Aeronautics themed NFT marketplace launched by Japan's largest airline

Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) launches an NFT marketplace that is set to give Web3 and metaverse adoption a boost in Japan

By Shashank Bhardwaj

Published: Jun 1, 2023 07:06:04 PM IST

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On May 30, Japan’s leading airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA), launched an aviation-themed non-fungible token (NFTs) marketplace named “ANA GranWhale NFT marketplace” with its subsidiary, ANA Neo.

Given that an estimated 4.6 million passengers fly with ANA annually, the adoption of Web3 in Japan just got an extra nudge with this development. ANA passengers will now get to experience the Web3 sector through this NFT marketplace.

The platform will showcase an inaugural collection created by the famed aerial photographer Luke Ozawa. The developers said, “From May 30, aerial photographer Luke Ozawa’s first digital photo will be converted to NFT. One of them will be sold with a positive film, which is the source of photo development. The price is 100,000 yen, and the NFT with positive film will be sold at auction."

Each NFT of this series will be priced at 100,000 Yen. The collection will also offer one special NFT as part of an auction.

The second collection of NFTs will launch on June 7, which will represent the NFT image of the first Boeing 787 operated by ANA. “There are 787 items each of the two types, for a total of 1,574 items, and the price is 7,870 yen," ANA said.

ANA had revenues of $12.2 billion in the last fiscal year. The company said that it plans to expand the NFT product line in future and also targets to improve the customer experience through the commercialisation of NFTs.

The development of ANA Neo’s GranWhale began last August as a virtual travel platform that makes use of “technology, including VR, to recreate the destinations and cultures of the world” in the form of metaverse parks.

Mitsuo Tomita, ANA Neo president had previously stated, “The arrow in the symbol [logo] represents the virtual and the real, respectively, and the fusion of the two symbolises the ANA GranWhale flying straight into the future with stability and growth, where Web 3.0 and metaverse travel will become more commonplace."

Japan is seen accelerating its efforts to become a hotspot in the NFT and metaverse space.

Fumio Kishida, Japan's Prime Minister has been looking for ‘new capitalism' solutions for boosting Japan’s economy. Last year in May, Kishida had said that Japan would create a promotional environment for Web3, blockchain, NFTs, and metaverse.

According to Japanese authorities, the technology behind crypto in itself should not be blamed for risking the financial stability of the crypto investor community; the lack of proper rules governing the sector is the primary issue.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash