Artists, crypto exchanges use NFT to fund and promote gender equality
Non-Fungible Tokens’ (NFT) fame is exponentially growing, with various artists and cryptocurrency exchanges adopting the decentralized innovation to release blockchain-based fundraising campaigns to promote gender equality.
The hype around NFTs has taken a different turn, with artists worldwide adopting the technology to break the societal wealth gap – or at least try to – in various parts of the world addressed for diversified causes, with the most prominent one to promote gender equality.
One of these artists is Pakistani artist Maliha Abidi, who released her Women Rise Project last month to mint 10,000 NFTs. According to the illustrator, a significant portion of the NFT’s proceeds will support equal rights for women. These proceeds will be sent to advocacy groups such as the Malala Fund NGO, supporting girls’ right to a proper education.
“We want to start with increasing literacy of the internet and technology among women,” Abidi expressed last week in a call hosted by cryptocurrency exchange OKEX.
The artist highlighted that the objective was to promote a proper education for families concerning the “financial independence to be gained from participating in the internet and blockchain community.”
Experts believe that blockchain technology, alongside NFTs, will play a critical role in connecting artists with collectors. A factor that will readjust the role of galleries and art brokers.
In parallel, cryptocurrency exchanges also unified their efforts with artists seeking promotion of their work via NFTs, allowing them to set a fixed price for their pieces without placing them for bidding at an auction.
One of the crypto exchanges is Binance, which was under regulatory scrutiny from the Chinese government, the UK, Japan, and Hong Kong in the past year. The exchange restructured its approach towards supporting NFTs as part of its charitable efforts, hoping this might place it on the authorities’ good side and grant it a license to operate as an acknowledged cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance revealed that it has already raised 2,041 Bitcoin, reaching an estimate of almost $98.8 million. These proceeds will be donated to one million beneficiaries from around the globe. While it mostly leans towards donations in digital assets, it also revealed that it would be accepting fiat currencies.
“Different from a donation made in fiat currencies, NFTs have intrinsic value that can appreciate over time. Therefore, donating through an NFT may provide a relatively higher value [to the end beneficiaries] than traditional forms of the donations,” said the head of Binance charity and NFT, Helen Hai.
From another aspect, the cryptographic ledger will also deliver a much greater transparency level regarding the donation process. Funds raised will go to the beneficiaries, with the option of using the proceeds to repurchase food and medical supplies.
According to Hai, suppliers will have the option of converting their cryptocurrencies to cash through Binance, with donors having the opportunity of trailing their donations via an identification number on the blockchain.
In 2021’s first half, NFTs sales on the Ethereum blockchain network marked a whopping $1.3 billion, going up from last year’s $17.4 million, with this year’s sales, around $324 million being credited to arts.