Conversation with KK, founder of Hash Global: In the cold winter and summer, let’s talk about the future of Web3 and NFT

Web3 is in a somewhat deserted bear market, and the NFT market lacks fuel in the short term, and the confidence of Holders has been severely hit. Do NFTs still have a future? How can Web3 break people’s prejudices? How to quickly judge the quality of a project? What should we do in a bear market? In the third dialogue, we are very pleased to invite KK, chef of Maodao & founder of Hash Global, to share his insights on Web3 and NFT. From the perspective of investors, what do Web3 and NFT look like?

Web3 is in a somewhat deserted bear market, and the NFT market lacks fuel in the short term, and the confidence of Holders has been severely hit. Will NFT have a future? How can Web3 break people’s prejudices? How to quickly judge whether a project is good or bad? What to do in a bear market?

In the third dialogue, we are very pleased to invite KK, chef of Maodao & founder of Hash Global, to share his insights on Web3 and NFT. From the perspective of investors, what do Web3 and NFT look like?

1. Let KK introduce himself first.

Hello everyone, I am KK. I have been working in the traditional financial market before, including asset management companies in the United States and China. 15 years later, I started to invest in equity, and established Hash Global in 2018, mainly investing in start-up projects in the Web3 industry. We currently manage two funds, a VC fund and a parallel fund. Considering the scope of capabilities, we focus on the Web3 Chinese team. So far, we have invested in more than 60 Web3 Chinese entrepreneurial projects; we have recently completed the acquisition of the MaoDao PFP project, and we want to use this as a base to build a Web3 Chinese community. At the same time, we began to try to make Web3 products in China, and we are committed to promoting the mass adoption of Web3 technology in China (based on the alliance chain).

2. How does KK view the current NFT market? How do you think NFT will develop in the future?

We are very optimistic about the NFT market and have been investing in entrepreneurial projects in the NFT field. I explained NFT and Web3 to many Web2 friends on many occasions last year. The title of an internal material that I really like to use for explanation is: NFT is the cornerstone of the next generation Internet. In my opinion, NFT is not just digital collections and PFP, it is actually “Everything”. It can be data, a mapping of the physical world in the virtual world, it can be a carrier of asset securitization, and it can also be combined with the real economy. It can also show its talents in private domain traffic management. Therefore, we have seen that many Web2 companies around the world, such as Starbucks, Nike, etc., are trying to use NFT to further build their own membership systems and brand culture.

If we just limit the concept of NFT to areas such as avatars or artworks, I think the current market performance is just a normal value return. I also bought a lot of zero-return NFT projects. I also care about making or losing money, but what is more meaningful to me is that I can follow the development of the market through purchasing. Many of Web3’s operating models and value presentation methods are very close to money, so people in the industry will be particularly price-sensitive and think it is a bear market; but from the perspective of technology development and application field expansion, the bottom layer of NFT is There is a very big technological breakthrough. Originally, in our Internet or metaverse world, there was no way to confirm the ownership of something. For example, a picture can be copied countless times at zero cost, and you cannot assign value to it; but after the emergence of carriers like NFT, the logic changes. Yes, a picture can be sold for 10,000, 1 million or even 10 million Hong Kong dollars. Behind this phenomenon actually contains very large changes in the underlying business logic.

In general, the NFT market in a narrow sense may be in a bear market at present; but the entire NFT market, including the application of NFT technology in the real economy and the empowerment of various industries, is developing rapidly and vigorously in our opinion. The next development will be very interesting, and this market will be so big that everyone cannot imagine it.

3. I saw that Hash Global recently completed the acquisition of the NFT project MaoDao, and took it as the first project to be incubated. Could you please KK briefly introduce MaoDao and MaoDao’s vision?

We have been paying attention to PFP and Web3 native IP. Simply speaking, MaoDao will be divided into two parts. First of all, we will build a community for Web3 Chinese based on the original PFP project; if the slogan is bigger, we hope to be the spiritual home of Web3 Chinese. Our understanding of PFP may be different from that of some existing project parties. We prefer that the project can become a member club like YugaLabs rather than a specific trend culture; of course, the development path we are currently planning is not the same as that of YugaLabs. Same.

