Titanic exhibit teams with Hong Kong NFT firm Artifact Labs to mint relics on the blockchain
RMS Titanic Inc, the company behind exhibits for the sunken ship, is turning relics from the fateful 1912 voyage into Web3 assets through a partnership with NFT company Artifact Labs and Venture Smart Financial Holdings, a Hong Kong asset management company.
The project aims to “bring the RMS Titanic and its physical artefacts into Web3” and to “place the legacy of the Titanic in the hands of the global public”, the companies announced in a statement on Tuesday. Artifact Labs plans to turn 5,500 physical artifacts recovered from the ship into NFTs, along with artifacts that can be recovered in the future.
The statement provided few details about the project other than to note that Artifact Labs will also launch the Titanic DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), where members can participate in future initiatives. The NFT firm, which was started by the South China Morning Post and in which the paper still has a stake, said it is not disclosing any other information at this time, such as pricing or which blockchain it will use.
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The partnership between RMS Titanic, owned by Delaware-registered Premier Acquisition Holdings, and two Hong Kong companies comes as the southern Chinese city battles to become a regional virtual asset hub with new regulations aimed at luring back crypto-related business that had been left over. last years.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on Monday that retail investors in the city will be allowed to buy virtual assets with large market capitalizations, such as bitcoin and ether, on licensed platforms. The new rules come into force in June.
Hong Kong’s bid to become a bigger player in Web3 involves new regulations covering a range of virtual asset types, not just cryptocurrencies, although that is what is commonly used to buy NFTs. It has also been a focus for regulators in the city since the collapse last year of FTX, once the world’s second largest crypto exchange.
The collaboration also comes roughly two years after the hype around NFTs first started, sending prices and speculation soaring. The NFT craze had mostly cooled down last summer, when prices fell amid a crypto market. NFT trading volume, denominated in US dollars, fell 77 percent from the second to third quarter of last year, while prices also plunged 76 percent, according to market tracker NonFungible.com.
Some of the most high-profile projects nevertheless maintain high values. Bored Ape Yacht Club has a market capitalization of $1.3 billion, the largest among all NFT projects, according to CoinGecko.
NFTs have thus remained a popular way to gain attention for art and other projects, or simply as a way to secure ownership rights to digital assets.
As for Titanic artifacts, the companies putting them on the blockchain say the NFTs will allow people to interact with the relics outside of physical exhibits. They are also planning initiatives covering diving exhibitions, educational programming, documentaries and other events that will involve the Titanic DAO, which will be funded by the NFT sale.
“This incredible project will forever preserve the ocean liner on the blockchain and further expand its impact and importance to a global audience,” said Gary Liu, founder of Artifact Labs and former CEO of Posten. “This partnership exemplifies the mission of Artifact Labs, and we are delighted to now be among Titanic’s guardians.”
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter sides. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
