Our business activities include the operation of “Hokusai API”, a development infrastructure for NFT, and the launch of “StillGAS”, a stable coin project that can be used to pay for GAS.
Our mission is to “increase the liquidity of value more than any other time in human history,” and we are creating products to help realize a society where value distribution and liquidity liabilities are eliminated, new possibilities are created, and individuals and businesses can benefit from them.
Tell us about yourself?
I’ve been working as a blockchain researcher for three years since I was a university student. In 2020, I established d14b, Japan’s largest blockchain DAO educational organization, and later joined JPYC Corporation, which handles Japan’s first JPY-linked stable coin “JPYC” from the start-up phase and devoted myself to the growth of the business as COO.
While working at JPYC, I established Japan Monobundle Corporation in June 2021 and released “Hokusai API”, an embedded NFT service that provides NFT development tools globally as “NFT infrastructure”. In December 2021, we launched “StillGAS” project, a prepaid payment method that can be used to pay GAS fees (fees required for transactions on the blockchain).
Twitter：https://twitter.com/y0su1
The reason I took the job was that the company where I was COO handled Japan’s first JPY-linked stabled coin, so as far as FT was concerned, we could have a strategy to provide the same convenience as prominent overseas stabled coins, and we had highly specialized personnel from various domains to make it happen.
On the other hand, the NFT was ahead of the art and entertainment domain, and companies from all over the world had entered the market, but we thought it had the potential to swallow another huge market.
However, there were still not many people in Japan or abroad who were talking about the potential of NFT beyond art, so I felt it was worth taking a risk and decided to develop Hokusai API as a stepping stone.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
“Buy SHIB!” I want to tell me.
What problem does your business solve?
Individuals and businesses can independently manage and operate NFT issuance and transmission, secondary distribution fees, and the use of proprietary contracts by web engineers alone, without relying on marketplaces, and can conduct NFT business without being bound by crypto assets.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Originally, we created Hokusai, an NFT platform that could be exchanged for things, and we had already completed the launch. However, when I thought about the fundamental impact the service would have on society when it was released, I decided to do what we could do instead of this service and developed the Hokusai API.
Rather than creating a service that leverages art or content itself, we created Hokusai API to focus on tools that support NFT projects and service developers.
What is your magic sauce?
I’m focusing on recruitment and public relations. I believe that being blessed with good members who fit our culture is necessary for the success of our business.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
I have two plans.
The first is to expand into the U.S. next year. If we only do sales activities in Japan, we’ll only focus on the domestic direction, so from the second year, we will actually provide products directly to the communities scattered in the U.S.
Another theme is to increase the number of partner companies for the Hokusai API.
Since it’s important for API services to spread to users, we would like to increase the number of partner companies in the aspects of sales, implementation support, and development, and work together to spread services that take advantage of the advantages of public blockchain.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
I was about to be saddled with debt when I had no credit. I decided that it was dangerous for me to be in a position to do business in the future, and ran away as fast as I could.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We hope that companies and individual business owners who are interested in Web3 as a company will use the Hokusai API, because Web3 services such as NFT are expensive and complicated, and many companies seem to hesitate to use them due to accounting and compliance issues.
Among such companies, Hokusai API can be used without having cryptocurrency, especially for those who want to verify NFT services quickly and easily. In addition, the service can reduce the cost of hiring blockchain engineers and the cost of learning cryptocurrency for accounting, etc. We believe that Hokusai API can provide added value for such businesses.
If you are interested in starting an NFT business, please contact us through the contact form on our website.
▼Hokusai API
https://hokusai.app/
If you have any technical questions, please contact us on the Hokusai API Discord.
▼Hokusai API Discord
https://discord.com/invite/rwJV4Bj9Cf
