Hong Kong digital art platform to have NFT works sent to the moon on the SpaceX rocket as part of the lunar gallery

To be included in the museum, the artworks of Blancarte and Alanis will be etched onto nanofiche discs, making them indestructible but only visible through a microscope.

The inclusion of the Mexican artists is the result of a partnership between BitBasel and NFT company Space Blue, which collaborated with Lunaprise owner Galactic Legacy Labs and the Arch Mission Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving human knowledge.

The project is part of Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, scheduled to launch in late June, and involves a Nova-C lander carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Nova-C was developed as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

From a traditional art background, Alanis never anticipated a journey into new virtual and physical worlds. Creating work for a virtual world is “something completely different” from working on murals and monumental pieces, he said.

For Blancarte, who started making digital art, putting her work on a blockchain was a more natural progression, she said.

The hype surrounding new lunar missions has been ignited by what some perceive as a new space race between the US and China. The IM-1 launch comes a couple of years before Nasa’s planned moon landing in 2025, the first in more than 50 years.

While the inclusion of NFTs is a commercial enterprise, Mintes Garcia believes the mission is a sign that digital art is not just a passing fad and has a steadily growing international community.

“NFTs revolutionized not only the art movement, but the way we express and view art, creating even greater opportunities for artists,” she said.

With Hong Kong regulators now trying to create one more favorable market for virtual asset investorsEstrella said the city has the potential to be a growing hub of art and innovation, where seasoned collectors with great purchasing power can connect with emerging artists from the West.

Garcia echoed that sentiment.

“We created Minte to support and empower artists’ talent from developing countries to one of the Meccas of global innovation and development: Hong Kong,” she said.

This year, Minte hopes to further expand its platform and bring its artists to Hong Kong as part of a cultural exchange trip. It currently represents six Latin American artists, but aims to add Hong Kong artists in the future.

While the Minte founders say they want to bridge the gap between Latin American and Chinese cultures, they have no plans for the mainland market, where NFT regulations are more complicated.

Beijing’s ban on cryptocurrencies has forced NFT vendors to offer the assets as “digital collectibles” that can only be bought with yuan and must adhere to strict rules, such as no resale.

Across the southern border, regulators in Hong Kong have been pushing new guidelines to revive the virtual asset industry. The city unveiled plans last October to restore its status as a crypto hub after the market lost some of its luster to companies and investors due to what it perceived as overly strict regulations.

The latest policy shift will allow retail investors to use licensed crypto platforms in the city, but licensing will be required for such platforms, a shift from the previous voluntary regime. The new rules, adopted in December, enters into force in June as part of an amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Regulation.

The moves have attracted quite a bit of attention from the intended audience. Geneva-based Chinese crypto personality Justin Sun recently said he would move to Hong Kong to be “closer to the action”. Minte is betting that some of this action will also take place in NFTs.

“We see Hong Kong as Asia’s leading art center, continuing to dominate the growth and success of the art market for at least the next 10 years,” Estrella said.