Salesforce Launches NFT Marketplace

The cloud-based, customer relationship management (CRM) company, will implement an NFT marketplace in its newest updates. Salesforce boasts over 150,000 business clients including Spotify, Toyota, Puma, Amazon Web Services and many more, all of whom the global CRM will attempt to onboard into the NFT space.

Salesforce NFT Cloud, a groundbreaking non-fungible token marketplace, is a no-code platform that enables users to create, manage, and trade NFTs.

Salesforce did say that the NFT cloud will operate using energy-efficient blockchains after several hundred employees signed a petition for the move. The website does not mention a specific chain, but explicitly says they will not work with Proof-of-Work blockchains, with a focus on Proof-of-Stake. Regarding carbon emissions, Salesforce had this to say.

“In line with our net zero emissions commitment, and to help our customers reach or stay net zero, our NFT Cloud pilot will automatically calculate carbon emissions of blockchain options, and allow the user to offset the emissions through trusted, high-quality carbon credits through the Net Zero Marketplace.”

Proof-of-Stake has received quite the attention after the Ethereum merge and is well known to reduce carbon footprints drastically. Proof-of-Stake is also argued to be less decentralized, as those with the deepest pockets directly have the most control of the network.

Salesforce joins many other leading companies in the development of an NFT marketplace, including Meta (Instagram)RedditGameStop and several others. NFT marketplaces require a large amount of trust and security, and also offer a massive business opportunity. The marketplaces typically earn fees on every single transaction, often around 1-3%.

For perspective, OpenSea has been the leading marketplace thus far. In January of 2022, OpenSea did nearly 5 billion dollars in volume. 1% of January’s monthly trading volume would net a company 50 million dollars. To sweeten the pot, OpenSea charges 2.5%, bringing monthly revenue in January to 125 million dollars from trading fees.

It’s no wonder these companies are racing to launch an NFT marketplace and capture a share of the underserved market. Although not an easy task, the largest hurdle for any newcomer in the space is to gain the trust of the existing user base. Major institutions often struggle to trade traditional marketing for community building and also struggle with adopting the major ethos of Web3. For a company to be successful in today’s NFT or Web3 industry, it must follow the values already laid out. This includes open-source code, public ledgers for transactions and decentralized infrastructure.

“Once a company proves it’s an ethical NFT broker that takes security and sustainability into account — it’s possible to build success with an NFT program,” said John Hughes, CEO of NearMintNFT.

Regardless of Salesforce NFT Cloud becoming successful, this is major news for the entire blockchain space. Salesforce is offering some of the largest companies in the world the ability to take advantage of NFTs, and putting the Web3 space right in front of all of its customers. Two years ago, these same businesses laughed at the idea of blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFTs. Now, every major bank around the world offers digital asset services, every major social media company is implementing NFTs and digital assets are at the center of conversations.

This article was written by Patrick Hagerty on the Exploring Digital Assets  on 25.10.2022 and has been published here with permission.

 

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