Thailand enters the NFT market with 'CryptoAmulets'

There's a new way for people to get good luck charms of karmic fortune, a colourful collage featuring the face of a revered Thai monk, all available digitally.

Recently, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been booming in the art world, from popular internet memes to original art. In major auction houses, some NFTs fetch millions.

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Taking advantage of this latest fad, EkkaphongKhemthonglaunched these "CryptoAmulets". Thailand has a wide market for talismans, with many people collecting them.

Khemthong an amulet collector himself, says that he has been searching for ways of introducing amulets to foreigners and the world.

It's a common pastime in Buddhist-majority Thailand to collect amulets and other small religious trinkets, and Bangkok has a market that exclusively caters to those who sell these lucky items.

A well-respected monk can bless them, increasing their value by thousands of dollars.

Even though CryptoAmulets are digital, Eckapong wanted them to be blessed like a physical talisman, which is why he contacted a highly respected abbot in northern Thailand named Luang Pu Heng.

In recent years, the monk has emerged as a symbol of success in business, and he is a symbol of respect and the world would do well to know of him, says Ekkapong.

The amulets, which display a serene image of his face, were blessed by Luang Pu Heng at a ceremony last month.

The 95-year-old monk doesn't really understand the concept of NFTs. Daye Chan, a Singaporean developer says that it was a challenge explaining the concept to the monk. They had to tell the monk that it is just like blessing photos.

Additionally, crypto art eliminates the usual doubts of authenticity surrounding talismans sold in markets, he said.

All the records could be lost and these physical items could be easily forged, says Chan, whereas in the case of the digital amulet, people can still access the records a century later.

In NFTs, transactions are recorded from the moment they are created on a digital ledger called the blockchain.

On the CryptoAmulets website pictures of amulets can be seen, with each token, having different inscriptions like "lucky", "rich" or "fortunate", written in Thai.

These coins are priced in ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, where they are currently trading for between $46 and $1,840.

However, in the wake of Sunday's deadline to purchase tokens, only 1,500 out of 8,000 have been sold, and most token buyers were Thais.

(With inputs from agencies)