The Nelson Mandela Foundation launched an NFT collection for its Digital Patronage Program
The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF), a non-profit organization founded by Mandela himself in 1999, announced earlier this week the launch of a non-fungible token (NFT) collection in partnership with NFT marketplace Glorius Digital. The collection consists of 1,918 NFTs, and the proceeds from their sale go to NMF.
Nelson Mandela Foundation launches NFT collection worth $1.91 million
The Nelson Mandela Foundation teamed up with NFT studio Glorious Digital to launch a digital patronage program consisting of a collection of NFTs. Dubbed “Digital Patronage,” the program offers 1,918 NFTs, each priced at $1,000, for a total value of $1,918,000. The number of NFTs, 1918, honors Mandela’s year of birth.
The rollout of Digital Patronage comes ten years after Mandela’s death. The official launch date, May 10, is the same day that Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first president in 1994.
“Each patronage is presented with a unique digital artwork for members to display. Drawing on Nelson Mandela’s personal archive held by the NMF, alongside other authorized collections, Nelson Mandela: A Portrait in 27 Colors will commemorate the 27 years Nelson Mandela spent in prison and fought against injustice in his country.”
– wrote NMF and Glorius in the announcement.
The archive team of NMF and Glorius Digital will act as facilitators and guardians of exclusive content and experiences for 1,918 founding members. In addition, net income secured from NFT sales will go to the foundation.
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Digital patronage raises questions in the crypto community
It may be surprising that NMF chose Glorious Digital to launch a project of this size. This is because Glorius is a small NFT marketplace compared to the behemoths like Opensea and Rarible.
In addition, the NFT studio uses a little-known blockchain CENNZ, which is far less established than large blockchain networks such as Polygon, Avalanche or Fantom. Even tier-2 chains like Arbitrum and Optimism would be a more logical choice, some argued.
Another thing that raised questions was Glorus’ Web3 wallet extension, which has been removed from the Chrome Web Store. NFTs purchased via Glorius’ platform cannot be sold without the extension, given that the firm’s secondary marketplace does not support any other crypto wallet.
Tom Harper, CEO of Glorius Digital, said this is because the extension is being updated. He added that the updated version of the extension will be “available for download within the week.”
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Why do you think NMF chose Glorius Digital to launch this programme? Let us know in the comments below.
About the author
Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
