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Before you dive in, check out the first post on our Kraken NFT Behind the Build Series, The NFT Frontier.
We sometimes refer to pseudonyms to keep our Krakenites anonymous to avoid the security risks associated with building and maintaining crypto exchanges.
In September 2021, Kraken NFT received the green light to build a new type of NFT marketplace.
Since then, the project has liaised with nearly every team at Kraken, including Engineering, Product, Design, Marketing, Compliance, Client Engagement and Legal. Kraken NFT is a manifestation of a globally inclusive enterprise mindset with teams from Australia, Europe, US and Asia working around the clock to build something the NFT community loves.
Here’s how it all came together.
Access for all
Cheems, the Product Manager working on Kraken NFT, has a personal attachment to the NFT project which brings out the best in his work.
Cheems’ experience in crypto started at a young age. In 2015, during his senior year of high school, he came across the Bitcoin white paper. After reading it, he decided he wanted to study software engineering to solidify his basic knowledge of decentralized software.
“As someone who grew up in a poor area, getting access to high-level financial products and services has always been difficult,” said Cheems. “Crypto and decentralized finance allowed me to level the playing field.”
Cheems worked as a telecommunications engineer until mid-2020, when a friend recommended he apply for a job at Kraken. In early 2021, Cheems started at Kraken as a new product manager in staking. The NFT was starting to take off and it became clear to him that Kraken needed to have a strategy in place to capitalize on the opportunity.
“Ultimately that strategy became one of the biggest initiatives this company has undertaken,” he said.
Several departments within Kraken inspired Cheems’ work. On the Product team he met Pepe, a pseudonym for one of the Kraken NFT product managers.
Pepe worked on a digital marketplace project several years before his time at Kraken. This project is a decentralized system for buying and selling real world goods and services using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They have to build a lot of infrastructure from scratch. At that time, there wasn’t much desire for people to spend crypto on physical things, and clients were more likely to spend crypto on digital items sold on sites. Pepe brings that expertise to support Kraken’s NFT mission.
“At that point, the main thing I learned in my old project was that people were only willing to spend crypto to buy something that could potentially make more money than holding Bitcoin or Ethereum,” said Pepe. “NFTs are the perfect link to this lesson: combining the instant gratification of consuming digital content with speculative assets, but with more uses.”
Pepe brings his experience building crypto markets with him to Kraken.
“Kraken’s mission is to make crypto accessible to the masses,” said Pepe. “This product is an extension of our mission. Years down the line, I can safely say that I have had an impact, however small, on the crypto space as a whole.”
Open art
So how exactly does Kraken make NFTs more accessible to the masses?
Kraken NFT stands out in a number of other ways and allows traders to:
- Trade verified collections safely
- Buy NFTs easily with no fuel costs*
- Easily track the rarity rating of each NFT
- Collect NFT seamlessly across multiple blockchains
- Bid easily using cash or over 200 cryptocurrencies
While the current NFT market is focused on art and collectibles, the actual use cases are limitless, according to Pepe. Take games, for example. In-game NFTs can distribute value to gamers instead of centralizing it exclusively with studios. Other real-world applications include things like reducing lost ticket value and reselling digital content.
“We believe strongly in the future of NFTs in other forms of creative content such as music and film, not only for monetization but also in building a thriving fan community that can engage and collaborate with content creators on a deeper level,” said Pepe. “During my time at Kraken, we have looked closely at the NFT ecosystem and it has been amazing to see NFTs grow from mere speculative assets to incredible tools that empower creators to monetize their unique content in a sustainable way.”
perspective diversity
Kraken NFT brings out some of the best aspects of studying and working with a diverse range of industry professionals from all walks of life.
Take Harold’s example. Within five years of starting his engineering career 30 years ago, he has made a transition to building trading systems including working on exchanges, hedge funds, high-frequency trading firms, brokerage firms, and global market data providers.
“I see every side of the trading world,” he said. “I am a very ‘roll up my sleeves’ person and adapt myself to what the situation requires, whether it’s hands-on coding to a leadership role. All jobs require courage – or servant leadership – by enabling and helping others.”
Kraken NFT is the result of a great collaboration across time zones. Teams on Kraken rely heavily on asynchronous communication where time zones often don’t overlap. On the design side in particular, the team has a habit of frequently sharing videos outlining design progress and challenges.
For product designers on Kraken, passing the baton seamlessly with other Kraken citizens around the world in other time zones is an everyday task. Slack’s openness means everyone is part of the conversation, so teams can make decisions quickly.
One of the more challenging aspects of working in the Kraken NFT marketplace is iteration speed.
“We will explore design concepts and build prototypes – from Figma to fully functional HTML/CSS/JS prototypes – to share with the engineering team,” said Aayushi, one of Kraken’s senior managers of software engineering. “We teamed up with engineering and were able to quickly start testing the real thing in a staging environment. We have a great work style centered around rapid prototyping, iteration and feedback cycles.”
Kraken’s highly collaborative environment means that everyone brings exemplary ideas, high energy, and creative passion to the table.
“Our relationship is very important,” said Aayushi. “Each party should show respect and empathy for our two strengths: one party delivers value to our customers quickly, the other party delivers it all. The two don’t always get along. So by listening, being open to each other’s concerns, we can find a balance to convey through negotiation and compromise.”
Their role in the project helps teams execute faster by eliminating shipping friction and breaking silos. In the end, everyone has an important role to play on one of Kraken’s most complex platforms.
“I like solving problems and helping people,” said Aayushi. “I am proud to work with such a diverse and talented group.”
*Gas fees will be charged when transferring NFTs and other crypto assets on and off the Kraken platform.
This material is for general information purposes only and is not investment advice or a recommendation or a solicitation to buy, sell or hold any crypto asset or to engage in any particular trading strategy. Some crypto products and markets are not regulated, and you may not be covered by government compensation and/or regulatory protection schemes. The unpredictable nature of the cryptoasset market can lead to loss of funds. Taxes may be paid on any return and/or any increase in the value of your crypto assets and you should seek independent advice on your tax position. For more information, please see us Terms of Service.
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