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Bollywood stars, Indian celebrities launch NFTs amid global craze, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

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By Nupur Anand and Shilpa Jamkhandikar

Indian celebrities from the world of Bollywood and cricket are increasingly launching digital memorabilia through non-fungible tokens (NFT), hoping to rake in thousands of dollars by cashing in on growing interest in such assets.

NFTs are a type of digital asset which use blockchain to record the ownership of items such as images, videos and other collectibles. Their roaring popularity has baffled many but the explosive growth shows no sign of abating.

Bollywood superstars such as Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan are planning to launch NFTs soon. While Bachchan’s NFTs will include autographed posters of his movies, Khan has been building excitement on his Twitter account by telling his 43 million followers about the planned NFT launch.

“NFTs are right now alien to Bollywood but I am sure they (film stars) will see this as another platform where they can use their existing content and generate revenue,” said Ayaan Agnihotri of Bollycoin, an NFT marketplace for Bollywood assets.

Agnihotri said that within days of launch this month, his platform sold 8 million of the 20 million available so-called “BollyCoins”, crypto tokens that can be used to buy NFTs when they are launched. One BollyCoin is worth 10 U.S. cents.

But its still early days for celebrity NFTs in India.

Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik is auctioning a digital art reel https://bit.ly/3m28fNc from a cricket match where he hit a match-winning six on the last ball for around 5 ethereums, a digital currency, worth around $20,000. But he has yet to receive any bids.

“NFT has picked up a lot in the West in the last one year with now iconic moments from basketball being bought by fans digitally, which gave us the idea,” Karthik told Reuters.

Others have had success. One of India’s top fashion designers, Manish Malhotra, recently sold NFTs of digital sketches of some of his most famous creations for $4,000 a piece. Malhotra’s website shows one can purchase some of his bridal wear outfits at a lower price range of $2,500-$3,500.

The rise of NFTs has baffled many who say it makes little sense to spend large sums of money on items that don’t physically exist and can simply be viewed online.

Still, global sales volumes of NFTs have galloped to $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021, making an eightfold increase from the previous quarter, data from market tracker DappRadar showed..

Vishakha Singh, vice president for NFTs at Indian crypto exchange WazirX, said celebrity participation in the segment is set to create excitement in the space.

This, she said, “is great for the ecosystem. This will help us in garnering more awareness towards this new game changing world of digital assets,” Singh said.

(Reporting by Nupur Anand and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Kim Coghill)



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NFTs gaining traction in India as celebrities lead the way

Banking & Finance

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Led by celebrities ranging from Bollywood actors, designers and cricketers, non-fungible tokens or NFTs are slowly gaining traction in India. Experts say the NFT market is still small and very niche in nature, but investor interest is definitely picking up.

“NFTs are here to stay. The user adoption is really good although it can be complicated for a layman and difficult to buy,” said Sandesh Suvarna, VP, WazirX NFT Marketplace, adding that it is trying to simplify the process of purchasing NFTs by means such as a credit card.

Cryptocurrency exchange WazirX had launched WazirX NFT Marketplace and it has onboarded 517 creators and 357 collectors. However, NFTs have largely been the domain of cryptocurrency investors as it typically requires a MetaMask wallet for purchases.

Bollywood buzz

But with actors including Amitabh Bachchan joining the NFT wagon, it is expected to come into the mainstay. Recently, BollyCoin has partnered with Salman Khan Films, Arbaaz Khan Production, Sohail Khan Production, and Reel Life Productions to offer Bollywood-themed NFTs to enthusiasts.

Also read: NFTically, a NFT marketplace creator, raises seed funding

Cricketer Rishabh Pant has signed up with cricket NFT platform Rario while FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week has partnered with WazirX NFT Marketplace for fashion NFTs. “Influencers and celebrities play a major role in the NFT market and increase the possibility of getting a higher value. They will also catch up in the Indian market as celebrities are driving it,” said Hitesh Malviya, founder, itsblockchain.com. At present, the NFT market is still very nascent and there are not enough collectors, he said, comparing it to cryptocurrencies in 2013.

Tarusha Mittal, COO and Co-founder, OroPocket and UniFarm said that up until last year, a small fraction of investors saw the actual potential in NFTs but 2021 lead to a complete u-turn as the market opened up to massive NFT pitches with a record $2.5 billion sales globally.

‘Opportunity to monetise’

“In the past quarter, there has been a significant increase in NFT pitches with its adoption at an all-time high in India. We too plan on launching our asset-backed NFT around the upcoming festive season with the formal announcement in line. We are quite positive about the response,” she said.

Also read: Where Big B stands, ‘line wahi se shuru ho jaati hai’

According to Suvarna, NFTs have various advantages for artists and celebrities. They provide an opportunity to monetise their online or digital content, which otherwise on social media, would have just generated likes or led to more followers. It provides royalty to the artist when the NFT is sold in the secondary market and also provides the authenticity of digital content.

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