Deepak Thapliyal says Tiffany's 'NFTiffs' show promise of luxury web3 products

Physical versions of Tiffany's 'NFTiff' diamond pendants are finally arriving on customer doorsteps. 

The collection was launched last year by the luxury jewelry firm, which offered the diamond-encrusted pendants to CryptoPunks holders for 30 ETH, or about $50,000 at the time. The 250 available NFTiffs sold out within 20 minutes of their debut on Aug. 7 and netted $12.5 million for the firm. 

The creation of this so-called "phygital" item -- a physical item with a digital counterpart -- revealed key insights for brands producing this type of product, Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of blockchain tech firm Chain, told The Block.

"NFTiff was a very successful project bringing a prominent luxury brand into Web3," he said. "We sold out in minutes, and clients were able to create a 1/1 pendant to match their CryptoPunks which they are now starting to receive throughout the globe."

Chain partnered with Tiffany's in August to facilitate the launch of NFTiffs. 

Customer engagement 

Thapliyal said that the unique nature of the NFTiff prolonged the production and delivery period for the pendants, giving the firm insights into customer and community communication. 

"Brands need to be willing to listen to and react to feedback provided by the community during the course of the project," he said. "They also need to prioritize the NFT component equally with the physical good to give the best user experience possible."

Customers who received pendants seem to be pleased with the results.

"It’s beautiful and I just put it on for the first time," an NFT influencer who goes by Gmoney.eth told The Block. "I plan on wearing it a bunch." 

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CryptoPunks remains one of the most valuable NFT projects of all time. The collection has a trading volume of over 1 million ETH among 22,000 transactions, according to the NFT marketplace OpenSea. However, CryptoPunks's floor price is second to Bored Ape Yacht Club, The Block's Data Dashboard shows.