Virgin Galactic’s Alex Tai Embraces NFTs Through THEOS on OccamRazer

A new token minting platform for NFTs is coming to OccamRazer and it’s got an illustrious name behind it. Alex Tai is the co-founder of Virgin Galactic and remains its Chief Operating Officer. His latest venture, however, might be his boldest yet. Tai will oversee the development of THEOS, which promises to become a “defi paradise for NFTs.”

Occam.fi is a defi layer that’s built on Cardano, providing all the tools that are expected of smart contract blockchains: IDO launchpad, DEX, and all the rest are already present and accounted for. Now it falls to THEOS to fill in the missing piece of the jigsaw: a Cardano-native NFT platform that’s fit for purpose.

Getting Hyped on the Hyper-Economy

Crypto is nothing if not industrious at dreaming up new acronyms, abbreviations, buzzwords, and neologisms. A fresh entry can be added to the crypto lexicon courtesy of THEOS: “hyper-economy”. The term crops up in the THEOS whitepaper, where it describes an ecosystem in which liquidity comes as standard with assets of every kind. Not just stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies, but traditionally illiquid assets too like NFTs.

Despite being as digital and tradeable as conventional crypto assets such as BTC and ETH, NFTs are more analogous to fine art or real estate when it comes to selling them. Since each item is unique, like property, you have to find a buyer willing to pay the asking price for the NFT in question. As a result, NFTs are easy to buy but harder to sell. Naturally, THEOS is on a mission to change all that.

The vision espoused by THEOS and its founder Alex Tai is a future in which NFTs can serve as collateral for other purchases. In this utopian environment, the NFT gathering virtual dust in your virtual wallet can be utilized as collateral for obtaining a bank loan, mortgage, or purchasing a piece of fine art. As visions go, it’s a bold one, but it’s not outlandish: with NFT-based digital art having changed hands for millions of dollars this year, it’s undeniable that NFTs can have value – even if the precise price is a matter of debate.

NFTs Without the Flak

The downside to owning an NFT isn’t that you can’t easily mount the digital artwork on your wall; rather, it’s that the mere act of purchasing a non-fungible token places you in the crosshairs of the environmental lobby. Proof of Work blockchains such as Ethereum require miners who verify transactions, so the argument goes, which in turn require electricity to power them, not all of which comes from renewables. Ergo, purchasing an NFT which utilizes block space makes you a contributor to climate change and thus you’re part of the problem.

It may be a tenuous argument, but it’s one that’s gained traction with everyone from Elon Musk to Proof of Stake blockchain developers who have skin in the game and an incentive to shill their chain as a greener alternative to Ethereum. Cardano falls into that category, and thus THEOS can be classified as a carbon-neutral platform for minting and issuing NFTs. If this promise of a hyper-economy in which nature doesn’t get hurt resonates with you, THEOS, led by its ebullient founder Alex Tai, warrants a closer look.