I think Web3 Chinese are the only group of entrepreneurs that can stand alongside European and American entrepreneurial teams. Whether it is entrepreneurs, KOLs, or related media practitioners, the group gathered by us Chinese must be the best group of people in the global entrepreneurial team.

Of course, our entrepreneurial ecosystem is sometimes not particularly friendly. There are often some “pseudo-Web3” events and characters that “pollute” the industry. Our mainstream media and many Web2 practitioners actually have a vague understanding of Web3. Web3 practitioners can easily be viewed with suspicion: Are you laundering money? Are you just a currency speculator? Are you doing pyramid schemes?

I think the Chinese team that really does things needs a community with positive energy to explain our understanding and vision of Web3 to those users outside the mainstream supervision, mainstream media, and the mainstream Web3 crowd. And the best vehicle for such a community is PFP. The PFP of Web3 is not comparable to the skin or avatar of a certain Web2 platform. The gap between the two is the gap in dimension.

MaoDao now has 5,000 cats. If you own a cat, you belong to this community. You are a part of the community. You can participate in various offline and online activities. We will rely on our resources to provide some benefits in various Web2 cultural and entertainment fields. These benefits are not the focus in our view. We don’t think PFP is a carrier of some benefits; we hope you stay in the community because the community can provide a lot of high-quality content and a lot of communication, and community members can help each other. We are even thinking about whether the community can be divided into different cohorts according to different industries and regions; each cohort has a very diverse group of people, including Web2 people, Web3 people, entrepreneurs from all walks of life, professionals, Investors, etc., so that the community can grow rapidly, and each member can get their own complementary part.

We believe that such a community will be very valuable. We hope that when regulators in Hong Kong, Singapore, and China talk about MaoDao, they will think that this is a community with positive energy, and they are willing to communicate with such a community. Hong Kong welcomes Web3 talents very much, and the gathering places for these talents will be communities like MaoDao. After such a community is built, because it is based on PFP, it will become a Web3 IP itself, and such an IP will also be very valuable. The value it brings can also be shared by community members simultaneously. We will also set up a points system to reward members with points based on their contributions.

There are currently some great Chinese PFP projects, most of which focus on trendy brands, game animation and other fields. I think these are all good, at least they are telling value rather than hyping a concept, a picture or a slogan, but this is different from what we want to do. As an investment institution, we may have helped nearly a hundred Chinese Web3 entrepreneurial projects. We are at a gathering point. We have had many exchanges with many Chinese Web3 practitioners. At the same time, our team members come from traditional finance and Web2 industries. Many of our investors are successful entrepreneurs and investors of Web2. We are familiar with and understand the thinking of the regulatory authorities, and we hope to work with the Web3 entrepreneurial team to better comply with the requirements of government supervision, so that Web3 can truly replace Web2.

We now have the entire Web2 Internet that is compliant, so it has the greatest development. And we need to know that once Web3 complies with regulations, its energy and power will be greater than Web2. Because it is more in line with government requirements in terms of data privacy and data regulation. We will destroy the monopoly economic model of the Web2 platform and completely replace it. In the future, there should be no exclusive term like Web3. The Internet is Web3, and Web3 is the Internet itself.

The entrepreneurial team of Web3 needs a stronger community and a more cohesive organization to do this. This is also the plan of the MaoDao community.

Finally, let me talk about a product we are making in China at the same time - “Cat Island”. “Cat Island” is something we want to do based on our understanding after truly observing the development of Web3 in China. This product is under intensive development, and we are also designing plans for our first batch of customers, and will soon onboard its membership system.

