$WHALE can be swapped on chain at:
Uniswap - https://app.uniswap.org/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x9355372396e3F6daF13359B7b607a3374cc638e0

$WHALE can also be exchanged at the following CEX:

Huobi - https://www.huobi.bo/en-us/exchange/whale_usdt/
Gate.io - https://www.gate.io/trade/WHALE_USDT
Poliniex - https://poloniex.com/exchange/USDT_WHALE
Hoo - https://hoo.com/spot/whale-usdt
Bilaxy - https://bilaxy.com/trade/WHALE_ETH
Hotbit - https://www.hotbit.io/exchange?symbol=WHALE_USDT

The "competitive" environment for $WHALE refers to Fiat, other Cryptocurrencies and other Social Currencies;

-For fiat, the inflationary effects of printing money (unlimited supply) and the lack of tangible assets to back valuation are the biggest challenges. There will only ever be 10 million $WHALE and the value of $WHALE is backed by all assets in The Vault which will continue to grow in value due to scarcity and organic growth.

-Cryptocurrencies solve the scarcity issue with capped token issuance, however, their value is then drawn from their level of acceptance as a socially accepted currency as well as a speculative asset on their potential future use cases. BTC, ETH or other cryptocurrencies do not own any of the assets that are created on their network so $WHALE answers the need for tangible assets to create a base level of value.

-While we applaud the innovation of other Social Currencies, $WHALE takes the objectivity of base value one step further by using tangible assets to underpin the value of the currency. The assets in The Vault are rare and coveted collectibles that have a common recognition of market value through market price exploration.

No, there are no plans to create a platform in competition with OpenSea, but $WHALE can be used as a currency for store fronts in OpenSea so that creators can accept $WHALE as a means of payment.

WhaleShark had been toying with the idea of a social currency since the end of 2019 as he thought that it was a fantastic innovation to allow people to quantify what meant most to them (i.e. time, attention etc).  He had been speaking with Roll since January 2020 and eventually decided to launch a social currency that was not only backed by reputation and trust, but also valuable NFT assets to create a base value. 

The activity of ‘collecting’ is usually an individual pursuit. Yet WhaleShark, having been an active collector of digital assets since 2019, seeks to share the beauty and growth of the collection that is “The Vault” with others: "Based on my life experiences, things are so much more fun when you do them with a like-minded community".

Within traditional art and collectibles markets, the rarer an item is, the stronger the allure to the collector: therefore making the piece (or item) highly sought after, and regularly appreciating in value. The same of course holds true in the digital realm. 

It is WhaleShark's goal to not only reduce the occurrence of day-to-day market fluctuations in the value of $WHALE, but to also enable organic growth in the coin. Neither WhaleShark nor $WHALE have any short, mid or long term financial liabilities whatsoever - so there is no pressure to ever sell any of the NFTs in The Vault at below anything but a stellar market rate.

Art is indeed subjective and approaching art collecting from an "art for the sake of art" versus a commercial perspective are also two different skill sets.

WhaleShark has never claimed to be an art critic, there are too many of those in the space ;).  What he does claim is the ability to feel the pulse of the market - by looking at  past and present trends, and extrapolating into the future. Before any purchase, WhaleShark does a large amount of due diligence and then determines a valuation based on the commercial situation of the market.

A brief explanation of his process for choosing art can be found at his Cent account: https://beta.cent.co/+qmx0gp

We had considered launching $WHALE in a DAO format rather than a social currency, however after careful thought, debate and assessment we decided to move ahead with launching this as currency rather than an equity.  On the fundamental layer, we want people to not just hold $WHALE, but be able to hold $WHALE with peace of mind and also be able to use it to transact and interact with other NFT collcetors, creators and enthusiasts.

Think about $WHALE as a social currency that seeks to underpin its base layer value through a return to the principles of the gold standard: A currency must be scarce and be backed by tangible and valuable assets. The secondary layer of value will be based on the acceptance, recognition and vibrancy that $WHALE achieves in the Crypto and NFT space.

Ultimately, we do believe that it is essential that the management of The Vault moves to a DAO based mechanism where decisions on what to buy, what to sell and what to rent are based on a collective decision making process of prominent $WHALE enthusiasts.  At the moment, this is not possible due to the limitations and earliness of DAO technology that do not permit the active management of assets (such as property rental) or the absolute security of assets due to the high value of these NFTs assets.

