Salesforce has discussed, internally, its ambitions in the world of NFTs. Where is the editor going and on what basis can he rely?
Does Salesforce still lack the material to launch “publicly” into NFTs? The American group made its ambitions official last week, but internally.
What will these ambitions translate into? of what has filtered, it emerges a cloud service for the creation and sale of NFTs. In other words, a competitor of platforms such as OpenSea, combining designer and marketplace.
The initiative would have resulted in a letter to the co-leaders of Salesforce. Some 400 employees thewould have signed. Their concerns are essentially economic and environmental. They fear, more generally, a “shaking of the fundamental values” of the company. Among them, sustainable development… which joined this base the very day the NFT initiative was announced internally.
It’s official! We’re announcing sustainability as a core company value. 🌟
At Salesforce, values drive all of our decision-making.
With sustainability as a core value, we’re also launching Net Zero Cloud 2.0 to help others get to net zero.
Learn more: https://t.co/Btn5kPJchK pic.twitter.com/ad2n6Y3YUB
—Salesforce #TeamEarth (@salesforce) February 16, 2022
Others, on the contrary, approve of the approach, perceiving Salesforce’s capacity for “responsible support”.
The editor does not actually start from scratch. In the fall of 2021, he set up a “web3 studio”. With, in the staff, its director of strategy Mathew Sweezey – also associated with another internal initiative: the Futures LAB.
This studio is as much a think tank as it is an incubator. In its viewfinder, research projects intended to support “the next generation of brands”.
Budweiser, Nike, TIME… NFTs on Salesforce’s radar
Mathew Sweezey was among 12 senior executives whom Salesforce spoke to as part of its predictions 2022. The interested party had insisted on the need to give NFTs a utility beyond pure collectible value. He had mentioned, for example, the TIMEPieces project. Through which TIME magazine gives unlimited access to its content and special events. The support ? Works grouped in collections. The first was launched in September 2021, with just under 5,000 NFTs from around 40 artists.
The Suffragists, 1920 was sold for 1.4Ξ ($3674.93) #TIMEPieces https://t.co/1eyS5Qvnc3 pic.twitter.com/5vnX7ITZYO
— TIMEPieces Bot (@TIMEPiecesBot) February 21, 2022
TIME has given NFTs before, with exclusive coverage. A great showcase for Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce… and owner of the magazine with his wife.
TIME designed its 1st cover exclusively as an NFT, “Is Fiat Dead?” It’s a nod to one of its most iconic cover designs from April 8, 1966 “Is God Dead?” & April 3, 2017 “Is Truth Dead?” & rise of digital currency as an asset class. Have@JuliaLaRocheHave https://t.co/xb3M50QFGz
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) March 22, 2021
It happened to Marc Benioff to relay, on his social networks, information about TIMEPieces. However, the leader remains relatively silent about NFTs. His last tweet containing this keyword was in May 2021.
Due to his role at Salesforce, Mathew Sweeney is more expansive. His LinkedIn, in particular, gives an idea of what the company has on its radar. Recently, he mentioned the approach of Budweiser, which bought an NFT Noun to affix to cans. As well as Nike, which seized RTFKT, a “small” competitor of OpenSea.
Mathew Sweeney also spoke about NFTs from the perspective of skills certification. Quoting Phil Komarny, Chief Innovation Officer at Salesforce. Several of his posts also talk about DAOs, and more generally about decentralized participation.
Illustrative photo: Salesforce tower in Dublin