It is completely possible to implement the Web3 business model in China, but there are some aspects that you have to avoid - you cannot have cryptocurrency, and you have to do it based on the alliance chain. The operator of Cat Island products and the custodian of product data will be completely separated. Data and assets are stored on a public database, that is, a certain alliance chain, using NFT as a carrier. Therefore, the data is public, which is completely different from the operating logic of all Web2 platforms; the user experience will be greatly improved. For us, this is the core point of the Web3 business model.

We hope that domestic users will not know that they are using Web3 products, and that their collection of tickets, fan cards, or a certain actor’s “highlight moments” is an NFT. He only knows that he has these things, and he can even resell them legally and compliantly in the second-hand trading market. At the same time, these things can be displayed across APPs, not only on Cat Island products, but also in all APPs that can read data on this alliance chain. In this way, the user’s experience will be great. He does not need to know that this is based on the alliance chain, nor does he need to know that this is an NFT. He just finds that all his “cultural footprints” have been saved.

4. KK believes that in the next stage, which segmented track application is most likely to bring blockchain into people’s lives and break people’s prejudice against Web3? Or are there similar applications already available?

We drew a picture at the beginning of the year, and we believed that the next three years would be the iPhone moment for Web3 to achieve mass adoption. In our opinion, there are three areas of application that will lead us towards mass adoption.

One is games, one is NFT (creator economy), and the other is DePin. Since this is an exclusive interview with NFTGo, let’s focus on NFT. NFT is something worth spending time and energy on. We believe that if we want the blockchain to completely enter people’s lives, we must make the blockchain insensitive.

When our friends, or even our parents, use these applications, you can’t tell them that this is a Web3 application and your collection is an NFT, let alone what chain your thing is built on. ; he just needs to use it, and you just need to use technology to give him a better experience. After he uses it, he will feel that he is just using the original Internet, but suddenly he finds that this APP seems to have become more friendly.

For example, the essential difference between Web3’s China Eastern Airlines membership system and Web2’s China Eastern Airlines membership system is that when Ctrip needs to market to users, Ctrip no longer needs to say to China Eastern Airlines: “Open the database and let me check KK Is it your platinum member?” This is because China Eastern Airlines has released the data on the first day of issuing this platinum card. Instead of saying that when a third-party service provider like Ctrip wants to come for verification, it will be authorized and opened. We know this is because the card’s data is recorded on the alliance chain, but 99.9% of people don’t know and don’t need to know; they only need to know that this China Eastern Airlines Platinum Membership Card can be read by Ctrip, and they You don’t have to go out of your way to prove yourself anymore. Based on this, the underlying technological revolution will bring about very large changes in business logic.

In addition, we feel that the place where NFT can best show its talents is in private domain traffic management - some large hotel groups in China have already begun to do this. For any large Web2 platform such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, their public domain traffic tools must be very good, and their huge traffic distribution tools are of great value. But if some Influencers want to sell products instead of simply selling their personal traffic, they will have real needs for private domain traffic management. We have talked to many bloggers and influencers. Whenever they want to sell something, they often need to go to WeChat to create a WeChat group, and then manage, sell things or chat. Of course they can sell through platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin, but through those platforms he doesn’t know what the portraits of his users are. We asked an Influencer with 50,000 followers. Although she has sold hundreds of thousands of RMB worth of goods in the past few years (through Xiaohongshu), she does not know what kind of user profile her 50,000-plus followers are. It’s a huge pain point. You can try to imagine: if these things happened on the Web3 platform, would she be able to see the portraits of all her users through the NFT tool? She would also know who are her real collectors and fans. These collectors and What preferences do fans have?

Our “Cat Island” is to make such products. We hope that after this product is released, all Influencers and their fans can establish direct connections. Our platform only makes money that the platform should make. We do not monopolize data; we hope to give users the best experience. We will also make a cultural wall for fans - all his collections will be displayed, he can display them across platforms, and he can also use this to find his friends. He will find that he can take all the things and collections with him and not be limited to a certain application (he can never show the things in Xiaohongshu on Douyin).

