NFTs are coming for your favorite brand loyalty programs. Hang, a new startup, is on its way to help top brands elevate their loyalty programs with NFTs, raising $16 million in its series A round. Customers own an NFT that's connected with the brand's loyalty program, unlocking perks, benefits, and special statuses every time they interact with the brand. Reeve Collins, former CEO of Tether and current Co-Founder of BLOCKv, explains why he thinks the concept will help drive brand engagement and get consumers excited about NFTs again.

Opening Bell

NFTs Coming To Brand Loyalty Programs

I have more insight on this N. F. T. In the digital asset space more broadly, I want to bring in reeve Collins former ceo of tether and current co founder of Block V. Reeves. What can you tell us about this? N. F. T. In particular? We were just talking about and the rev racing collection. Well one what you mentioned that this has more utility than most FPs we've seen in the past, which is just a digital collectible. And people are buying and selling in the hopes that the price goes up. At least this one has some utility in the game. And the more popular that game becomes, the more value that can be behind this N. F. T. That makes a good point there. But I also got to get your take on the survey that we were just discussing saying 31% of people would never buy an N. F. T. Were you surprised by that? No, because it makes a lot of sense. A lot of people don't gamble. And N. F. T. 1.0. Which is really what captured the world's attention these past two years, which is buying and selling digital collectibles in the hopes that they're going to go up. There's no utility and there's no real reason to do it unless you're a collector or a gambler. And so what we're about to see if N. F. T. Two point oh hit the scene which is massive utility really use of that entity. It provides value to your life because it allows you to connect with the brand, connect with others. It allows you access to different places because N. F. T. S are gonna be a really important part of our lives moving forward. People just don't see those use cases yet. I was just gonna follow that question up with what you answered right there. Which is do we see it shifting? Especially as people kind of get more used to it or at least get more utility out of it as N. F. T. S continue to evolve. But clearly, um you see that being the case. So I'll pivot to this. I want to get your insight on hang that started that. We were just talking about it helping brands level up their loyalty programs with N. F. T. S. Can you tell us more about how this works exactly how you understand it? And do you think it'll really gain traction? Absolutely. The concept of brands doing their next generation loyalty program transitioning to N. F. T. S. We have been promoting that since 2015, we were the first people to really dive into this space to see the usefulness of N. F. T. S. It's taken a long time for the world to be ready for it. Now, consumers are used to wallets, they're used to placing value on digital objects. Now you just mentioned 30% of people don't want to buy one that's because that was just collectibles. But now when you have a loyalty program that can have a lot more value to the end user, a lot of people don't care about points, but you're going to care about this N. F. T. Which enables a 1 to 1 connection from the brand to the consumer to provide you real value through that digital object. That object is going to give you access and if you share it with others it might give you discounts, it might give you pre sales, it might give you three merchandise. And that's just the use case of how brands are going to use it moving forward, people are gonna have a digital wallet, they log into websites with their wallet. Those websites will provide them N. F. T. S in that wallet, those N. F. T. S will have values, it will be useful within that website or something they can trade on an exchange and earn and earn money with. I love the use is there and people love some little free bonuses. But could this help companies drive engagement or do you think it could actually turn people off from these brands? If there may be spooked by N. F. T. S. Or part of that? 31% and say they would never buy one but they're never buying one because they don't want to speculate, they don't want to gamble in this instance. These websites are giving them N. F. T. S. They're providing them for their interactions. So imagine today you log into a website with an email address in order to access content tomorrow and in the future you're going to log into that website with a wallet address and when you log in instead of that website only being able to communicate to you through email and send you information, they're going to provide you digital objects that have value, so you're going to get a lot more value out of your interactions with websites. That's not what people are thinking about right now in this N. F. T 1.0 in the first version. But when N. F. T two point oh hits when people start seeing the utility that these entities can provide to their lives, they'll start seeing them in more and more places and they'll be the fundamental building block of our digital lives moving forward. People don't people are underestimating the importance and the impact N. F. T. S are going to have on their lives people forward. I think people are only gonna start to continue to see what that impact is going to be in. That that hesitation kind of wanes as we see that Reeves really appreciate your time and your insight Reeves, Collins, former ceo of tether and current co founder of Block V.