SmartNews service to help convert unique local cultural assets into NFTs

SmartNews Labs, a subsidiary of the Japan-based news app operator SmartNews, said it will launch a new service that can help local businesses convert their unique cultural assets into NFTs.

The service, called “Tales & Tokens,” will visualize intangible resources shared by people of the same community, such as place names, folk tales, legends and traditions, the lab said on November 24.

Users can acquire NFT collections of community assets in the form of in-game characters and items through leading marketplace OpenSea, a major NFT marketplace. The tokens will be customizable and transactable. 

NFT game “Game of the Lotus” became the first project under Tales & Token when it was launched on October 27 in Tono City, Iwate Prefecture. Based on the folklore from “Tono Monogatari” written by folklorist Kunio Yanagida in Tono City, three types of NFT characters are being offered.

In addition, a second NFT game based on the manufacturing industry culture of the Tsubame-Sanjo area in Niigata Prefecture is in the pipeline. SmartNews Labs also said it has plans to offer games focusing on sports teams and artists in the future.