MoonPay officially launches utility NFT minting service HyperMint

first reported in April that MoonPay had been building out the service. Its official launch marks another step in the company’s manoeuvre to create a full suite for brands that wish to release their own digital assets, in an attempt to become what it previously called the «Amazon Web Services for NFTs.»

“If you’re Dolce & Gabbana, Selfridges or Death Row Records, why take your intellectual property and list it on a secondary platform first? You may want to control that issuance yourself,” MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright told The Block in an interview.

Companies already signed up include Fox Corporation, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Universal Pictures, Death Row Records, the United Kingdom-based luxury store Selfridges, lifestyle and gaming platform FaZe Clan and music producer Timbaland’s Beatclub. 

One potential use case, Soto-Wright said, lies in proof of attendance tokens, for capturing how many people attended an event.

MoonPay emphasized that these digital assets would be utility tokens, which are distinct from security tokens. Security tokens must be registered with regulatory bodies such as the United States’s Securities and Exchange Commission.

The service adds another string to the bow of MoonPay’s product suite, which includes fiat onramp infrastructure that allows individuals to purchase NFTs with a debit or credit card, and a concierge service which educates high net worth buyers on crypto. There has also been talk of MoonPay launching its own wallet in the future. 

HyperMint’s launch comes at a time when many of the most popular NFT projects have experienced considerable floor price drops during the crypto bear market. 

Soto-Wright believes NFTs will become buffered from broader market conditions due to their use cases. 

“I think NFTs are going to be unpaired [from crypto market conditions]. But part of the reason I think that will be unpaired is the innovation that will go behind this asset class — You’re gonna see a bunch of different NFT’s where we’re not just focused on the price movement of these assets.”

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