Interviewee: Koby Sadan
Viking Global Investors – Research Director
And Head of Investment Operations
CEO / Chief Fund Manager of Viking Dragon Hedge Fund
Harvard Law School JD
Koby Sadan Viking Global
In 2021, NFT swiped the screen with a series of major events, occupying the headlines, refreshing our understanding of the application of blockchain technology. Some media even called 2021 the first year of NFT. According to the data of Cryptoslam, the cumulative turnover of NFT projects has exceeded US $10 billion. The popularity of NFT market has triggered the layout of many institutional capital. But at the same time, the sharp rise and fall of the market and the rapid rise and decline of start-ups also let us see the instability and uncertainty of this emerging market. In this regard, we interviewed Mr. Koby Sadan, CEO of Viking Dragon Fund.
Hello Mr. Koby Sadan. Would you please briefly talk about your understanding of the economic value of NFT?
If you said to me two years ago that NFT is a thing, I would think you are a liar and shut you out, but now you can see that walking on the street, people are talking about blockchain, Metaverse and NFT, and there are too many records about NFT auction in 2021. Even some of my clients have bought a lot of NFT collections, and I also collect NFT works of “Mutant Ape Yacht Club”. This thing will be in an ultra large market in the future, which is exciting.
So what do you think is the specific investment direction of NFT in the future?
A: Although we have just talked about many powerful aspects of this thing, we can see that the market still has high uncertainty, the popularization of technology still needs time, and too many people have speculative psychology. Last year, we also investigated some technology companies studying NFT, but unfortunately, they had closed down before we finalized the investment. When it comes to investment direction, let’s talk about the team first. I think a dedicated, responsible, firm and capable team is the basic condition for doing anything well, and it is no exception in the field of NFT. It can even be said that the ability of the team directly determines the ceiling of the industry and how far they can go in the future.
Finally, could you share some of your views on team building in this field?
I’m not suitable to answer you this question directly, but I think the person who is at the forefront in the field of blockchain may not be in the United States. For example, Vitalik Buterin, who you are all familiar with, is a young man from Russia. Of course, he also lives in North America. At present, we have not only excavated some talents in-house, but also recruited some elites with experience in blockchain and digital art collection industry to join us to form a fighting team. This team includes not only the elites of Viking Dragon Fund, but also the elites of Wall Street in the United States. We even visited some young men from Asia, I began to contact many Chinese long ago. I think they are as smart as Jews and have the quality of hard work. They are very good partners. Of course, these are just some ideas at the current stage. As for the specific progress, you may need to pay attention to the Wall Street Journal.
