APENFT was formally registered in Singapore on March 29, 2021, with the goal of capturing industry opportunities and tackling existing pain points. The president of APENFT, Steve Z. Liu, has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School. He brings extensive experience in international capital markets, having previously worked for major financial institutions such as Fidelity International, Salomon Smith Barney, Nomura International, Ant Financial Group, and more. Before that, Steve successfully built and managed institutional equity business for multiple Chinese securities firms.

APENFT’s core activities include: investing in prominent NFT platforms and artworks; incubating leading NFT artists to create a connection between world-class creators and the NFT ecosystem; sponsoring galleries, arranging art exhibitions or publications, and establishing awards to encourage art production and critique; and setting up art collections, among other efforts.

Through the use of blockchain technology within the NFT space, APENFT broadens blockchain use cases. APENFT acquires well-known traditional and NFT artworks as underlying assets and works to improve NFT trading standards. It also provides backing to government bodies, universities, lawyers, and industry leaders in developing policies that help support the healthy growth of the sector. There are three key use cases commonly discussed in blockchain-value exchange, collaboration, and record-keeping. The distinct nature of the NFT aligns with all three categories. APENFT positions this as not only a popular theme in blockchain, but also a crucial component that is likely to reshape the industry and elevate it. As a blockchain-focused organization, APENFT will invest in artworks and promote traditional and digital art by drawing on its strengths across technology, the market, industry experience, and policy research, aiming to bring blockchain into a variety of use cases

Mission

APENFT is dedicated to registering world-class artworks as NFTs on-chain.

Vision

APENFT aims to become the ARK Funds within the NFT sector, linking outstanding artists with blockchain and helping native crypto NFT artists grow.

Value

APENFT emphasizes the idea of keeping artworks accessible to everyone.

APENFT Ecosystem

Capabilities

Turn artworks and artists into NFTs

APENFT will make it possible to put artworks and artists on-chain in a single click, adding new value to well-known pieces of art.

Redefine the value of artworks

APENFT will support more equitable and transparent artwork pricing by changing how classic art pieces are assessed.

Cultivate and incubate

NFT artists: APENFT plans to invest significant resources to mentor NFT artists and offer a full development path.

Support artists and relevant institutions

As an organization, APENFT focuses on registering works as NFTs on-chain, while also treating support for artists and relevant institutions as a core mission.

Industry and policy research

APENFT will bring in many professionals to monitor and guide the industry through detailed research into sector policies and published reports.