On May 30th, Japan’s largest airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA), launched the first non-fungible token marketplace in the airline industry.
The ANA GranWhale NFT Marketplace will sell aviation-themed NFTs and digital assets. It was created in collaboration with ANA Neo, a subsidiary of ANA Group — the biggest airline group holding company in Japan.
The marketplace launched with a debut collection of 267 NFTs from aviation photographer Luke Ozawa. Each NFT cost 100,000 yen, or around $700. On June 7th, there will be another sale of 1,500 additional NFTs that include 3D renderings of ANA’s Boeing 787s. The ANA Group has plans to increase the number of aviation-inspired NFT products available on its marketplace soon.
The NFT marketplace has the following features:
- Artists can register and sell their work as NFTs
- Users can purchase NFTs using a credit card or a MetaMask wallet
- Users can buy and sell NFTs on the secondary marketplace
- The marketplace will work with ANA Granwhale, ANA’s virtual travel platform
ANA isn’t the only airline using Web3 technologies to deliver more interactive and innovative experiences to customers. Etihad and AirBaltic launched NFT collections called “Planies” (aircraft themed digital cartoons), and Air Europa and flyBondi are integrating NFT tickets developed by the tech startup TravelX.
ANA, however, may be ahead of the competition when it comes to new technologies. It is also researching virtualization and robotic technologies through its AvatarX and AvatarX Prize projects, and has a collaboration with the digital game developer JP Games to create future metaverse-related projects.
Japan Continues to Be Bullish on Web3
All Nippon Airways’ NFT marketplace is exciting news for the airline industry. But another Japanese company investing in Web3 should come as little surprise. Japan has been bullish on Web3 technologies for some time now. At Rarity Sniper, we’ve covered several stories about Japanese companies and the government investing in the next iteration of the internet. Here are the top stories.
First, about three months ago, news broke that a group of major Japanese finance, technology, and manufacturing firms were teaming up for the “Japan Metaverse Economic Zone.” Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Resona, Toppan, Mizuho, and others are working to develop an interoperable metaverse structure called ’Ryugukok.’
Next, four months ago, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), launched a pilot program to test a digital yen. The move looks hints that Japan could be trying to compete with China, which is the current frontrunner in the central bank digital currency (CBDC) effort.
Lastly, on October 3rd, 2022, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivered a speech where he told the country that the government is investing in Web3. The country’s digital transformation means supporting efforts that promote Web3 services, especially related to those that “utilize the metaverse and NFTs.”
Japan isn’t the only country that’s heavily invested in Web3. South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates also regularly make news in the space. But Japan’s largest airline ADA launching its own NFT marketplace certainly looks like another move in the direction of digitalization for the island-nation. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll be following up on any developments in the story.