"Don't drink, invest"... Wine NFT Exchange 'Bank of Wine' [N…
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Interview with Park Sang-wook, CEO of Blinkers
First public minting in progress... Ethereum payment will also be supported
'NFT founder' Kevin McCoy, Bank of Wine's 'M-NFT' is well received
The first membership party on the 28th... "Goal of attracting 1000 loyal customers"
"Bank of Wine NFTs do not converge to zero"
In an interview with Blooming Beat on the 20th, Park Sang-wook, CEO of Blinkers, which operates Bank of Wine, a real wine-based non-fungible token (NFT) exchange, answered the question about the project's differentiation.
He said, "What investors are most anxious about in the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) market without substance is that the price can converge to '0'. Bank of Wine NFTs can be exchanged for real wine whenever the holder wants, so no matter how low the price, it guarantees the floor (lowest price) higher than the actual wine price," he said confidently.
Blinkers, the operator of Bank of Wine, was recently selected for 'Tips', a technology start-up support program by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, after attracting investment from KB Investment and D.Camp, and secured a total of KRW 3 billion in accumulated investment. It is evaluated by the industry that it has overcome the hurdles of the domestic liquor law by combining blockchain technology with wine, which was impossible to trade between individuals, so that it can be invested in NFT.
Bank of Wine has completed a total of five OG (original gangster) and whitelist special NFT mintings so far. The first public NFT minting started on the 10th.
For special NFTs, the minting price was set at 2.5 to 3 times higher than the actual wine price, and for public NFTs, the price was set as similar as possible to the actual price of the corresponding wine. Regardless of the grade, all NFTs are issued in a limited edition of 10 per type of wine.
CEO Park said, "All wines, including 'vintage wine' produced only in a certain year, are limited editions." He added, "Because the speed of consumption is fast, the value jumps quickly. The potential of investing in wine is that 600,000 won can go up to 20 million won." explained.
He cited 'membership benefits' as the reason why investors should purchase special NFTs that are more expensive than the actual price of wine. Special NFT holders have the right to be invited to membership parties and private tastings hosted by Bank of Wine, and can also participate in governance.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Wine side stores real wines corresponding to NFTs in affiliated wine importers and wholesalers. The distribution network secured so far is 23, including Shindong Wine, Viña Conchaitoro, and Allvin Wine.
CEO Park said, "Although interest is not provided when staking like DeFi (Decentralized Finance), investors enjoy the advantage of being able to store wine in the best condition by holding NFTs. All storage fees are paid by Bank of Wine. "he emphasized.
Currently, Bank of Wine only supports KRW payments. As the only virtual asset wallet that can be linked is Klaytn (KLAY)-based Kaikas, it is said that it is not enough to claim to be a Web 3.0 company.
In this regard, CEO Park said, “Considering the main age group of wine lovers, I thought it would be difficult for customers to start a business based on Web 3.0 right away.” I do," he replied.
Blinkers plans to support Ethereum (ETH) payments from September to October to become a crypto-friendly web 3.0 company. In addition to the Bank of Wine platform, it plans to launch additional NFTs in OpenC, the world's largest NFT marketplace, and increase the number of linked wallets.
We also plan to diversify the types of alcoholic beverages we serve. Blinkers is currently collaborating with Hansan Sogokju on traditional liquor and preparing to launch a whiskey line.
Bank of Wine participated in '2022 NFT NYC' held in New York last month and conducted IR (Investor Relations) to provide information about the project. CEO Park said that Kevin McCoy, who is called the 'founder of NFT' by creating the world's first NFT, expressed his sympathy for the Bank of Wine project and conveyed his intention to invest.
CEO Park commented, "The part that Kevin McCoy sympathized with the most was 'M-NFT.'
M-NFT (Memory NFT) is a Bank of Wine archiving tool that allows consumers to record and certify the list of wines they drank. After the NFT held by the holder is exchanged for real wine (Redeem), M-NFT in the form of an empty bottle or glass of the liquor is issued in combination with member information.
CEO Park said, "For wine lovers, such as former sommeliers, the history of what kind of wine they drank is itself."
"Unlike existing services that allow you to take a picture of any wine at the mart and archive it, Bank of Wine M-NFT is issued only for wine received by actual customers at the store, so you can transparently prove which wine you have experienced." he explained.
M-NFT is issued only for wines owned by Bank of Wine or purchased from offline stores where collaboration has been completed. Currently, Bank of Wine owns about 1,000 bottles of physical wine and about 300 types.
"We have stocked up on rare wines with high investment value," he said.
Bank of Wine will hold its first private party for holders at the Raum Art Center in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul on the 28th. The event will be co-hosted with Raum, known as 'Social Venue', and about 200 VIPs invited in advance will participate. Those selected as VIPs are known to have made direct and indirect investments, such as purchasing NFTs, from the beginning of Bank of Wine's business.
CEO Park said that since it was the first membership event of the project, he prepared a party at a cost of 200 million won to increase the satisfaction of holders.
He emphasized, “As a welcome drink on this day, Dom Perignon champagne worth 500,000 won per bottle is provided. If you include the prepared Bank of Wine voucher, it is an event worth almost 300 million won.”
"We plan to hold several events for holders in the future to build familyship. First of all, our goal is to gather 1,000 royal customers by the second half of this year," he said. "We will create a wine community that people admire and want to participate in."
