The Universal Studios theme parks in California and Florida are adding non-fungible tokens to their list of attractions.
Through Oct. 31, park visitors will be able to participate in a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt that could result in minting some 7 million total NFTs. Seven QR codes will be hidden at each park, and each will mint an NFT when scanned. Visitors who find and scan all seven will receive a special NFT, which Moonpay, the crypto payments service partnering with Universal on the project, said will unlock additional perks.
But the new NFT experience isn’t just for park visitors, MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright told Coins2Day—it provides the company with actionable customer data.
“If you’re CMO (chief marketing officer), you’re thinking okay, how do I increase the LTV?” He said, referring to the lifetime value of a customer. “How do I deepen the engagement with my end customer? And this is one just really good example.”
The rise of NFTs last year was bolstered by their use as digital collectibles. According to data from Dune Analytics, major brands including Nike, Dolce & Gabbana, and Tiffany have sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of NFTs over the past year.
But NFT sales have since cratered. In July, the overall market hit a yearly low, according to Be[In]Crypto Research. In the last 30 days, transaction volume on the biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, was down 13%, to about $252 million, according to analytics platform DappRadar.
Soto-Wright told Coins2Day that Universal’s NFTs shouldn’t be affected by declining markets—the use case is more about customer engagement and creating repeat visitors.
“For me,” added Soto-Wright, “this is the next wave, 100%. I mean, I think this is a natural progression.”
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