Though many may not of heard of the $WHALE token, there are probably a good number who have heard the name WhaleShark, especially if you're involved in any sort of NFT (non-fungible token) community.
WhaleShark has been aggressively accumulating rare and unique NFTs for about a year now. His presence in the crypto world first came to my attention when he paid ~$40,000 USD in Ethereum for Atlas, one of the unique Mythic cards from the upcoming blockchain TCG, Gods Unchained, in an auction on Opensea (https://opensea.io/assets/0x0e3a2a1f2146d86a604adc220b4967a898d7fe07/8840817#history)!
Since then, I've seen the name pop up here and there, but didn't think too much more about it until someone linked me to the $WHALE Discord server (https://discord.gg/whale). I took a look into this mysterious $WHALE coin and found something very interesting.
Who is WhaleShark?
WhaleShark says this about himself:
My experience is founded in a successful track record across a variety of industries, functions and companies, that also includes being one of the most successful individual investors in the Crypto space (since 2012).
I have a strong educational background from two of the most premier institutions in the world that includes 3 bachelor degrees (one is Econometrics) and an MBA.
Over the course of the last 17 years, I have helped build, lead, acquire and sell companies across the world, and today, own several successful companies in the Artificial Intelligence, Retail, Traditional Finance and Brand Management industries.
NFTs form a relatively small portion of my wealth portfolio and the primary driver for the development of $WHALE is to Give Back and Move Forward
And while his exact identity isn't known to the community at large, he has provided real world identification to ten people involved in the crypto NFT scene and left their verification statements up on a devoted Discord channel (https://discord.com/channels/704949262802485348/706386631015399444).
We also know that he has a no problems throwing a LOT of ETH at things he finds interesting!
What is the $WHALE Coin
$WHALE coin is a Social Cryptocurrency, backed by the NFT contents of 'The Vault'. You can view what is inside The Vault at any time with this link - https://opensea.io/accounts/0xe7079eec020ddfc3f1c0abe1d946c55e6ed30eb3/
Within are many rare and unique NFTs. A third party audit of the contents of the Vault in May of 2020 valued the contents at over half a million USD (https://nonfungible.com/blog/how-to-assess-nft-valuation)! Since then many more items have been added to the stash.
$WHALE is capped at 10 million tokens, with 4 decimal places. It can be acquired on Uniswap (https://uniswap.org/) or simply by participating in the Discord discussion. NFT creators can also open up a store on OpenSea and offer their works in exhange for $WHALE.
You can read the official whitepaper for the $WHALE coin and also find tons of other info and FAQs on the Discord server.
Why should you care about this?
Collecting artwork is certainly not something new. Nor are art-based investment funds. But as far as I know, this is the first project of its kind in the digital space. And of course, it would make sense that such an endeavor could only work with the permanence and provability that blockchain tech provides.
As pandemic grips the world and less people are attending real world events and places, virtual gatherings are becoming more common -- especially with the recent refinements in VR tech. Musuem of Crypto hosts a virtual museum in Somnium. Display spaces are popping up in Decentraland and CryptoVoxels. As other online worlds open up, the Metaverse continues to grow, and NFTs can aid in filling that space with interesting and engaging content.
But NFTs can be more than just visual objects. They can represent value and hold information. They can have a history. They can have sentimental value. They can be passed along to successive generations.
There is something big happening in the online space. Blockchain and NFTs will be a large part of that. Don't miss your chance to get involved, even if just to watch the show.