An interview with the CEO leading HAVAH, the Interchain NFT Playground.
Here is an interview with Younggwang Lim, CEO of W3S (Web3 Solutions), who leads HAVAH — the Interchain NFT Playground built on ICONLOOP's blockchain framework, PARAMETA.
The non-fungible token (NFT) market is evolving from a place that simply supports trading into a stage for content. Getting there takes an effort to gather NFTs issued on many different blockchain platforms in one place. One project is pushing hard on exactly that — an interchain NFT service and the game content built on top of it. That project is HAVAH, the interchain NFT platform.
Due for its official launch at the end of this year, HAVAH plans to let you see NFTs issued across many blockchains at a glance, and to release a trading card game (TCG) and a robot battle game that put them to use.
In the age of the metaverse, interchain NFTs are table stakes
Meeting in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 20th of last month, Younggwang Lim, head of the HAVAH project, predicted that "once the metaverse arrives, interchain NFTs will feel natural."
"I am fairly certain the metaverse world is coming," he said. "And if NFTs are going to operate inside a metaverse ecosystem, I doubt people will only use NFTs issued on one particular blockchain."
His point: just as in the real world we do not use only goods made domestically but mix in products from all sorts of countries, a metaverse that transplants reality online will not stick to a single blockchain either.
"In the metaverse, interchain NFTs will become a natural kind of service," Lim said. "HAVAH's goal is to make NFTs move freely."
The industry is taking notice of that vision. Four names have already joined HAVAH as advisers: Kyungin Jung, former CEO of Pearl Abyss; Youngjun Ryu, former CEO of Kakao Pay; Dongjin Jun, former CEO of Blizzard; and Yongchan Seo, former Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of WeMakePrice.
Every NFT, gathered in a single wallet
For its interchain NFT service, HAVAH is developing a wallet that can hold NFTs from every chain. "The experience today's NFT markets offer is closer to multi-chain than interchain," Lim explained. "On OpenSea, the world's largest NFT market, trading a Solana-based NFT means connecting Phantom, a Solana-based wallet."
"Everything happens on a single web page, but behind it the networks are still segmented," he said. "HAVAH, by contrast, plans to connect one wallet to multiple blockchains — the goal is that users never need more than one wallet."
HAVAH intends to deliver free NFT movement between chains through the trustless interchain technology ICONLOOP has been developing for years. HAVAH Planet relays the fact of a transaction between blockchains, and those running a Planet are rewarded in HAVAH Coin.
NFTs gathered from many blockchains, put to work in games
HAVAH plans to take the NFTs collected in that interchain wallet and use them in games.
"The experience of a game and the experience of the metaverse are not that different," Lim said. "If people encounter NFTs through games, you get an environment where they can enjoy themselves and take it in at the same time." He added, "We should also be able to bring over existing play-to-earn (P2E) players easily, because they have already played NFT-based games, so the barrier to entry is low."
HAVAH is currently developing Project P2C, an NFT-based TCG, and Crypto Gears, a robot battle game. Project P2C is a game in which you build and compete with card decks made from profile picture (PFP) NFTs issued on various blockchains. Crypto Gears — a Mars-based robot battle game with 30 game developers alone, and some 50 people counting designers — is led by directors who came from Neople and NCSOFT.
Crypto Gears will run a closed beta test (CBT) in the first quarter of next year and is scheduled for release within the first half. "I want people to experience the fact that an NFT issued on another network can carry weight inside Crypto Gears too," Lim said. "The concept is that land with good resources inside the game is minted as an NFT to make it valuable, and robot parts are minted as NFTs as well, so players can own them."
"We are thinking hard about how to give utility to users who hold NFTs," Lim said. "HAVAH's greatest strength is that it is not exclusive, and we will grow by cooperating with as many people as possible."
Source: TechM, reporter Sungwoo Lee (October 3, 2022)
Life Meets Blockchain, ICONLOOP