In what felt like the blink of an eye, we’re three months into 2022 (or two full months, if you want to be specific).
Since we’ve been documenting each week of the year so far in terms of interesting NFT developments, it feels like everything is happening at a snail’s pace.
But if we were to do an overview of what’s actually happened so far, it’s clear that Malaysia has some interesting NFT projects lined up for the future. They just haven’t been launched yet.
Until then though, here are some recent events that could be of interest to those in the local NFT community.
A local animated series with NFT assets
First up, we have Jawispace, an animation startup. What it’s doing is something that we’ve not quite seen before in Malaysia, although we’ve previously reported the upcoming launches of Rompak and Tiny Cekil.
Rompak is a local telefilm (a film broadcasted on TV) that’s scheduled to be screened on Astro First in June, and will be sold in NFT form to consumers.
Meanwhile, Tiny Cekil is a series that features an adventurous 2D character who treks around IRL popular spots in Malaysia and shares his experiences.
Jawispace’s project is called “The Adventure of RUMI”, and it’s a fully-animated series, reminiscent of the styles that popular shows like BoBoiBoy and Upin & Ipin have.
It utilises Jawi, an Arabic script developed for writing Malay and other SEA languages, as a core concept. The plot revolves around Jawi magic stones and a boy who wants to investigate the secret behind them as well as his mother’s secret.
So, how do NFTs come into play? Jawispace has launched multiple NFTs in the form of Jawi Stones, and they act as early access passes to the animated series, special NFTs, tutorials, and more. These are available on Pentas.io, a Malaysian NFT marketplace.
However, Jawispace’s content will still be released publicly, so the Jawi Stone NFTs simply provide additional benefits.
Do note that the startup’s roadmap has not yet been publicly released though, so any interested buyers should practise caution or reach out to the team with any questions on their website here.
Marking a historical moment with NFT minting
Penang made history on February 25, 2022, when the state launched its first creative digital district, known as CD Square.
Located in George Town, it aims to create a hub to foster creative digital startups. Commemorating the launch was a live NFT minting session, facilitated by Alvin Koay, the founder and artist of ArtJam, and Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
ArtJam is a generative art collaboration between Alvin and his programmer son, Nicholas, who began helping Alvin capture his personal art styles in codes and algorithm in mid-2021.
Born from this initiative is a collection of 1,100 unique single-edition artworks to be minted, and the very first generative art NFT from the collection was minted at CD Square’s launch.
The NFT will be eventually donated to the Penang State Art Gallery for its permanent collection.
Penang has been rather active in the NFT movement, and it’s heartening to see that more attention is being given to the importance of our creative talent by notable figures in the state.
Just earlier this year we were still wondering if NFTs would gain mainstream popularity.
With the recent events from high-profile figures dabbling in NFTs to i-City, a Shah Alam theme park, allocating RM10 million for a metaverse attraction, and now this, perhaps we could say they already have.
- If you’ve got something NFT-related to share that’s both exciting and locally-relevant, hit us up with your story at malaysia.team@vulcanpost.com.
- You can read more NFT content here.
Featured Image Credit: ArtJam / Jawispace
