cryptoknowmics.com
The Associated Press news agency is launching a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace full of photos from its award-winning photojournalists. Proceeds of the NFT sales will go back into funding AP journalism.
The initial collection will include NFTs of ‘space, climate, war and other images,’ that will be released over several weeks starting on January 31. After every two weeks, there will be a 'Pulitzer Drop,' which will showcase Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs. Each NFTs will include detailed metadata showing the time, date, location, equipment, and technical settings used for the photograph.
Built by blockchain infrastructure platform Xooa, the AP marketplace will be launched on the 'environmentally friendly' Polygon blockchain. The platform will support both credit and debit card payments and also allow for secondary market sales. Crypto wallet Metamask is supported, with future collaborations with Fortmatic, Binance, and Coinbase.
Additional upcoming features include 'withdrawals to other marketplaces,' 'social media capabilities,' 'new content concepts,' and 'off-chain benefits' for NFT holders.
Commenting on the development, Dwayne Desaulniers, AP director of blockchain and data licensing, said:
“For 175 years, AP’s photographers have recorded the world’s biggest stories through gripping and poignant images that continue to resonate today. With Xooa’s technology, we are proud to offer these tokenized pieces to a fast-growing global audience of photography NFT collectors.”
This is not the first time the Associated Press has shown interest in blockchain technology. In October 2020, it announced a collaboration with oracle network Chainlink to help developer's access AP data.
Furthermore, in 2020, the news agency used the Ethereum and EOS blockchains to publish the results of the presidential election. In 2018, it partnered with blockchain-based journalism startup Civil to track content usage and secure intellectual property rights.