
Japanese government issues NFT awards to local authorities
More and more countries are accepting cryptocurrencies and NFTs now, even the digital hub Japan recently distributes some awards to its local authorities in form of NFTs to appreciate their hard work in developing the country digitally and solving local issues with technology.
In total 7 Mayors the award under the “Summer Digi Denkoshien 2022” ceremony. These awards were handed by the Cabinet Secretariat (Hirokazu Matsuno, the nation's Chief Cabinet Secretary, is in charge of the Cabinet Secretariat, that's a government organization) in presence of the Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida.
The award was distributed to appreciate the ideas used by these Mayors to boost the digital economies in their respective cities. Out of these Mayor, one was the Mayor of Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, he was presented with a reward for his idea of using electric vehicles to make deliveries. The next award was received by the Maebashi in the Gunma Prefecture on the idea of using mobile cameras to monitor the traffic conditions in the city.
These mayors received NFTs that were generated on the Ethereum network. A number of Japanese startups, including the top domestic cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer, provided technical support for the offering. The assets were produced utilizing the protocol for proof-of-attendance (POAP). Usually minted on the xDai chain, POAP-type NFTs are used during special events. These assets cannot be given to someone else. They have been designed to be perfect for memorials as well.
Four businesses—IndieSquare, bitFlyer Holdings, TREE Digital Studio, and Tomonari Kougei—sponsored the award presentation. The NFTs were also released using the Hazama base, a cheap blockchain network provided by Indiesquare. Hazama Base enables the manufacture of NFTs without coding, according to the news article.
Due to the non-transferability of these NFTs, they cannot be bought or sold on the secondary market. The only people who can possess these assets are the mayors who got them.