Z Holdings, the internet subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate holding company Softbank, is planning to launch a global non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace this spring. Z Holdings’ “NFT Mall” aims to target 180 countries and leverage the firm’s Paypay service in order to attract Web3, metaverse, and NFT patrons. Z Holdings Doesn’t Want to ‘Miss out on Huge Growth Opportunity’ Softbank’s internet firm Z Holdings plans to launch an NFT marketplace called “NFT Mall,” according to a Bloomberg interview with the company’s co-CEO Kentaro Kawabe. The firm’s parent company merged Line and Yahoo Japan into Z Holdings last year. Kawabe’s statements from the interview indicate that Z Holdings plans to leverage Web3, metaverse, and NFT in order to bolster the company’s growth. “It’s possible Web3 will herald a world where life is completely different and we don’t want the company to miss out on the huge growth opportunity,” Kawabe, the co-chief executive officer of Z Holdings stated during the interview. “We won’t hesitate to do merger and acquisition deals to boost our presence,” the co-CEO added.

Metaverse Wellspring Has Significant Competition Z Holdings’ entry into the NFT space follows the Japanese online retail giant Rakuten launching its NFT marketplace. After the launch at the end of February, Rakuten detailed that the peer-to-peer service for minting and selling NFTs is planned to be released next year. There’s also a slew of NFT marketplace competition from Opensea , Rarible, Looksrare, Magic Eden , Coinbase , FTX, and Crypto.com. Reports note that Z Holdings has a five-year growth initiatives budget of 500 billion yen or $5.9 billion. Furthermore, Kawabe’s interview resembles the statements Softbank president and CEO Junichi Miyakawa made during his 2022 New Year’s message . In the New Year’s message, Miyakawa talked about the metaverse and insisted the concept will become a “wellspring that generates new services and business models.” What do you think about Z Holdings launching an NFT marketplace called the NFT Mall in 180 countries worldwide? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.