Japanese government rewards local governments with non-transferable NFTs

The Japanese government is reportedly one of the first governments in the world to employ non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a bonus award to local authorities who excelled in a digitalization competition. This information comes from publications. The awards were presented to local authorities in acknowledgment of their efforts to address local issues by utilizing digital technology.

Using a Low-Cost Blockchain to Issue and Distribute New Financial Tokens

In what has been referred to as a first for the Japanese government, the cabinet secretariat of the country recently used non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a supplementary prize during a ceremony to recognize local governments that excelled in a digitization competition. This was done as part of an effort to recognize those local governments that had achieved a high level of success in the competition.

According to a report published by Coinpost, the award event for this year was sponsored by four different technological businesses. These companies are Indiesquare, Bitflyer Holdings, Tree Digital Studio, and Tomonari Kogei. The Hazama Base, which is Indiesquare’s low-cost blockchain platform, was utilized to issue and distribute the NFTs, as stated in the article. Prior to this, a previous event hosted by the Liberal Democratic Party Youth Bureau made use of the platform in a manner analogous to this in order to issue and distribute NFTs.

The award ceremony, which was conducted to honor and acknowledge initiatives by local authorities that “use digital technology to solve local concerns and boost their appeal,” was known as the 2022 Summer Digi Denkoshien. It was meant to commemorate and recognize these initiatives.

Non-Transferable NFTs

While the tokens were issued on the Ethereum blockchain, the study indicates that the NFTs made use of the Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) technology. This is despite the fact that the tokens themselves were issued on Ethereum. These tokens cannot be traded or sold, but they are simple to use for memorial and authentication purposes.

In the meantime, a new report has uncovered information indicating that a total of nine mayors were presented with NFT prizes. The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, was one of the distinguished guests that came to attend the occasion.