Tokenizing the Titanic: New Partnership Brings Real Artifacts from Wreckage to NFT Market
Actual Titanic wreckage finds will be tokenized as NFTs and made available to the public through a new, three-way partnership.
The collaboration combines Hong Kong-based Venture Smart Financial Holdings, Web3 company Artifact Labs, and RMS Titanic (RMST), which has exclusive salvage rights over the Titanic wreck and its crash site.
The three businesses will start tokenizing priceless Titanic relics to enable a wide range of Web3 functionalities. Certain artifacts will be preserved as NFTs, and the public will have ownership rights.
The three firms stated in a news release that “this innovative project will leave the legacy of the Titanic in the hands of the global public by conserving assets from the ocean liner as immutable NFTs and by allowing inclusive involvement in RMST.”
A total of 5,500 physical artifacts that were found on board the ship as well as potential future finds will be tokenized by Artifact Labs. Also, the business will introduce the Titanic DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organization), which would let users to take part in next projects.
The task of arranging the tokenization of the intellectual property connected to the artifacts will fall to Venture Smart Finance Holdings.
The tokenized securities are meant to be made available to accredited investors in order to open up a channel for “compliant capital raising” to pay for continuing asset recovery, licencing, and display projects.
The president of RMS Titanic, Jessica Sanders, commented: “We are committed to sharing the legacy of the Titanic, her passengers and crew, with people throughout the world.
“As the salvor-in-possession of the Titanic wreck site, we are determined to ensure that the Ship’s artifacts are preserved in perpetuity and accessible to future generations. We believe that moving into the digital space allows us to reach a broader audience with quality programming that educates and inspires. We are excited to have found the expertise and partners to help us reach those goals.”
The White Star Line was the company that ran the British passenger ship Titanic. In April 1912, while on its maiden trip, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank, killing 1,500 passengers. Global interest has been generated by the wreckage, which was found at the bottom of the North Atlantic about forty years ago.
Two Hong Kong Companies Involved in the Initiative
It is important to note that both Artifact Labs and Venture Smart Financial Holdings (VSFH) are Hong Kong-based businesses. The partnership comes as the city has proposed more cryptocurrency-friendly policies in an effort to recover its status as a major worldwide hub for the industry.
As previously reported, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong has unveiled a new regulatory framework that permits retail investors to trade specific “large-cap tokens” on authorized exchanges as long as safeguards like knowledge tests, risk profiles, and reasonable exposure limits are in place.
New rules covering a variety of virtual asset categories, including NFTs, are part of Hong Kong’s effort to become a more significant player in Web 3. Paul Chan, the city’s chief financial officer, announced that he will set aside $6.4 million to promote the growth of the Web3 ecosystem and to realize the full potential of the “third generation internet.”