Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Recently, NFT has become a hot topic of discussion in various circles—especially blockchain activists, digital artists and art connoisseurs. NFT seems to be good news for artists, gamers, content creators and others. The reason is that NFT was created to reduce the role of third parties, so that artists can have their own royalties and without fear of their artwork being plagiarised or acknowledged by other parties. Currently, hype and interest in the NFT market continues to develop well, as evidenced by data from Reuters which shows that NFT sales volume continues to experience a significant increase from the second quarter of 2021 by USD $1.3 billion to reach USD $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021.

NFT has emerged since 2014 with a project called Quantum, then cryptopunks and cryptokitties in 2017. NFT has become a hot topic of conversation after a digital artist named Michael Winkelmann, or more popularly known as Beeple, managed to sell his work, “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” for USD $69.4 million. Moreover, since the news that Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, sold his first tweet that only reads “just setting up my twttr” in NFT form and managed to sell it for $2.5 million or equivalent to Rp. 35 billion.

Non-Fungible Token, abbreviated as NFT, is a digital version of a real asset (digital item), which is then in the form of a digital asset. NFT is a unique asset because it is not interchangeable like real estate, digital art (artwork) and collectibles in a rare and unique world. This is why NFT is oft described as an attractive asset. In short, NFT is a crypto technology in the form of a digital certificate that is addressed to those who own paintings, photos, videos, games and other virtual works of art. NFT digital assets will be recorded in the blockchain. When the NFT has been successfully encrypted on the blockchain, it will not be able to be duplicated or replicated again.

In Indonesia, the NFT hype is becoming increasingly viral because it is loved by art performers and connoisseurs. Thousands of digital artworks created by Indonesian digital artists have been widely traded on NFT platforms such as OpenSea, Mintable, Kolektibel and Paras.id. Currently, digital assets tokenised as NFTs are mostly limited to digital artwork, real estate and games. However, in the future, it is possible that there will be other variations that are growing. NFT, whose implementation is based on blockchain technology, but is not necessarily without obstacles.

Blockchain technology itself is still a taboo subject in Indonesia because not all Indonesian people are familiar with it. This should be a caution for the relevant agencies, not to mention the role of the government, which must encourage blockchain literacy and knowledge for the Indonesian people so that we are not left behind and become spectators in our own country because NFT will be a new opportunity.

One of the members of the Indonesian Blockchain Association, Kolektibel also gave his views on the potential of NFT in Indonesia. According to Rhein Mahatama, Co-Founder of Kolektibel, “NFTs allows the introduction of a business model that opens up new markets, thereby increasing the creation of new jobs. Digital goods or content that were previously of low or no value can now have value because of the provable scarcity character of blockchain”.

Quoted from mediaindonesia.com, “Currently the global trend of NFT is declining somewhat due to several factors, one of which is the very volatile value of Ethereum”. However, it is predicted that this will only last for a short time and in 2022 it will increase again because more and more digital artists are starting to get serious at NFT. This condition is in contrast in Indonesia. Currently, the trend of NFT in Indonesia is at its peak due to the emergence of digital artists who are starting to enter the NFT market. More and more art performers and connoisseurs in Indonesia are starting to become aware of and literate in NFT.

Furthermore, there is the notable emergence of many NFT communities in Indonesia, whose members have reached thousands and even tens of thousands when viewed from the social media accounts of these communities. Chairwoman of A-B-I, Asih Karnengsih commented: “The literacy related to the implementation and benefits of blockchain technology that can contribute to economic development in Indonesia is needed—for example, NFT that can help artists in Indonesia get appreciation and rewards”.

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