Amid signs of life in the NFT market, an NFT-focused startup, threadreleased today to help users discover new collections, the company exclusively told TechCrunch.
“We think of it as a Yelp, Tripadvisor, or Zillow space,” Ben Straley, founder and CEO of Thred, told TechCrunch.
Straley has more than 25 years of experience in digital product leadership and customer experience and was the former director of global outbound marketing and deals at Amazon and vice president of global digital products at Starbucks, among other roles. “Between these two roles, I learned a lot about how to use data and machine learning to improve the customer experience.”
Thred’s platform combines algorithms and automated machine learning to rank NFT collections on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains and then ranks the desirability of each NFT collection and matches it with collector, consumer and community content, Straley said.
Users can search, read and share reviews of any NFT collection to help buyers better understand the collections and which ones are “reliable or unclear and maybe incomplete”. As Thred currently supports Ethereum and Polygon-based NFT collections, it will look to expand to other chains such as Bitcoin and Solana in the future, Straley said.
Image Credits: thread (Opens in a new window)
The NFT market has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent months, as trading volumes increased for two months in a row, with January reaching the highest volumes since June of last year, according to a report. Ethereum, the largest blockchain by NFT sales volume, has seen a 34% increase in sales volume in the last 30 days to $892.5 million, showing continued growth for the industry, CryptoSlam data presented.
“One of the biggest issues holding back the NFT market is how difficult it is for average people to find authentic NFTs that are relevant to their lives and that they would like to own,” Straley said. “So it makes it difficult for creators and brands to reach larger audiences in the space. It’s a two-sided problem for consumers and brands who are having a hard time accessing the potential of NFTs.”
Even as the market is expanding, there are limited options to help people determine which collections are valuable, trustworthy or even of interest, Straley said.
“I think it’s a great time for us to go in with this solution because there’s renewed interest in digital assets and NFTs and we’re seeing it in the data,” Straley said. “But there’s still this problem when you hear about a Nike NFT or Porsche NFT or whatever: It’s really not straight forward or easy to know where to go to get the authentic collection.”
Once consumers find the NFTs they want through Thred’s platform, they are directed to the marketplaces to complete purchases or trades. “We believe we can be a platform for discovery and for creators and brands to reach who they want to reach,” added Straley.
Long term, Thred shares a similar sentiment with many other NFT believers that this market is “going to be massive,” Straley said. “What currently exists is only scratching the surface.”
“When we make it possible for the average person to find NFTs and digital assets relevant to their lives, that solves half the equation,” Straley said. “The other half, where we’re going next, is building the tools and capabilities that enable small, medium and large creators, including brands, to connect with, reach and engage audiences in the space in ways that lead to adoption, growth and participation. with their fans and private audience”.
