By Brönte H. Lacsamana, Reporter
AJ DIMARUCOT, 46, is one of a slew of Filipinos who use so-called non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to collect and sell digital art on the internet.
The Philippines ranked first out of 20 countries in terms of ownership of NFTs, which represent real-world objects such as art, music, in-game items and videos that are traded online, usually with cryptocurrency.
About a third of Filipino internet users claim to own these tokens, according to a December online survey by Australian information service provider Finder.
“Whether you’re a small or big artist, you immediately have a way to monetize your efforts and work using NFTs,” he said via Zoom.
Mr. Dimarucot sees a future when people, instead of providing free content to companies such as Facebook and Instagram in exchange for likes and followers, can monetize their creativity by getting their audience to pay $.001 or a peso for every like.
One in three NFTs have ended up as a dead collection, with little or no trading activity after minting, blockchain analytics firm Nansen said in a March 26 report.
Another third of the tokens were trading below the price it cost issuers to mint the tokens, according to the firm, which analyzed 8,400 collections made up of more than 19 million NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
“Our…
