NFT is the world’s new buzz word and, for Kinguin, an exciting new opportunity. When asked to describe them in one sentence, Mateusz Mach, Director of NFTs at Kinguin told us it was limiting because while the crude definition means non-fungible tokens, the reality is that these unique, irreplaceable assets are about to change the world of collectibles, and gaming, forever.

Mateusz, a highly regarded entrepreneur who founded the world’s first sign language messenger and venture house Nextrope, started with Kinguin in April. He was inspired to join the company having had conversations with founder Viktor Romaniuk Wanli about multiple topics covering digital trade and NFTs, and this, combined with his expertise and passion for tech, made it an opportunity he couldn’t refuse. We sat down with him to ask him about NFTs and to find out what this means for Kinguin. 

While many people are only now hearing about NFTs, the first one was created in 2014. This was when there was a desire to trade assets online. But, it was only in January this year that NFTs became popular and much of the hype that has been created is the result of the collectables culture in the US. Since then the growth has been exponential, hitting a high of 2.5 billion USD in Q2! But we’re still only at the beginning – there is much to improve and more industries will get involved.

For Kinguin, it is a new business area to explore. But I’m always looking for creative challenges and I knew that adding NFTs to the marketplace was a now or never opportunity. So far during my time at the company we’ve announced a partnership with Immutable X and more recently we became the exclusive NFT partner for the Kinguin Prime Time Wrestling event, where we minted exclusive wrestling NFTs and became the first marketplace globally to enter the NFT world. While NFTs provide a new revenue category for the company, our goal is more holistic. 

We understand that NFTs are new for many people and that while our customers are tech savvy, there is still an education process. Our plan is to invest in building the most convenient to use NFT marketplace within the gaming industry. What we want is for anyone visiting Kinguin.net to find and buy the NFT they want – and to do it with confidence!

One example of this is the payment solutions we offer. We’re well known for our wide variety of checkout processes – there are many marketplaces that do not know how to integrate the payment options we have. Our ambition is to make sure this is fully integrated when our customers are buying and trading NFTs as well – it’s important to give them choices.

As well as educating our customers on NFTs, we also want to make sure we offer products that appeal to their tastes. We plan to collaborate with partners who give them access to exclusive, gaming collectibles, ones we know they will want to get their hands on. But this will not be limited to gaming. NFTs have become a part of pop culture and because of this we are in advanced talks with artists, musicians, fashion designers, and celebrities to contribute our ideas and add their NFTs on our marketplace. 

From a personal perspective, my interest is in establishing a new category for Kinguin – one where there is much room to innovate and excite our customers. It will be an incredible experience to be a part of those technological changes. For Kinguin, it will be about being recognised as a market leader – we want to be synonymous with rare, gaming NFTs. This is definitely a long term proposition for the company. 

We have a ton of plans in the pipeline, many of which I can’t talk about just yet. Next year there will be lots more news I can share but for now it’s about defining our strategy and making sure that when we do reveal all. It will have been worth the wait!