New York, March 2 (US): Digital art collecting platform Neon has launched the first personal non-fungible (NFT) token vending machine in New York City, with the goal of making online art pieces as readily available as a soda or candy bar.
has evolved? You have no idea what digital art piece you might buy.
“It’s curious, people who tried to buy cryptocurrency or were interested in buying NFTs, but faced a lot of barriers,” Neon CEO Kyle Zappitell said in an interview with Reuters about the target customer for the vending machine.
It’s in a small storefront in Lower Manhattan’s financial district with a sign outside that says “NFT ATM,” looks like a traditional vending machine, but offers QR codes that come on coupons in little paper boxes. The prices for the dips range from $5.99 to $420.69.
Once a QR code is scanned, a user can see their new piece of art on any smartphone, laptop or tablet, according to Reuters.
At the Lower Manhattan location, the icons lead to two categories of digital art pieces, either the color or the image of a dove.
For Zappitell, the element of mystery is a natural extension of the digital art space.
“As an NFT collector,” he said, “over time, one of the things you love about randomness is, ‘Which one are you going to get?’ “So that’s one of the exciting aspects.”
The technical pieces sold in the vending machine are based on the Solana blockchain, which guarantees carbon-neutral transactions.
And while digital art is mostly offered via cryptocurrency, Neon’s vending machine accepts fiat currency – you can use a credit card to make a purchase.
Starting with $3 million in seed money, Neon says it hopes to roll out more vending machines in malls and other public places.
“This is one of the really powerful messages, is how to use this old world technology to enable adoption of new world technology,” Zabitel said.
HF