We hope to give the most users the best experience and at the same time enable the Influencer’s influence to achieve better value. This is also the application that we believe is most likely to explode on the NFT track. I wrote an article at the beginning of the year, and that article talked about our views on this matter. We originally wanted to find a team for incubation, but since there was no way to find a suitable team quickly, we decided to do it ourselves.

5. Many Web3ers want to learn investment ideas. From the perspective of investors, how does KK quickly judge whether a project is worth betting on?

From an investor’s perspective, just like when we invested in NFTGo, we first look at what problem you are trying to solve with this project, whether the problem really exists, and whether the future product demand and market really exist - at least for us You have to believe it exists. Secondly, we need to know why it is you and not others (doing this thing), whether it can convince us.

After judging by these two things, we will screen out about 90% of the projects, and then we will chat with the team about your specific situation, and the chatting process will be very fast - because we will receive a large number of Decks, we will Takes a lot of our energy. We are investing in the early stage, so the judgment of the remaining 10% of the projects actually mainly depends on the founder’s ideas and his future execution ability (because people are very important), as well as the communication and cooperation between the teams. This process in turn will screen out a significant proportion of the team.

It is not our expertise to judge an NFT project itself from the perspective of NFTer. Including when we do PFP projects like MaoDao, we want to build a real product and a valuable community, and we don’t even want to see MaoDao PFP have a very high turnover rate (of course we value MaoDao’s floor price very much) , this is definitely the hardest indicator, which represents everyone’s recognition of the community). We hope that after you get the PFP, you will really become a part of the community. We hope that only about 10% of people will choose to leave every year, and another 10% of people will choose to join, instead of the current annual turnover rate of 200%, 300% or even higher. We also do not want to make money through Royalties. .

I think PFP, or investors in a broader NFT project, still need to spend some time looking at the team behind the project-does his vision meet your expectations? Does it have room for long-term appreciation? Holding a kind of perspective, do you want to buy a house in a first-tier city, do you want to buy a value stock? Our suggestion is not to pay too much attention to the superficial things, but to look at the inside, but this may require a certain threshold, a certain amount of self-awareness, and some time and energy to do research.

6. NFT is facing a deep bear, and the currency circle is also sluggish. What advice does KK have for Web3er in the bear market? What do you recommend doing more now?

I think NFT technology and its application in the real economy and in all aspects are in full swing, and its development has not been affected by the market itself at all (whether it is the encryption market or the NFT trading market itself). I suggest that in the current bear market, you should do more research, learn more, and keep enough bullets; on this basis, because there is much less noise, there are much fewer good targets to choose from, and they will be more concentrated. We feel that it is a very good time to start the MaoDao project, whether it is in terms of our investment cost or community building. I think if the NFT market is really a market you are optimistic about in the long term, you should look for teams and their projects that continue to keep building in the bear market.

We actually don’t think there are any blue-chip NFT projects now. Whether a blue-chip or not is simply a blue-chip project that has reached a floor price, it will take at least three years to prove that you are a blue-chip-whether you can stand Live through the bull and bear transitions in the market. This market and industry has only just begun! When the bull market comes, projects that continue to do practical things in the bear market will be more explosive.

It is more likely to make money in a bear market, but it is easier to lose money when investing in a particularly hot market. So I think it is necessary to learn more, do more research, and look at the cycle a little further, at least for two or three years. I think it may be a good market entry point at this stage, but you must pay attention to your asset allocation.

Conclusion

Thank you very much KK for your answer. Investors have a broader vision and can give us a lot of inspiration. At the same time, every Web3er is also looking forward to the iPhone moment of Web3 mass adoption.

In the future, NFTGo will continue to invite Web3 Builder for exclusive interviews and conversations. Everyone is also welcome to follow our Chinese Twitter: @NFTGoCN to stay tuned to us. If you have any suggestions, Builders you want to see, questions you want to ask, or would like to recommend yourself, please feel free to comment on our Twitter or DM us.

In the next dialogue with Web3 Builder, we will see you there~