VanEck’s new NFT platform SegMint TradFi highlights the high interest in Web3 tokenization
Asset management firm VanEick is looking to test the potential of digital asset ownership by replicating the success of its recently launched US-based Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on a new self-sustaining nonfungible token (NFT) platform.
Cointelegraph spoke exclusively with Matthew Bartlett, Head of VanEck NFT Community and Web3 ahead of SegMint's launch at NFT Paris. The NFT asset management platform allows users to store and distribute digital assets by issuing tokens that can be traded on the platform's in-house exchange.
In the year VanEek, which filed for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF in 2017, has gained notoriety as a traditional financial company actively exploring cryptocurrency ETFs and digital asset ownership.
VanEck NFT “épée”
Bartlett's tenure as the company's head of NFT and Web3 is partly thanks to his personal interest in the position. Combining nearly two decades of experience with TradFi players Franklin Templeton and VanEyck's passion for NFTs, Bartlett was granted the license to build a platform for in-house NFT ownership and digital asset segmentation.
“I told Jan van Eyck I wanted you to build something, but NFT didn't know I was a DJ, so I had to start there. I put my hat on as a user and looked at the problems, understood what they were, and that's how we came up with the thesis we built,” explains Bartlett.
VanEck's Web3 leader became an NFT buyer in 2017 and moved around the space to bid in Decentraland. Bartlett helped VanEyck take his first steps on the scene by offering a free NFT that would serve as a ticket to the real world at the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq bell-calling ceremony.
Over the past seven years, the company has been building what Bartlett described as a strong digital asset team, primarily cryptocurrency investment analysts and digital asset product managers.
Testing the “lock and key” NFT model
SegMint joins platforms that offer NFT creation, trading and management. With that in mind, Bartlett sought to build a platform focused primarily on shared ownership and asset sharing.
“When I started looking at all the platforms out there, they all suffer from at least three problems. First, they're custodial in nature. They say, ‘Here are your shares, but we're going to take your property.' Now you've lost airdrops or token-protected access,” Bartlett said.
Related: EU Bitcoin ETF Fever Despite Crypto Investments Skeptic Remains – VanEck Europe CEO
According to Bartlett, Segment offers self-secured storage of users' digital assets through Web3 wallet ownership:
“It's still self-governing. So now you can manage all your utilities, your airdrops, your gameplay and once you've locked it, you can extract any SegMint keys.
SegMint keys are ERC-1155 tokens, which means fungible clones of anything in users' storage. A Vault owner must own all of their respective keys to open it, and keys are traded on a closed platform exchange.
Related: Bitcoin price won't hit like digital store: VanEck CEO
SegMint launched on February 28 and requires users to go through a Know Your Customer process to generate keys and initialize NFTs. Bartlett hopes the platform will attract owners like CryptoPunks, Squiggles and Pudgy Penguin to fractionalize NFTs. he said:
“It's wishful thinking, but that's where we start. Now you can democratize access to the best collections at low prices for people worldwide.
Token real estate capacity
Segment's long-term goal is to partner with other blockchain-based platforms that tokenize real-world assets, such as vintage and luxury watches. Tokenized real estate is another prospect that Bartlett sees as huge potential for distributed ownership in the coming years.
Bartlett presents a different platform that can use blockchain technology for various real estate use cases. “Holding” a vacation home to create 52 keys for each week of the year, for example, can be sold on an open marketplace.
“Between Airbnb and timeshares, you kind of have that awkward thing where I just got that key, I showed you your house. I hit the RFID reader and I'm in for a week.
This highly hypothetical example can be flipped for a variety of high-value assets, from private jets to collector cars. While Bartlett believes this is an impressive model, he admits these use cases could take years to come to fruition.
“It takes time for the community to figure out the best use cases, and we're not even scratching the surface. BARTLET Now, I'm in the box containing the controlled object.
The VanEck Bitcoin ETF has attracted more than $272 million in investments since it was given the green light by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2024. To increase exposure to the crypto sector.
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