bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Xinmei Shen

WhaleShark, one of the most mysterious and active non-fungible token (NFT) collectors in the world with a portfolio of more than 400,000 items, sees Hong Kong as a hub for the blockchain-enabled digital asset when it comes to both money and art.
In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, WhaleShark, a British-born Chinese man who uses the pseudonym to maintain anonymity, said Hong Kong “is going to become a hub for NFTs, not only given their financial use case, but also for digital art as a whole” and that the future application of NFTs will go beyond portraits.
NFTs refer to units of data stored on a blockchain, which guarantees each digital asset to be unique and immutable. As such, NFTs can be owned and traded much like physical items in the real world.
WhaleShark spent most of his career in the brand consulting industry. He bought his first NFT in 2019 and said he was prepared to hold it for up to two decades until the world had woken up to their potential – the ability to bake in proof of uniqueness and authenticity.


Early NFT projects back then, such as the game Cryptokitties, were largely seen as a passing fad among the cryptocurrency community.
But everything changed last year, with NFTs grabbing headlines and exploding into the mainstream. NFT artworks by American artist Beeple sold for tens of millions of dollars, and people moved to snap up sought-after pixelated avatars and cartoon apes to use as profile pictures.
“It was literally like going to sleep one day investing in a very niche area of blockchain when everybody was talking about cryptocurrencies, and all of a sudden waking up, and seeing everyone talking about these digital assets,” 39-year-old WhaleShark told the Post. “Going on Clubhouse in early 2021, it was a 24-hour NFT party.”
Animoca Brands’ valuation surges to US$5bn as metaverse frenzy continues
Clubhouse is an audio-based social media app where users can communicate in audio chat rooms, and which became popular with NFT aficionados.
“In 2021, the NFT boom came faster and harder than anybody could have imagined,” he said, attributing it to factors including the increased adoption of cryptocurrencies, people spending more time online during the pandemic, savvy investors looking for more opportunities as a hedge against inflation, and the growing popularity of physical trading cards.
WhaleShark, who is based in Hong Kong, is now sitting on a treasure chest. A digital inventory consisting of some of his most valuable NFTs, which he named the Vault, was valued at US$131 million in December, according to a monthly audit report produced by market tracker Nonfungible.com.

The collector said he started investing in blockchain in 2012, using half of his pay cheque every month to buy bitcoins.
In 2015, when he was an entrepreneur in the artificial intelligence space, he decided to sell all his bitcoins and go all in on ethereum [a rival digital currency], a move that he described as “utterly and completely nerve-wrecking” at the time.
Ether gained in value though, and WhaleShark started to look for the next use case of blockchain.
His first NFT purchase in 2019 was from Gods Unchained, a digital trading cards game that lets players actually own their game assets, including cards and other items, by minting them to the ethereum network.
Hong Kong NFT buyers emerge as targets of hackers, scammers
He said he then realised that NFTs could resolve some common issues with collectibles in the physical world, including degeneration over time.
The fact that people were spending much more time online and the need for secure ownership of digital items also convinced him that NFTs were the way forward.
“It makes total sense to me that ultimately one’s digital belongings might be equal to their physical belongings, simply because we’re moving into this digital world and digital lifestyle,” he said, adding that he did not see any other up-and-coming technology that could give people the same true ownership and management of digital assets as NFTs could.

Whaleshark said he is hugely selective when it comes to the NFTs he invests in. His current collection of some 400,000 NFTs is spread across about 30 projects, he said, including digital art, digital real estate, collectibles like NBA top shot and digital photography, and does not include profile picture (PFP) projects.
He also said he rarely sells his NFTs, as opposed to many players in the space who buy NFTs for only a short holding period before exiting the projects to avoid losing money.
“When you look at the NFT market today, a lot of participants come from crypto trading, and they bring the similar mentality,” he said, “That’s an investment style I’ve never been comfortable with.”
Having moved to Hong Kong about two years ago, WhaleShark said the city has been “a wonderful place to watch the growth of NFTs and cryptocurrencies in general”.
Hong Kong’s NFT start-ups vie to be next Bored Apes in a crowded space
“When you look at Asia as a whole, I would say Hong Kong probably has the most robust crypto community I’ve seen,” he said.
“The NFT side is also extremely interesting, where you see all these PFP projects propping up, and the digital art scene is absolutely flourishing.”
In October, Sotheby’s auctioned an NFT of never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes footage from the first day of shooting of In the Mood for Love, the critically acclaimed 2000 film by director Wong Kar-wai, which sold for HK$4.28 million (US$549,000).
In September, an online auction by Christie’s of 14 NFT artworks and other assets owned by Hong Kong actor Shawn Yue Man-lok fetched HK$121.6 million.


WhaleShark added that prominent blockchain companies like Animoca Brands, which came out of Hong Kong, “bode very well” for the city, and that he is also seeing a growing number of NFT start-ups joining a co-working space he uses as an office.
“Anecdotally, I was talking to the receptionist, and she asked if I know what an NFT is, and told me we have three new tenants who are doing NFTs,” he said. Local PFP projects such as Degenerate Ape Academy and Delirious Mind Travelers have taken up some of the city’s prime ad spots.
And Monkey Kingdom, founded by entrepreneurs in Hong Kong and promoted by celebrities such as JJ Lin and Steve Aoki, has also become hugely popular within Hong Kong’s financial circles.
NFT projects endorsed by Jay Chou and Edison Chen top charts
WhaleShark said in future he expects NFTs to also be used to represent the provenance or authenticity of physical items, such as vintage Louis Vuitton bags, and proof of certification such as a university diploma, and for ticketing.
He is also exploring the interoperability of NFTs, such as having one digital wearable that people can use across multiple virtual worlds including The Sandbox, Cryptovoxels and Decentraland.
“Granted there will be lots of conversations around how we can create the next Cryptopunk,” he said, referring to a pixelated avatar project, one of the most expensive in the world. “But there will be other sophisticated conversations happening as well.”


Whaleshark, mysterious collector of 400,000 NFTs, sees Hong Kong as a hub for the digital tokens that are gaining fans

NFT projects such as Monkey Kingdom have been gaining traction in Hong Kong. Photo: Handout 

Collector Whaleshark says Hong Kong can become a hub for NFTs. Photo: Reuters 

Blockchain entrepreneur Vignesh Sundaresan, also known by his pseudonym MetaKovan, is seen with the NFT he bought, Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days”, in his home in Singapore. Photo: AFP

“Deconstructed Troll”, an artwork by the digital artist Beeple. Photo: Instagram / @beeple_crap

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2021 NFT boom came ‘faster and harder than anybody could have imagined’, says collector WhaleShark, who started investing in NFTs in 2019
He expects Hong Kong to become a major hub for NFTs, with big potential beyond digital avatars and portraits



2021 NFT boom came ‘faster and harder than anybody could have imagined’, says collector WhaleShark, who started investing in NFTs in 2019.


Whaleshark, mysterious collector of 400,000 NFTs, sees Hong Kong as a hub for the digital tokens that are gaining fans

2021 NFT boom came ‘faster and harder than anybody could have imagined’, says collector WhaleShark, who started investing in NFTs in 2019 He expects Hong Kong to become a major hub for NFTs, with big potential beyond digital avatars and portraits

2021 NFT boom came ‘faster and harder than anybody could have imagined’, says collector WhaleShark, who started investing in NFTs in 2019

He expects Hong Kong to become a major hub for NFTs, with big potential beyond digital avatars and portraits