SCMP launches NFTs of monumental newspaper covers in 1997

The South China Morning Post has launched its inaugural "ARTIFACTs by SCMP" NFT digital collectibles to commemorate 1997 - a year that had significant importance in the history of Hong Kong. The day is known as Hong Kong’s handover and transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.

The media company said the launch of the 1997 Premium Series offers Hongkongers, history buffs and NFT enthusiasts the opportunity to own a piece of history. The first drop will release more than 1,300 unique mystery boxes, with each box containing five random NFTs of SCMP's front pages from 1 January to 1 July 1997. An upcoming second drop will release a further 1,300 boxes covering 1 July to 31 December 1997. SCMP said the full series covers many historically significant events including the handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China, the Asian financial crisis, the deaths of Deng Xiaoping and Princess Diana, and the Avian flu outbreak.

The rarity of NFTs in the collection is determined by the limited number of editions available, with the front-page "Handover cover" on 1 July 1997 being the rarest in the series. "ARTIFACTs by SCMP" will be on the Flow blockchain and the public sale of the mystery boxes kicked off on 14 March at 9pm Hong Kong time on artifact.scmp.com.

“SCMP has witnessed many historic moments as Hong Kong’s newspaper of record and the launch of the ‘1997 Premium Series’ is significant as the city marks the 25th anniversary of the handover this year. 'ARTIFACTs by SCMP' brings together collectors and history enthusiasts, and we’ve been delighted by the growth and enthusiasm of our community in the lead-up to the launch," said Gary Liu, CEO of SCMP.

In addition to the sale of the NFTs, SCMP has named Blocto's subsidiary portto as its exclusive wallet partner for the 1997 Premium Series. Blocto is a cross-chain smart contract wallet that offers a seamless purchasing experience on an all-encompassing platform, including Dev-friendly SDK BloctoSDK, built-in DEX BloctoSwap, $BLT centric IDO platform BloctoIDO, ecosystem Governance BloctoDAO and non-custodial NFT marketplace BloctoBay.

“Blocto has a lot of experience in the deep blockchain having cooperated with large enterprises, from Vault by CNN, MotoGP Ignition and the South China Morning Post. We have been continuously focusing on co-creating an easy-to-use experience that is intuitive to both users and the companies we work with," said Hsuan Lee, CEO of portto.

SCMP said "ARTIFACTs by SCMP" is the first NFT collection released using the ARTIFACT metadata standard. The project aims to seed a community of collectors and eventually produce an ecosystem around the preservation of historical accounts and assets. Through collection challenges, thematic drops, and community-building events, collectors and guardians of history can interact with authentic archival records and form a community dedicated to exploring the shared heritage.

"We look forward to releasing more of the SCMP's 118-year-old media archives as NFTs as well as partnering with other guardians of history to preserve historical assets on the blockchain," Liu added.

Earlier in March, the SCMP rolled out another project to showcase its metaverse experience, offering a gamified tour of Hong Kong's iconic Star Ferry Pier on blockchain gaming platform The Sandbox. The tour leveraged its photography, illustrations and data to recreate the iconic scene.The publisher said its metaverse experience Hong Kong Star Ferry Pier is one of 35 that The Sandbox is offering with its new season. It will run through March and is open to the public for free.

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