Hong Kong, (14 March 2022) – The South China Morning Post today announced the launch of the ARTIFACTs by SCMP ‘1997 Premium Series’, releasing its first-ever collection of NFTs from one of the most important years in Hong Kong’s history.
The exclusive drop from the inaugural ‘1997 Premium Series’ offers Hongkongers, history buffs and NFT enthusiasts the opportunity to own a piece of history. The first drop will release more than 1,300 unique mystery boxes, with each box containing five random NFTs of the Post’s front pages from 1 January to 1 July 1997. An upcoming second drop will release a further 1,300 boxes covering 1 July to 31 December 1997. The full series covers many historically significant events including the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule, the Asian financial crisis, the deaths of Deng Xiaoping and Princess Diana, the Avian flu outbreak, and much more.
The rarity of NFTs in the collection is determined by the limited number of editions available, with the front-page ‘Handover cover’ from 1 July 1997 being the rarest in the series. ‘ARTIFACTs by SCMP’ will be on the Flow blockchain and the public sale of the mystery boxes kicks off on 14 March at 9pm HKT (GMT+8) on artifact.scmp.com.
“SCMP has witnessed many historic moments as Hong Kong’s newspaper of record and the launch of the ‘1997 Premium Series’ is significant as the city marks the 25th anniversary of the handover this year,” said SCMP CEO Gary Liu. “ARTIFACTs by SCMP brings together collectors and history enthusiasts, and we’ve been delighted by the growth and enthusiasm of our community in the lead-up to the launch. We look forward to releasing more of the Post’s 118-year-old media archives as NFTs as well as partnering with other guardians of history to preserve historical assets on the blockchain.”
SCMP has named portto, the company behind Blocto, as its exclusive wallet partner for the ‘1997 Premium Series.’ Blocto is a cross-chain smart contract wallet that offers a seamless purchasing experience on an all-encompassing platform, including Dev-friendly SDK BloctoSDK, built-in DEX BloctoSwap, $BLT centric IDO platform BloctoIDO, ecosystem Governance BloctoDAO and non-custodial NFT marketplace BloctoBay.
Hsuan Lee, CEO of portto said: “Blocto has a lot of experience in the deep blockchain having cooperated with large enterprises, from Vault by CNN, MotoGP Ignition and the South China Morning Post. We have been continuously focusing on co-creating an easy-to-use experience that is intuitive to both users and the companies we work with.”
ARTIFACTs by SCMP is the first NFT collection released using the ARTIFACT metadata standard, serving as the foundation upon which history can be discovered, connected, and collected on the blockchain. The project aims to seed a community of collectors and eventually produce an ecosystem around the preservation of historical accounts and assets. Through collection challenges, thematic drops, and community-building events, collectors and guardians of history can interact with authentic archival records and form a community dedicated to exploring our shared heritage.
‘The 1997 Premium Series’ can be purchased through SCMP’s website. For more information, visit artifact.scmp.com and join the discord channel at https://discord.com/invite/PwbEbFbQZX.
Visual assets can be downloaded from this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1M6GViLJWP-VN5fM6Pwu4XdCRKWp8z0T6
ABOUT SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
The South China Morning Post is a leading global news company that has reported on China and Asia for more than a century. Founded in 1903, SCMP is headquartered in Hong Kong, where it is the city’s newspaper of record, with a growing correspondent staff across Asia and the United States. SCMP’s vision is to “Elevate Thought” and our mission is to “Lead the global conversation about China”. It is the recipient of hundreds of awards for its journalistic excellence, from such prestigious organisations as the World Association of News Publishers and the Online News Association. A digital-first media organisation, SCMP is also home to Goldthread, a content platform with a focus on food, travel and culture in China, and publishes a portfolio of premium lifestyle and fashion titles in Hong Kong including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Esquire and Harper’s BAZAAR. In 2020, SCMP became the first news organisation in Asia to join the Trust Project, a consortium of top news companies developing global transparency standards for credible journalism.
ABOUT PORTTO
portto, founded in 2019 is spearheading the effort in bridging the blockchain experience between company and users the with Blocto, an All-in-one cross-chain smart contract wallet with a seamless unified experience in one all-encompassing platform: Dev-friendly SDK, built-in DEX BloctoSwap, and non-custodial NFT marketplace BloctoBay. Blocto provides a seamless user experience where users can easily access dApps, crypto, and NFT assets. Notable investors include Mark Cuban, Animoca Brands, 500 Global. For more about Blocto, visit portto.com.
portto, founded in 2019 is spearheading the effort in bridging the blockchain experience between company and users and has received funding from investors such as Mark Cuban, Animoca Brands, and 500 Global.
For further information, please contact:
Elgen Kua
Jabe Lau