In the future we envision $WHALE continuing to be operated as a Social Currency with a DAO component to manage assets in The Vault. You can be assured that once the technology is proven and ready, $WHALE will be one of the first projects to migrate to a new DAO based governance system.

$WHALE has partnered with the NonFungible.com team to ensure that there is an objective audit and assessment not only to the balance of The Vault, but also the valuation.  The NonFungible.com team has full authority and autonomy to provide a benchmark to all holders and potential holders of $WHALE that the $WHALE team will have no control over.

Even as one of the largest NFT collectors in the space, there has been no possibility to "manipulate" the market due to relative size in the overall market.  While some purchases might have an effect in the short term valuation, resources are limited and therefore there is no manner that can influence the value of any NFT assets in the mid to long term.  Ultimately the market will reign supreme and price exploration will be contingent on the masses rather than a few whales.

Pre-DAO governance, $WHALE will not be for everyone given the centralization of management in WhaleShark. Given this, there are several key points that we would like to highlight:

WhaleShark has gone through an identity verification process with 10 outstanding members of the NFT community to confirm the following information claims.  These verification members were provided access to WhaleShark's personal identification, personal information, educational background, professional background and specifics to a portion of his net worth.  Here is the information that has been shared in the $WHALE white paper:

My experience is founded in a successful track record across a variety of industries, functions and companies, that also includes being one of the most successful individual investors in the Crypto space (since 2012). I have a strong educational background from two of the most premier institutions in the world that includes 3 bachelor degrees (one is Econometrics) and an MBA. Over the course of the last 17 years, I have helped build, lead, acquire and sell companies across the world, and today, own several successful companies in the Artificial Intelligence, Retail, Traditional Finance and Brand Management industries. NFTs form a relatively small portion of my wealth portfolio and the primary driver for the development of $WHALE is to Give Back and Move Forward" 

WhaleShark's track record and accomplishments in multiple industries over the last 15 years are pristine.  As an individual who values his reputation as an honest, diligent and ethical business leader, he would not jeopardize my professional standing for any amount of money.

WhaleShark would fully encourage and accept that the 10 identity verification members unveil his identity and report him to the relevant authorities for criminal punishment if it has been proven that he has not managed The Vault in an honest and ethical manner.

The Vault constitutes a minuscule portion of WhaleShark's total net worth. With zero liabilities or loans, he has been fortunate enough to have earned strongly and invested wisely over the last decade.  Despite the relative size of the NFT space compared to his investments in other unrelated industries, he continue to invest and create projects such as $WHALE in the NFT space as this is a hobby that he is extremely passionate about.

While the longer term vision is to ensure that we use decentralized DAO technology to mitigate the risks of the above, until we are 100% comfortable with the stability, security and flexibility of the technology, we have implemented robust physical mechanisms to guarantee the security and continuity of The Vault at all times.

The Vault and its corresponding fail safes are secured in a multi level layer, multi step process that spans several countries. In order to prevent any potential threats to the illegal acquistion of The Vault, WhaleShark has left the exact process and locations ambiguous.

Should something happen to the custodian of The Vault, certain trustworthy members of the community will each receive the information to piece together a vault recovery process that will allow $WHALE to continue.

The above measures are in place while we await the growth and maturity of a DAO mechanism that will allow us to move to an even more transparent and stream lined process.

Funds derived from the allocated market making activity will be solely used by The Vault to directly purchase more valuable NFT assets and nothing else.

However, helping the community and other projects gain further traction within the mass market is important to seeing an overall growth in the NFT space and in turn, $WHALE as the leading social currency for this space.

A portion of WhaleShark's personal holdings of $WHALE will be dedicated to philanthropic endeavors that will actually create an impact on building bridges and synergies between the traditional and NFT space, therefore increasing awareness, recognition and participation.

If a $WHALE enthusiast would like to donate their creations to The Vault, they are welcome to do so by sending their tokens to the corresponding ETH address of The Vault. It would be preferable that potential donors first reach out to the moderators in the $WHALE discord server to confirm the potential acceptance of a donation as regular cleaning of The Vault will be implemented.

The Vault focuses on growth, quality and long term appreciation... not quantity.