do to understand these guys are committed. They have what it takes, and they are really not just there for, you know, whatever they're going to get in the bull market. So thank you to all of you. Have a lovely evening, and to Mel, please go to bed. I think it's after 4am so you've got you've got a few minutes before you need to get up again. Thank you all so much. Have a lovely day. Cheers.