African Art on the Blockchain
With the launch of the Binance NFT marketplace right around the corner, we would like to introduce our followers to what they can expect from the upcoming Uganda National Museum collection.
The Uganda National Museum is one of the oldest Museums in Africa and hosts a wide range of rare and fascinating artefacts. We believe that using the NFT technology will help us introduce these unique items to the global community. These artefacts represent different African cultures, as well as some prehistoric items dating as far back as 17 million years ago. At Murcom, we realised the massive opportunity provide the Museum with the MUDA platform to unlock and release these priceless artefacts through the NFT economy, in order to let people around the world to experience this beautiful and rich, historical collection.
So why did we decided to develop this collection using blockchain technology, and how will NFTs impact the digital economy going forward?
NFTs are issued to digitally represent various items such as works of art, music or video files, collectibles, property and so on. NFT stands for “Non Fungible Token” — a unique piece of data stored on a decentralized ledger called a blockchain.
In contrast to other blockchain assets, each NFT is different, and cryptographic algorithms are used to guarantee its rarity. In other words, the authentication and the verification of ownership of each digital file is done with a digital signature. Practically any digital or physical asset can be tokenized and traded online in a transparent manner using blockchain technology.
NFTs open up a whole host of possibilities for innovative business models, and help to bring liquidity to once illiquid assets. The NFT market value has tripled in 2020, to reach a capitalisation of over $850 million. The popularity of Non-Fungible Tokens keeps growing, as more and more people around the world are looking to make purchases of unique and interesting NFT items.
What can be expected from this collection?
Cultural Pieces
The museum holds a rich array of cultural pieces from various tribes and countries from within the African continent. Some of these items include the following:
● Tribal masks
● Dancing headdresses
● Cultural arms (shields, spears, daggers)
● Royal regalia
These items played a huge role in the daily cultural life of African people — from being presented as gifts during various ceremonies, to being used during celebrations and battles.
Prehistoric Pieces
The museum contains an amazing collection of prehistoric fossils that are as old as 17 million years. These items include the following:
Early Man and Prehistoric Animal Fossils (Skulls and Bones)
Uganda is unique when it comes to prehistoric early man findings, because it is considered the cradle of life. Items held in the museum include the remains of some of the earliest findings of early man, such as:
● Praeanthropus — 4 million years
● Australopithecus Africanus aka “Mrs Ples” — 3 million years
● Homo Habilis — 1.8 million years
● Paranthropus boisei — 1.6 million years
● Archaic Homo sapiens — 100,000 years
● Napak Rhinoceros: Oldest in Africa, 20 million years old
Ancient Tools
There are several ancient tools on display, including the following:
● Acheulean stone tool — 1 million years old
● Curving stones — 50,000 years old
● Stone weight for digging stick — 3,000 years old
So, why NFTs?
Well, we are in the digital age, and we believe that in the coming years, the majority of the value on this planet will be made and held digitally. NFTs present a great opportunity to preserve the rich historical artefacts held at the Museum but also create value using new methods.
The first batch of National Museum NFTs will be exclusively found on the Binance Marketplace, and we encourage everyone interested in discovering a new type of asset class to visit the MUDA store when it goes live.
MUDA is a Murcom solution. It is a cryptocurrency exchange, DeFi and NFT platfrom.
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