‘First-ever’ Catholic NFT to be Released as Mosaic of Pope Francis
This photo mosaic consists of 350 unique photos taken by LiCAS.news from the said visit that also represents the 350th arrival anniversary of Catholicism in the Kingdom of Thailand.
By Nathaniel Cajuday
Bangkok, THAILAND – The very first non-fungible token (NFT) minted officially by the Catholic Church was set to be released to the public this week, The Roman Catholic Mission of Bangkok announced, in the form of a photo mosaic of Pope Francis’ image.
“Youths today use technology, not only for practical purposes, but to also express their faith and identity,” said Francis X. Cardinal Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok.
The NFT to be released is a 149-megapixels photo mosaic of an image of Pope Francis during the Holy Father’s Apostolic Visit to Thailand in November 2019.
This photo mosaic consists of 350 unique photos taken by LiCAS.news from the said visit that also represents the 350th arrival anniversary of Catholicism in the Kingdom of Thailand.
“We hand-selected the photos that make up the mosaic from thousands of photos that LiCAS.news took during the papal visit,” Nattha Nuchsuwan, Marketing Director at LiCAS.news and the English language social communications arm of the Roman Catholic Mission of Bangkok, stressed.
Moreover, the NFT-mosaic’s goal is to help ensure its permanence and to enhance the Roman Catholic Mission of Bangkok’s engagement with online communities around the world.
“We hope that the individual photos together, convey the excitement and devotion with which Thailand welcomed the pope,” Nuchsuwan added.
To be released on Kalamint.io, an NFT marketplace built on the energy efficient Tezos blockchain, this NFT-mosaic is expected to be a vessel in ‘exploring a brand-new way to engage’ with those in the community of the Roman Catholic Mission of Bangkok and beyond.
“We are pleased to be using the environmentally-friendly Tezos blockchain technology on Kalamint to drop our NFT,” Dr. Peter Monthienvichienchai highlighted, the project’s technical lead and the Executive Director of LiCAS.news.
It will soon be available on Kalamint, a leader of the Clean NFT movement and one of the first marketplaces on Tezos, a Liquid Proof of Stake (LPoS) blockchain that effectively verifies transactions while consuming a miniscule amount of energy.
“We are extremely excited that the Roman Catholic Mission of Bangkok have chosen Kalamint and share the ideals that NFTs can be created and sold in a sustainable and energy efficient way. It has been our goal to ensure that the art created on our platform is stored in a way that allows the data to last forever. With this historic piece minted by the Church, we surely have the affirmation that what we are building is on the right path.” Kalamint Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chris Deschenes expressed.
Kalamint is known as one of the only NFT marketplaces which does not store any NFT data on private servers and builds its reputation around the legacy of the art.
100% of the total proceeds from the release and auction from this NFT-mosaic project will go to Communita Incontro School, a 17-year-old primary school that provides free education to socially disadvantaged children in Pathum Thani, Thailand, with most have parents that are being treated in the nearby rehabilitation center (with the same name) for drug addicts.
The proceeds will lend a hand to the said school in providing all support for the children to meet their daily needs, including clothing, food and school supplies.
This article is published on BitPinas: ‘First-ever’ Catholic NFT to be Released as Mosaic of Pope Francis
