Bermuda Post

Thursday, Mar 23, 2023

SCMP releases NFTs featuring news archives from 1997

SCMP releases NFTs featuring news archives from 1997

The series contains the Post’s coverage of 1997’s momentous events, including the handover, the Asian financial crisis and Avian flu outbreak.

The South China Morning Post, a news organisation founded in Hong Kong in 1903, is releasing its first collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT), featuring newspaper archives from 1997, one of the most consequential years in the city’s history.

The collection, named “1997 Premium Series’, is part of the newspaper’s NFT project ARTIFACTs, which aims to be a destination for historical NFTs. The series contains the Post’s coverage of 1997’s momentous events, including the handover ceremony of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule, the Asian financial crisis, the Avian flu outbreak, and the deaths of Princess Diana and Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese leader regarded as the “father” of the reforms that opened up China to the rest of the world.

Sales of the series will kick off at 9pm on Monday on ARTIFACT’s official website, where 1,300 “mystery boxes” will be available for purchase, each box containing five random NFTs.

“SCMP has witnessed many pivotal moments in history as Hong Kong’s newspaper of record, and the launch of the ‘1997 Premium Series’ holds major significance as the city marks its 25th anniversary of the handover this year,” said SCMP chief executive officer Gary Liu.

Chief Executive Officer at South China Morning Post, Gary Liu speaks at the RISE tech conference 2019 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.


NFTs are units of data stored on a blockchain that represents the uniqueness and ownership of digital assets. They exploded into mainstream consciousness last year, as people spent millions of dollars snapping up cartoon avatars and digital artworks. Recently, global NFT prices have steadily retreated amid concerns about an easing of pandemic era stimulus and rising geopolitical tensions, but adoption of the digital assets are still growing.

The Post is among a growing number of news organisations around the world that have experimented with the technology, including CNN, Associated Press and The New York Times. In mainland China, state-run Xinhua News Agency also released a collection of its news photos as NFTs.

The Post’s ARTIFACT project, which includes a blockchain metadata standard for historical and archival NFTs, was first launched in July. The project aims to bring together all “guardians of history”, including media publishers, museums, academic institutions, think tanks, cultural organisations, art galleries, auction houses, archivists and governments, to tokenise their assets with the ARTIFACT standard.

It will allow people to “discover, collect, showcase, trade, and reanimate meaningful moments and objects from our collective human experience”, Liu said at the time.

The Post’s NFT collection is built on Flow, a blockchain built by Dapper Labs, the creator of popular NFT series NBA Top Shot. Each “mystery box” is priced at 97 FUSD, a USD-backed stablecoin issued as a fungible token on the Flow network.

Last week, the Post also launched a game on metaverse platform The Sandbox, featuring Hong Kong’s iconic Star Ferry Pier. Star Ferry, one of Hong Kong’s oldest forms of transport, began operations in 1888.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Bermuda Post
Close
0:00
0:00
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
NYPD is setting up barricades outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of Trump arrest.
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman tours potential migrant housing in Rwanda as asylum deal remains mired in legal challenges
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
Jeremy Hunt insists his Budget will get young parents and over-50s back into work
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
Nashville police officer, and a female driver shooting one another
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
Mexican President Claims Mexico is Safer than the U.S.
A brief banking situation report
Lady bites police officer and gets instantly reaction
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
'No relation to the American SVB': India's SVC Bank acts to calm depositors amid brand name confusion.
Good news: The U.S. government is now guaranteeing all deposits, held by, Silicon Valley Bank, and the funds are available as of today
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
In a potential last-ditch effort, HSBC is considering a rescue deal to save Silicon Valley Bank UK from insolvency
BBC Director General, Tim Davie, has apologized, but not resigned, yet, following the disruption of sports programmes over the weekend
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
A primitive judge in Australia sparked outrage when he told a breastfeeding woman to leave his courtroom for being “a distraction"
Barcelona is feeling the heat as they face corruption charges over payments to former vice-president of Spain's referees' committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira
Senator Tom Cotton: If the Mexican Government Won’t Stop Cartels from Killing Americans, Then U.S. Government Should
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
The unelected UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, an immigrant himself, defends new controversial crackdown on illegal migration
Old clip of Bill Gates saying Ukraine is a big, fat, corrupt sinkhole is going viral
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
How do stolen goods end up on Amazon, eBay and Facebook Marketplace?
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
Spain officials quit over trains that were too wide for tunnels...
Don Lemon, a CNN anchor, has provided a list of five areas that he believes the black community needs to address.
Hello. Here is our news digest from London.
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
Givenchy Store in New York Robbed of $50,000 in Merchandise
European MP Clare Daly condemns US attack on Nord Stream
Former U.S. President Carter will spend his remaining time at home and receive hospice care instead of medication
Tucker Carlson called Trump a 'demonic force'
US Joins 15 NATO Nations in Largest Space Data Collection Initiative in History
White House: No ETs over the United States
U.S. Jet Shoots Down Flying Object Over Canada
Being a Tiktoker might be expensive…
×