NFTs are opening up doors to a global audience, and allowing more to interact in more meaningful ways, identifying growth strategies and leveraging talent. From the perspective of the creator economy, NFTs are paving ways for creators to unleash their potential in more inclusive, transparent and decentralized ways. They have the freedom to release content to supporters and on a digital platform with full control of their work. 

This digital market trend is relatively new and booming, giving artists a whole new canvas to play with.

At its very core, NFTs are unique digital assets whose authenticity and ownership are tracked on a blockchain. NFTs are often used to represent digital ownership over things like art, music, and even collectibles like trading cards, many of which now exist digitally. NFTs are one-of-a-kind, have their own value, and can be bought, traded or sold, but never replaced.

However, the energy consumption of NFTs was brought under scrutiny after billionaire Elon Musk began tweeting about the carbon footprint of Proof-of-Work blockchains like Ethereum. NFTs minted on Proof Of Work platforms are widely regarded as dirty, and conscious creators are taking note and moving to eco-friendlier or “greener” blockchain networks, which rely on a different consensus mechanism, known as Proof of Stake.

As a result, NFT activity on Proof of Work blockchains have seen a drop in demand. Meanwhile,  Proof of Stake blockchains saw stable or even increased levels of activities – for example on Hic et Nunc, an NFT marketplace built on Tezos. The importance of the low carbon impact has been a determining factor for artists and creators when selecting what blockchain they use to mint, sell, buy or trade NFTs. 

A Proof-of-Stake algorithm has a significantly smaller carbon footprint, therefore reducing negative impact on the environment. Tezos, for example, consumes over two million times less energy to conduct the same transactions than a Proof-of-Work network, like Ethereum. 

As Indonesia familiarizes itself with the NFT boom, creators are looking to explore more environmentally-friendly ways of supporting the art, media and entertainment communities. 

In Indonesia, a community of 64 local and international artists, galleries and curators have gathered together to bring forward Art Moments Jakarta, the first art exhibition to take a hybrid live-online format due to the pandemic. The exhibition took place from June 1 to June 30. TZ APAC, is a sponsor of the event. 

Key artists at the exhibition, Ruanth Chrisley Thyssen – an Oscar and two times BAFTA nominated Sound Designer – and Cindy Thyssen, who graduated her bachelors in Animation from Binus University in 2014 and pursued further studies in Oxford in 2018, are running an NFT charity fundraiser on 53families.xyz. It aims to raise funds for the families of the 53 fallen soldiers on board the KRI Nanggala-402. 

The artwork, “53 Never Forgotten” is a 53-second animation loop of a submarine floating amongst animated waves, consisting of 53 layers of sound. The artwork is being featured by Art Moments Jakarta and all proceeds from the sale of the 5300 NFT editions of the artwork will be donated to the 53 affected families. 

With the advancement of technology catalyzed by the pandemic, Art Moments Jakarta is supporting the NFT art scene. The event is also supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. Indonesians are quickly realizing the authenticity and validity of NFTs, especially in a digitized world. It has been created by the people, for the people, and holds value similar to a land certificate within the blockchain ecosystem. 

There is still scope to make an impact and popularize platforms that operate on the Proof of Stake network within the art and entertainment industries.

Hic et Nunc is home to a vibrant, global art scene of artists and creators. The platform, launched in March 2021, surpassed 100,000 NFTs minted in May (a staggering ~35,000 NFTs per month) with over 2 million NFTs bought and resold. It recently overtook OpenSea – one of the largest Ethereum-based NFT marketplaces – in its number of daily active users. As creators and buyers are becoming more eco-conscious, the demand for clean NFTs and a lower carbon footprint is the preferred option.

Indonesia is slowly but surely moving toward the direction of the digital network platforms. MetaRupa.com, an exhibition space that will be accessible in the open-world virtual realm (or “Metaverse”), will be launching in the country soon. 

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The writer is head of marketing, TZ APAC, a public blockchain consultancy.