In our exclusive interview, I had a conversation with Koichi Hatta, founder of marumaruNFT, where we delved into the truly distinctive Japanese culture. Hatta shared with me an intriguing tradition of visiting nightclubs accompanied by a hostess or host to drink for a fee, and how the NFT industry intertwines this real culture with the metaverse. Let’s dive deeper into this fascinating topic.
U.Today: Mr. Hatta, thank you for your time. Can you give us some information about your background? What sparked your interest in NFTs?
Koichi Hatta: I used to be able to make a living as a full-time investor, and I used to invest in crypto along with stocks and forex. Naturally, this led me to become interested in investing in NFTs.
Crypto investing piqued my interest in NFT technology and I saw the benefits of using it in business.
I was convinced that this superiority and my idea (an NFT marketplace specialized for cabaret hostesses/hosts) had great prospects.
U.Today: Japanese culture is truly unique. Can you enlighten us on the traditions known as cabaret clubs and host clubs?
Koichi Hatta: Japan is one of the world’s leading countries in nightlife, and the business models of cabaret clubs and guest clubs are part of the Japanese culture that evolved from foreign-origin nightclubs.
The atmosphere of these clubs is not as high status as that of the nightclubs of the past, and they are very popular with the general public as the average businessman can casually enjoy themselves. The cast members are so-called ‘regular girls’, which is a slightly different atmosphere than that of nightclubs. It is now an indispensable part of the entertainment market in Japan.
U.Today: MarumaruNFT is a marketplace where cabaret clubs and host clubs can sell NFTs featuring their own cast members and hosts. Can you give us more details about this project? Why do you think it will gain popularity?
Koichi Hatta: Cabaret/host clubs have needs from multiple perspectives. They are used for virtual romance, adult desire, entertainment and as an environment to drink alone when you are lonely or to make noise with friends.
Love is an extremely emotional desire while mature lust is an instinctive desire. These tend to lack rationality and furthermore, because alcohol plays a role in the environment, people tend to “impulsively follow their instincts and emotions”, for better or for worse. This worldview is far removed from that of general society and allows consumption at high unit prices that deviate from the norm.
For example, someone who would never buy a 100,000 yen bottle of champagne would do so in the vicinity of a cabaret club or host club. Such phenomena occur every night as a matter of course in the entertainment world.
We are confident that our project’s NFT, which is being set up in this unique environment, will generate much more active transactions and higher unit prices than NFT, which is only traded for art, collections and investment purposes.
U.Today: Do cast members and hosts receive revenue from NFT sales?
Koichi Hatta: Only “shops (member shops)” that operate cabaret/host clubs are allowed to register with marumaruNFT. It is difficult to maintain quality and rules if individual cast members are allowed to register.
Member stores receive 87% of NFT sales (13% is collected by management as commission). Of that, each store pays back a predetermined amount to the model cast members, but I think it’s common for the cast members to receive “half of the proceeds” as in the case of alcohol sales.
U.Today: Please share your roadmap with us. What steps should we anticipate in the future? What are your plans regarding the metaverse?
Koichi Hatta: MarumaruNFT will be launched this year. The business model is well known and inevitably allows us to organize cabaret/host clubs all over Japan in the form of a member shop. This is a very important resource. In contemporary Japan, popular cabaret girls and presenters are not only influencers, but also active celebrities. Our ability to nurture B2B relationships with people like them makes it possible for us to host a wide variety of events. In this context, it is only a matter of time before the metaverse will be generalized as a new market in terms of the current trends of the times.
Despite the sound of the word, most of the current metaverse projects are dormant, but we see this as a phenomenon similar to the early days of the Internet, and we expect a similar growth trend to repeat.
We plan to transform the entertainment area into a new market when the turnaround occurs, which is expected to happen in the near future. At that point, the resources of the cabaret/host club franchisees who have already organized will strongly support our metaverse plan.
U.Today: What exactly is DynamicNFT?
Koichi Hatta: DynamicNFT is a “changing NFT”. Visual elements and data are subject to change according to circumstances. For example, it can be used in different situations, such as game characters that change (grow) based on their experiences. But when looking at its use in the real economy, its main feature is its “practicality” which is not found in conventional NFTs.
The application depends on your ideas, but here are three representative examples of Dynamic NFT provided by marumaruNFT.
By storing elements of expiration dates and membership benefits (discounts, etc.) in the NFT, the NFT can be used as a membership card. Announcements of members-only events, special offers, etc. may be displayed on the NFT.
Allowing NFT to hold the elements of a loyalty card that can be used for payment allows NFT owners to pay with points stored in NFT and sell them at marumaruNFT when no longer needed.
NFTs with the right to enjoy after-dinner drinks with cast members (dine and drink with cast members after office hours); NFT holders can enjoy drinks with cast members under predetermined conditions.
U.Today: What has been the main achievement of the project so far this year?
Koichi Hatta: We raised money through Pancakeswap, more money than expected, which I am proud of because the business model, vision and roadmap of our project were supported by many investors and I was able to gain their trust myself.
While the crypto market as a whole was weak, we managed to raise over $3.5 million in funding from Japanese investors alone.
U.Today: Now on to some transversal questions. Do you have your own collection of NFTs? If so, which one is your favourite?
Koichi Hatta: I owned several ICP based NFTs for investment purposes but I sold them a long time ago and now own nothing.
In my personal opinion, the NFT bubble, which was mainly for investment purposes, is over. As of now, I believe the key to the growth of NFTs will be non-investment goals (practical and irrational emotional/instinctive desires that exist in marumaruNFTs, etc.).
U.Today: Do You Have a Cryptocurrency Portfolio? If so, what assets are in it?
Koichi Hatta: BTC, BNB, ETH and the project’s own token, MARU.
U.Today: What advice can you give to individuals interested in starting their own blockchain business?
Koichi Hatta: We must keep in mind that a company should focus on users, not investors. Essentially, a company should be “user-focused”.
A user is a person who “unilaterally pays money” in exchange for a service. In the case of games, they are just like Prestige and Xbox users.
Most current users of Web3 services, such as GameFi, are investors and not “pure users.” Their goal is not to play games, but to invest. In other words, they don’t care about the quality of the game as long as they can make money. This is not as it should be.
Currently, most participants in the Web3 market are ‘operators’ and ‘investors’ and there is a noticeable absence of users. As long as this is the case, it will be difficult to break out of this Ponzi scheme and growth will not be sustainable.