Famous American social media influencer in China, Bart Baker, in collaboration with DeFine Art is set to release multiple non-fungible tokens, NFTs. According to him, this will be the first video on NFT, and will enable a meaningful traction for NFTs in Asia.

Baker is one of the most popular figures in the Chinese social media space with over 24 million followers across multiple social media platforms. In this collaboration with DeFine Art, Baker plans to auction eight unique NFTs, one of which would allow the winner to make a video with Baker. This video will be circulated on social media and minted into an NFT.

The global NFT marketplace is in the middle of a significant explosion, although it is dominated by participants from the western world. On March 11, 2021, Mike Winklemann, popularly known as Beeple sold one of his artworks minted in NFT for $69 million. This set a remarkable record in the NFT marketplace for digital content. Apart from Beeple, several other projects around this innovation have emerged, establishing the growth of this new trend in the digital economy.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NFT ecosystem has continued to expand. Perhaps, the need to work remotely has encouraged digital content creators to evolve novel ways of unlocking and transferring values in the industry. 2021 especially has seen a number of unique and impressive entries into the space. Recently, Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey put up the first ever tweet on the social media platform for auction. As at the time of writing, the tweet “just setting up my twttr,” was at $2.5 million, from Sina Estavi, CEO of Bridge Oracle.  Dorsey explained that the proceeds from the auction will be donated to charity. 

In Asia, even though the NFT fire is just picking up, both awareness and adoption are beginning to grow. Just recently, xSigma, a subsidiary of ZK International that is based in China announced the launch of its NFT platform on both Ethereum and Polkadot blockchains. According to an announcement by the company, this new platform will enable its users to buy and sell NFTs. It will also provide a toolbox for creating NFTs whereby in a few clicks, users will be able to create their unique NFTs.

Data from google shows that in China, the search for “NFT” is at its highest ever level in history. This is indicative of the growing interest on the subject. Perhaps, the benefits provided by this innovation which revolves around the extraction of locked value in digital content is catching the attention of Chinese investors.

DeFine Art believes that its partnership with Baker could be a turning point in the adoption of NFTs across the Asian region. DeFine Arts is a self-accredited pioneer decentralized NFT platform in Asia focused on digital arts, music, videos, gaming and collectibles. Yet a new platform, it already identifies with a number of high-profile content creators which include Baker and Korean animator, Mari Kim.

China is known for its leadership role in many areas of emerging technologies, including blockchain and digital currencies. Although there are restrictions around cryptocurrencies in China, this has not stopped the Asian giant from playing important roles in the development of the industry. With NFT taking the front seat in 2021, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before the Asian market leaves its mark in this sector.