Li Rongbin, a founding partner at SevenX Ventures, recently joined the Bitcoin.com News Podcast to offer his perspective on where the Metaverse and NFT markets are heading. Known in the industry as an independent thinker, Li specializes in token economic design, valuation methodologies, and investment logic. He is also an active NFT collector, holding a double major in Computer Science and Finance from Nanjing University and an MBA from the University of Waterloo.
Immersion Investing: Beyond Capital
SevenX Ventures distinguishes itself with an “immersion investing” strategy. Instead of acting as a passive capital provider, the firm embeds itself in the long-term growth of its portfolio companies, offering hands-on support in governance, utility creation, and liquidity provision. “We believe in being partners, not just investors,” Li explained on the podcast. “Our network and resources allow us to stay on the front lines of voting and governance, ensuring immediate demand and utility for our projects.”
The firm’s portfolio spans over 100 projects across DeFi (DODO, Zerion), NFT (Whale, AlchemyNFT), Polkadot ecosystem (Acala, Litentry), AR ecosystem (Koii, Everpay), Near ecosystem (Aurora, Octopus), and Web3.0 (YGG, Mask Network). This diversity reflects SevenX’s thesis that the Metaverse and NFT sectors will require seamless interoperability across multiple blockchains and layers.
NFT Market: From Hype to Substance
Li observed that the initial NFT mania of 2021 brought in many speculators, but the market is now maturing. “We are seeing a shift from short-term flipping to long-term cultural and utility value,” he noted. As a collector himself, he pointed to projects like AlchemyNFT, which focus on composability and cross-chain interoperability, enabling NFTs to become versatile assets in the Metaverse — far beyond simple profile pictures.
“The next generation of NFTs will carry practical functions: in-game items, identity credentials, even representations of physical assets,” Li said. “Only those with genuine scarcity, cultural consensus, and functional value will survive the cycle.”
Metaverse: Infrastructure and Real-World Integration
On the Metaverse front, Li emphasized that infrastructure is the critical bottleneck. SevenX’s investments in Polkadot, AR, and Near ecosystems target high throughput, low costs, and decentralized storage solutions. He envisions the Metaverse not as a closed virtual world but as a digital twin of physical reality. “AR projects like Koii are building decentralized content distribution, while Everpay enables cross-chain payments. These technologies will allow seamless interaction between digital goods and real-world services,” he said.
“The ultimate Metaverse is the deep integration of digital assets and physical rights,” Li added, “from real estate deeds to intellectual property — every real-world asset may have a chain-native digital representation.” However, he cautioned that regulatory frameworks and privacy protections will be unavoidable challenges on this path.
Investment Philosophy: Long-Term Partnership
With his background in computer science and finance, Li approaches investing with a blend of technical rigor and business acumen. SevenX Ventures maintains a constant presence in community governance and liquidity pools, ensuring that its portfolio projects receive real-world utility and support. “We are not just betting on technology; we are building the ecosystem alongside the entrepreneurs,” he said.
Looking ahead, Li predicts that in the next five years, the Metaverse will move from concept to mass adoption, and NFTs will evolve from collectibles to productive tools. “SevenX Ventures will continue its immersion investing strategy to shape the next generation of open finance and decentralized networks,” he concluded.