Japanese Government Rewards Local Authorities With Non-Transferable NFTs
According to reports, the Japanese government is one of the first countries to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a supplementary award to local authorities that excelled in a digitization competition.
Moreover, they gave awards to local authorities as recognition for their efforts in using digital technology to solve local challenges.
Japanese Government Issues NFT via Low-cost Blockchain
This is the first time the country’s cabinet secretariat is using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a supplementary prize during a ceremony to recognize local governments that excelled in a digitization competition.
According to a Compost report, this year’s award ceremony was supported by four technology companies: Indiesquare, Bitflyer Holdings, Tree Digital Studio, and Tomonari Kogei.
As per the report, they used Indiesquare’s low-cost blockchain platform, the Hazama Base, to issue and distribute the NFTs. Before this, the government used a similar platform to issue and distribute NFTs at an event held by the Liberal Democratic Party Youth Bureau.
Known as the 2022 Summer Digi Denkoshien, they held the award ceremony to honor and recognize initiatives by local authorities that utilize digital technology to solve local issues and improve their appeal.
Non-transferable NFTs Gain Momentum
The concept of non-transferable NFTs, which Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin explored several times this year, continues to pick up momentum. As the name suggests, you cannot separate a non-transferable NFTs from their owners.
Earlier this year, Buterin explored non-transferable NFTs in a blog post. At the time, he argued that there was also a large and underexplored design space for non-transferable NFTs.
Furthermore, adding that achieving SBTs would open a door to blockchains being at the center of ecosystems that are collaborative and fun, and not just about money.
In May, the Ethereum founder co-authored a research paper explaining how non-transferable Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) can create a richer, pluralistic ecosystem within Ethereum. He specifically noted that a use case for SBTs can be in the Proof-of-Attendance (POAP) protocol, which the Japanese government used.
