From baseball cards and Hot Wheels to U.S. quarters from every state and jewelry, the world of collecting rare, unique items has expanded to cyberspace, allowing for the most abstract of items to be created, purchased, traded, and protected.
What if you could own entirely the lyrics to a musician’s upcoming track, whether it’s dancehall artist Sean Paul’s ‘Lionheart’, NBC’s The Voice alum Jesslee’s “Strong”, or Taylor Swift’s re-recorded “Love Story” album?
How about owning either in whole (or in part), a movie script such as 007: Goldeneye? Or even more impressive, a digital collectible from a brand like Gucci, Puma, or Ferrari? Welcome to the infinite world of online collectibles, which when monetized (or tokenized) has the ability to be forever immortalized and protected.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens is a fancy term for categorizing “collectibles”, including, but not limited to art, trading or collectible cards, in-game items and website domains. The concept of “collecting” has been traced back to 3rd-century BC, according to historians, in north-west Asia, where rulers of the Pergamum Kingdom were slaves tasked with classifying “things.” Fast forward to a time where Pergamum rules began collecting stones and jewels, now being swapped today for action figures, comic books, digital art, and other unique innovations emerging.
But the phenomena of today’s digital collectibles has brought an entirely new meaning to the world of intellectual property and content. We just don’t have the space to hoard “things'' anymore, and with today’s technology, we are able to create unlimited bandwidths of space, so as to allow for the ability to purchase, store, and protect our most unique creations on an immutable ledger such as the Blockchain. We are no longer confined by space, display cabinets, stands, shadow boxes, etc.
And the demand is certainly there, as people are willing to spend big sums of money to own unique products that are certified through blockchain’s immutable and transparent technology.
Terra Virtua is an entertainment-focused collectibles platform which has partnered with world famous brands including Paramount Pictures, Legendary Entertainment, and most recently, notorious horror comic book artist, Nick Percival, to help transform the boundaries of entertainment and collectibles. Using blockchain technology, the platform provides utility by allowing collectors of digital assets to display and interact with their virtual goods in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and in 3D on PCs.
Back in December, Terra Virtua celebrated its first $10,000 artwork by an independent artist, quickly becoming a popular platform for content creators to showcase their unique work at high-end prices in a combination of virtual environments, including the 3D Terra Art Gallery, the Terra Fancave, or the newly opened Terradome.
Terra Virtua’s CEO and co-founder, Gary Bracey has strived hard to “create by the means and traditions of the Old Masters,” he says. “It really is my personal passion to seek out and use the same materials, and grind and mix my pigments just as artists did 500 years ago,” renowned artist Tim Cantor said in an interview. However, the world of cryptocurrency and “crypto-art” is only now beginning to take-off, capturing the interest of content creators and artists, particularly musicians like EDM DJ Justin Blau (3LAU), Gareth Emery and Grimes, among countless others, and according to Bracey, the world of possibilities is endless, bringing in major players in the gaming, film and production, and technology sectors.
“We believe NFTs or ‘digital collectibles’ can be part of film launches and merchandising,” said Jawad Ashraf, CTO & Co-Founder of Terra Virtua. “Imagine watching a movie on the premiere night on a streaming service and collecting some special ‘one-off’ collectibles which you can share with others. Location bases collectibles, you can collect at the movie theater, which unlock something in your own special space, which happens to be within Terra Virtua. Being able to explore your own ‘hangar’ before watching Top Gun: Maverick. We feel this is so much more engaging than a poster or a branded cup or popcorn bucket.”