HK artists embrace NFT’s; NFTs new top K-Pop merchandise

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, August 10th 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief of Forkast.News, covering all things blockchain.

Coming up, a special edition of the Daily Forkast where we are covering all things NFTs.

Despite speculation that the market is cooling, recent numbers beg to differ. The non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea’s July transaction volume reached a new high of almost US$ 325 million.

That’s a 118% increase from June’s historic high.

Now, NFTs, are re-drawing the art scene in Asia as more artists are embracing the technology. Forkast.News‘ Lucas Cacioli is in Hong Kong with more.

Gus Szabo, also known as “Szabotage”, is a Hong Kong based artist.

But when the artist, along with his wife and business partner Hannah Szabo, were told about NFT, by a long time collector friend, they thought, why not give it a try?

“And he basically just explained it all to us. And how kind of how it was really taking off, and we just kind of thought, wow, this really sounds interesting.”

Now,”Szabotage” has a new canvas. Digitally designing works and transforming them into non-fungible tokens.

“I see the potential there of, you know, writing history, with, you know, where it’s reaching the highest prices at Christie’s for an NFT being sold or, you know, just coming up with something revolutionary to NFTs. You know, there’s so much opportunity there on the playing field. So I’m ready to explore it even further.”

Exploring it further while creating new business opportunities, like his traditional canvas works as “Szabotage” NFT will tell a story and be sold for a price.

“If you can get some sort of emotion from a physical piece of artwork or a NFT piece of artwork, digital artwork, then that’s worth its weight. It’s how much value you see in that.”

The real value may not be the actual artwork, though, rather in the token that connects your name with the artist’s work on the blockchain.

“NFTs are not the art and NFTs are the certificates of autheticity of the piece.”

Valentina Loffredo, is a visual artist who has been based in Hong Kong for 15 years.

Loffredo works consist mostly of photography. She’s been experimenting with other media. She first learned of NFT on the popular social media app Clubhouse.

“The part about blockchain was very fascinating, very exciting to kind of experience this moment where there is this disruptive technology that can change the world.”

Her knowledge on the subject grew, and soon after she began experimenting with the technology.

For me it’s a technology that gives authenticity, gives provenance, gives transparance to digital art, which changed the game completely for digital art.”

For Forkast.News, I’m Lucas Cacioli, Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, the entertainment industry is sparing no effort to race into the world of NFT.

Especially when K-pop has already thrived online amid the Covid-19 pandemic in an attempt to stay lucrative.

Forkast.News reporter and resident K-pop expert Timmy Shen with more now from Taipei, Taiwan.

When it comes to merchandise, K-pop fans will buy just about anything from t-shirts to photo cards.

“They are so invested into the success of these groups that they follow, that they’re willing to really pay a lot of money on merchandise.”

NFTs seemed a natural choice for the industry indeed.

JYP Entertainment, one of South Korea’s top entertainment conglomerates, which saw a drop of 7% in its total revenue last year, recently unveiled a plan to partner with blockchain company Dunamu to set up an NFT platform dedicated to k-pop.

This after “Brave Girls” teamed up with a Upbit to release limited edition NFTs just in time for their comeback in June.

“NFTs are definitely going to be in K-pop in the future, I can see it already.”

There could be a long way to go, however, at some fans told Forkast.News they still prefer items they can hold.

For Forkast.News I am Timmy Shen, Taipei, Taiwan.

And finally, NFTs aren’t just for investing in art or music, you can even use them to invest in holiday resorts.

LABS Group, a real estate investment platform powered by blockchain, says it is the world’s first community owned project fractionalized into rewarding timeshare or RTS NFT.

The NFT’s representing days on the calendar year were auctioned off with the intention of making investments in such resorts open to everyone.

Winning bidders gain privileges including 30 years of residence rights, the freedom to swap and trade those rights, and, of course, limo transport to the report!

The company has raised over US$3.5 million for its Kunang Kunang Resort near the popular Indonesian Holiday island of Bali.

It’s due to to open in February next year.

LABS Group says it’s also looking to offer similar projects around Asia. Including in Thailand, Cambodia and Japan.

So there you go, NFTs are not just for art. I’m off to find my sunscreen . .

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until the next time.