Salesforce Inc. is entering the nonfungible token business with the announcement of NFT Cloud, a service that lets brands create and sell NFTs, which represent virtual items such as artwork and game objects.

NFT Cloud, announced alongside other new Customer 360 services, is being pitched as letting brands expand customer experiences to Web3 environments in a sustainable and trusting way. Using the service, Salesforce says, brands can mint, manage and sell NFTs directly on the Salesforce Customer 360 Platform. The platform allows brands to connect customer data securely to gain a 360-degree view across a customer’s physical and digital worlds.

The service is said to bridge physical and digital experiences by allowing brands to engage new communities in unique ways with integrated data. Being able to mint NFTs using Salesforce and selling them on existing commerce is claimed to deepen loyalty with virtual connections. The service also supports audited smart contracts backed by a trusted platform.

NFT Cloud is designed for sustainability and does not support energy-wasting proof-of-work blockchains. Salesforce claims that results in 99% fewer emissions.

“NFT Cloud is all about helping our customers mint, manage and sell NFTs, and of course, it’s all no code,” Adam Caplan, senior vice president of emerging technology at Salesforce, told TechCrunch. “So it’s super-easy on our platform, abstracting all the complicated technology in this [new] web3 world.”

Salesforce was first reported to be working on plans to release a cloud service for NFTs in February.  Salesforce co-Chief Executives Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor were said to have discussed NFTs at an online employee event and other Salesforce employees have discussed NFTs previously.

Mathew Sweezey, director of market strategy at Salesforce, wrote in a blog post in December that in 2022 “pioneering brands will search for utility via NFTs.” He also referenced the release of NFTs by Time USA LLC as a great example of both a collectible and a utility. Benioff owns Time magazine.

Timing is everything, and though Salesforce may find a willing audience for the NFT Cloud, the service comes at a time when NFT sales are rapidly dropping.

Bitcoin.com reported on June 6 that monthly NFT sales had dropped 65% since last month. In the month prior, $4.6 billion in NFT sales were recorded, but over the last 30 days, only $1.59 billion in NFT sales were settled. A similar drop has been observed in data from The Block.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons