Highlights:
- Salesforce wants to help its customers mint, manage, and sell NFTs without the hassle of code.
- Salesforces’ NFT Cloud program will be initially made available to only limited customers but will be widely offered to the public in October.
Salesforce, a leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and cloud software giant, announced that it would launch a cloud-based service to help businesses buy and sell NFT assets. The move comes at a time when sales of digital assets have plummeted, but Salesforce is banking on future demand for such services while launching a pilot project of NFT Cloud.
NFT Cloud is considered a stepping-stone into the world of crypto-assets and the metaverse, which will enable brands to leverage the cloud-based tools of Salesforce to engage online communities, create and sell NFTs, and extract data from their offerings.
According to Salesforce, the launch of this NFT Cloud platform is a turn to the future as its creation stems from customer curiosity. SVP of Emerging Technology, Adam Caplan, said, “Salesforce is seeing interest from CMOs and CDOs who are asking for help entering web3, and we are enthusiastic about bringing innovations, products, and offerings to our customers in a way that allows them to build and maintain meaningful relationships with their customers.”
Salesforces’ motive to launch the NFT platform
Salesforce wants to make NFT selling more accessible through the launch of this platform. “NFT Cloud is all about helping our customers mint, manage and sell NFTs, and of course, it’s all no code. So, it’s super easy on our platform, abstracting all the complicated technology in this [new] web3 world,” said Caplan.
Caplan explained that Salesforce has been witnessing a lot of interest across various verticals such as retail, fashion, media, and consumer goods, among others. “It’s really about driving engagement and communities, and we’re seeing super passionate communities in the NFT space,” he explained.
Caplan views it as a way to market to customers with something of potential value to them. “It’s really about utility. And what we mean by utility is as an NFT holder, I receive certain benefits. It could be something in a digital world, or it could be something in the physical world,” he said.
This could include receiving new clothing every quarter in exchange for owning the NFT or receiving special powers that non-NFT owners can’t access in a game environment.
Employees question the ethics of selling NFTs
Some, including nearly a group of 400 employees, have questioned the ethical and ecological impact of selling these assets and have reportedly sent a protest letter to co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor in February 2022. But according to Caplan, Salesforce is doing it in a way that aligns with Salesforce values.
“We want to help our customers assess whether there is a viable path forward with NFT technology in a sustainable and ethical manner,” he said.
Salesforces’ NFT Cloud program will be initially made available to only limited customers, but it will be more widely offered in October. Though on the website, it has not been specified which blockchain platforms will be used to mint NFTs, it has been specified that no blockchain that uses an energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus model will be supported. (This can assail the doubts of hundreds of Salesforce employees who were citing environmental impact for opposing the platform).
Throughout 2021, there was a major surge in the NFT market. The market size was nearly USD 25 billion at the end of the year, according to data from DappRadar. This year, trading activities in the NFT market have seen ups and downs. In recent weeks, activities have dropped down amid a wider crypto crash. Even so, NFT trading in 2022 is expected to surpass last year’s tally with nearly USD 16 billion in organic sales volume by April.
