- Salesforce co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor spoke about the company’s concept for an NFT cloud service, according to people with knowledge of the topic.
The conversation arose during an online sales debut on Wednesday.
A director of market strategy at Salesforce projected in a December blog post that 2022 will be a major year for NFTs. Marc Benioff of the United States, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, delivers a lecture at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, 2020. Marc Benioff of the United States, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, delivers a lecture at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, 2020.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images
Salesforce told employees at a sales launch on Wednesday that the firm aims to develop an NFT Cloud, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital assets held utilising blockchain technology. They’ve taken off in the world of art and collectibles, and Salesforce sees a chance to extend the technology into enterprise applications. Salesforce co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor both talked about the plan at the online session, claimed one person who attended. The person begged not to be named because the event was private. Executives at the conference mentioned NFT-related work that Pepsi has done as an example, another source said. Salesforce, which provides cloud-based software for sales people, marketing departments and e-commerce vendors, wants to offer a service for artists to develop content and put it on a marketplace like OpenSea, one individual said. Last month, OpenSea announced it received $300 million at a $13.3 billion value, on the strength of a spike in NFT trading, which topped $23 billion in 2021, according to DappRadar, a shop for decentralised apps.
- Salesforce could also potentially integrate the tool into its own ecosystem, where transactions could be controlled, the people added. OpenSea might be unnecessary if the marketplace is owned by Salesforce.Salesforce’s involvement in the market is not a surprise. TIMEPieces, a new digital collectible from Time magazine, is now available for purchase from Time magazine owner Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne.
Matthew Sweezey, director of market strategy at Salesforce, predicted that “pioneering brands will hunt for utility via NFTs” during the coming year. He termed Time’s initiative a “wonderful example,” and predicted that NFTs will become increasingly commonplace as they progressed out of the novelty phase.Sweezey said that brands must begin producing usefulness via the token if they are to reach their full potential. You should expect to hear a lot more about non-financial tokens in 2022.
Salesforce didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
- After-hours trading on Wednesday saw Salesforce share prices rise by 1.5%, to $225.40. By the end of the day, the stock had fallen 13% for the year.