NFTs exploded in popularity during the first two years of the pandemic, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to go away anytime soon. One of the most recent organizations to come into fashion is the Associated Press (AP), which start selling its “award-winning contemporary and historical photojournalism” as non-fungible tokens on January 31. The news outlet has teamed up with blockchain technology provider Xooa to develop a marketplace for its NFTs, which will debut with an initial collection that will roll out in the coming weeks after its launch.
AP’s initial collection includes Pulitzer Prize-winning digitally enhanced images in various categories such as space, weather and war. Each will include the image’s original metadata that shows the time and date it was taken, its location, and the equipment and settings the photographer used for the photo. The agency says the market will allow people to buy, sell and trade the tokens, which can be purchased using credit cards and cryptocurrency wallets. The proceeds you will earn from the sales will then be used to fund your operations. One of the biggest controversies surrounding NFTs is that they have huge environmental impact. AP says its NFTs will be minted on the Polygon blockchain which is designed to consume less power than their counterparts.
Whether AP will successfully sell its photos for the kind of money it hopes to make remains to be seen. Adidas made $23 million in its first NFT drop, but Ubisoft barely sold any when it launched its own tokens. Another company that is allegedly looking to open up its own market is GameStop, which (according to Wall Street Journal) recently formed a cryptocurrency division to work on the project.
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