Rvatech has launched a non-fungible token and is selling it to the public. The effort is a collaboration with Richmond startup Mintangible and local artist Hamilton Glass.
NFTs are digital assets like artwork that use a system to track ownership called the blockchain. Glass is a well-known artist who has produced several of the city’s murals. Glass said he had considered testing the waters with NFTs and then was approached by rvatech about the project.
“I knew what [NFTs] were, but I had not tried doing them,” Glass said. “That is the reason that I was so excited about the project. They came to the table with the resources and allowed me to learn more about it.”
Glass produces an annual RVA sticker, and he decided that would be perfect for the project. He gave the RVA logo a high-tech makeover, and the artwork was unveiled Friday at rvatech’s Edge Conference.
“I wanted to do something that was reflective of me,” Glass said. “I create a new RVA design every year and release it. My work for the year is based around that, so I thought this would be a good marker in time. I took my 2023 design and made it a bit techier”
The goal is to sell 1,000. Each version of the RVA logo costs around $25.
Mintangible founder and CEO Amyli McDaniel said the project is great opportunity to introduce Richmond to NFTs and the third phase of the internet, which is called Web3. NFTs became popular during the pandemic, but McDaniel admits a lot of friction still exists to purchase them. A person must utilize a special digital wallet to access the NFT on the blockchain and pay for the digital asset with cryptocurrency.
“The main purpose of the project was really to be a first step to bring awareness to Richmond about what the blockchain and NFTs are about,” McDaniel said.
After the event, she had several people reach out and ask questions about accessing the NFT from Glass. They wanted to support the Richmond artist but needed help understanding how to access the technology.
“People told me that it was super interesting, but they don’t even know how to buy one,” McDaniel said.
The Edge Conference focused on cutting-edge technology like ChatGPT, Web3, cryptocurrency and transferring technology out of national laboratories. Ian Tyndall, rvatech vice chair, thought it would be interesting to launch the NFT in conjunction with the conference. He reached out to McDaniel. Mintangible helps artists with the intellectual property rights of NFTs, and McDaniel was already scheduled to be on a panel about blockchain.
“It’s truly an experiment,” Tyndall said. “It really is on theme with the Edge Conference. We are trying to bring forward new technology that may not be widely adopted and give it exposure to our community and greater Richmond. NFTs are something that we hear a lot about, and we thought — why can’t we just try one?”
McDaniel told Tyndall that one of the great aspects about Web3 and NFTs is the ability to collaborate. The technology brings people together and allows multiple people to join forces.
“I think there is a unique opportunity with the creative community here in Richmond and a growing startup ecosystem as well as enterprise tech to get everyone together around this new opportunity on the backchain,” McDaniel said.
Tydall is not sure if the council will release other NFTs. It wants to see the feedback from the current project. He is excited to see how many people purchase the NFT and learn about the new technology.
“My hope is that we get all 1,000 sold, but I have no idea if that is even attainable,” Tydall said. “I think it’s a good marriage between the artistic community, the technology community and Richmond.”
Hamilton is donating the proceeds to CodeRVA, a public high school in Richmond that focuses on computer science and coding.
