Globe & Smart’s NFT Entry Despite Bear Market:
Two of the country’s most prominent telecommunications companies, Globe Telecom, and Smart Communications, entered the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) space despite the bearish market and the waning hype around NFT.
Smart Communications, a subsidiary of PLDT, partnered with BlockchainSpace’s YEY platform to provide exclusive NFTs for the FIBA Basketball World Cup hosted by the Philippines. The organizer of the world’s most prestigious basketball competition, FIBA, partnered with Smart Communications as one of their global partners.
Given this partnership, Smart is giving subscribers more ways to own a piece of sports history as they launch an exclusive digital collectible, shiny version of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) up for grabs at tournament venues.
Smart is also responsible for the first NFT raffle in the Philippines, the free Shinys feature FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 mascot dubbed JIP.
Globe Telecom is now engaged in an NFT initiative through events, partnerships, and its fintech arm, GCash.
The NFT market saw some decrease in terms of trading volume for the past few years. Still, despite these problems, local entities and homegrown NFT firms ScarletBox, Likha, Mintoo, and CryptoArt Ph continue to engage in NFT activities.
Local Telecom giants Smart and Globe, alongside its partner e-wallet GCash, are reportedly gaining some interest in the digital space. Their NFT initiatives are primarily aimed at providing value to their subscribers.
Globe Telecom was involved in the NFT space when it partnered with MetaverseGo. This Web3-focused platform gave away Gudi NFTs for its #ExtraGDay celebration in an event last September 17, 2022.
Globe also announced its virtual platform, Virtual Hangouts, as it collaborated with other local and global metaverse-focused entities last November. Aside from MetaverseGo, they also partnered with the open metaverse platform BUD App and crypto wallet Coins.ph.
Due to its involvement in the crypto and NFT space, Globe even called itself the “First Telco and Digital Solutions platform to bring Filipinos to the metaverse.”
Globe also confirmed its alliance with Superordinary Friends, an NFT collection each holding iconic food items. Globe’s partnership with Superordinary Friends lets the company raffle off the collectibles to its customers through rewards points.
Globe subsidiary GCash also made a partnership with the local NFT Marketplace Likha and the art gallery Vinyl in Vinyl, as they launched Reen Barrera’s NFT collection, House of Ohlala, as well as the Filipino NFT platform for artists and buyers called GCrypto NFT Hub.
Some experts in the Web3 industry suggested that Globe & Smart is already late in the NFT space. Still, most of the telecom’s supporters defended the two companies, saying they are just in time before the next bull market and that their entry into the NFT space will help the Filipinos believe more in the crypto space.
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