Exploring NFT Galleries with Benjamin Agostini

Next in our Non-Fungible Conference interview series is Benjamin Agostini, Co-Founder of TheSafeBox.io, a premium curated NFT gallery that aims to create a modern luxury experience.

We started our interview by asking Benjamin to explain to us a bit about his background which led him to experience with NFTs. Benjamin told us he is a lawyer that worked in financial institutions, a profession quite far from blockchain or NFTs. However, he always paid attention to technology, and when he saw that NFTs were about to expand, he got into this world.

“I strongly believe that in 5 or 10 years, everybody will have NFTs”.

He then decided to make the switch to this industry.

We wondered how an NFT gallery works to which Benjamin explained how they’ve put wine on the blockchain. In their business, they work directly with the producer, who digitalizes the wine.

They proceed to send it, and when you own one NFT, you own one bottle of wine, giving a tangible item to their customers.

“Based on the existing market, you have plenty of intermediaries, meaning that the final consumer is extremely far from the producers” but now, with the use of the NFT technology, we can contact them directly.

This also means that the client will have to feature such as tasting the wine when it’s at its maturity, or if they wish to speculate on the wine.

We then proceeded to ask what possible transformations NFTs could see in the future, to which Benjamin answered that NFTs will likely be used as a certificate of ownership for all tangible assets.  This coincides with what they want to do with TheSafeBox, which is to give information to the client, such as: when the wine was made and what were the wineries.

He explained how NFTs can be used for marketing promotions in a more efficient way than letters or emails that can be deleted. Benjamin believes the next marketers will use MetaMask to address their audience.

We finally directed our questions to the art theme. When we asked if Benjamin thought NFTs will ever get the same prestige as a classical piece of art, he answered that it was not even a question.

“I think that the digital arts exist, and will exist, and I think there is no debate as to if it's art or not. It may not be for all people, but it’s for you to express yourself, like street art.”

This subject led us to ask what he thought made an NFT valuable, to which Benjamin answered “Unfortunately, a lot of marketing” as well as the utility of the NFT, such as how many use cases exist for an NFT.

We took the opportunity to also ask how he thought that marketing NFTs is different from a normal product. Benjamin proceeded to explain that it can be hard because it’s global, which makes it difficult to segment your audience, and you have to market on social media. The secret behind it is to adapt the tools, and the tools will change the marketing.

Lastly, to finish our interview, we asked how people can protect their NFTs, and if Benjamin had any tips for our readers. Benjamin advised everyone to learn how to manage their wallet, keep their private key a secret, and highlighted the need for a legal framework.

Are you enjoying these short interviews with people in the NFT world? Check out our Slogging AMAs: https://hackernoon.com/tagged/slogging