The Museum of the City of New York has filed several Web3-related patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The Manhattan-based history and art museum, which was founded back in 1923, plans to offer downloadable cryptocurrency collectibles, non-fungible tokens as well as application tokens.
The museum has six curatorial departments that focus on photographs, theater, decorative arts, costumes, paintings and sculpture. Its collections also explore the cultural and economic significance of the Big Apple.
Museums are not just about history
After NFTs exploded in popularity last year, many museums moved to cash in on the craze.
The Vienna-based Belvedere museum launched an NFT drop of "The Kiss," the famous work of Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, ahead of Valentine's Day.
Last September, the British Museum entered the NFT space by teaming up with start-up LaCollection to introduce a collection of digital Hokusai postcards. In January, American contemporary artist KAWS brought augmented reality to the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Last May, the very first NFT museum launched in Seattle to pull back the curtain on digital art.
In mid-July, a full-fledged NFT gallery opened in Midtown Manhattan, the core commercial and retail neighborhood of New York. This made it possible for creators to display their digital art from anywhere in the world.