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An NFT Could Send You to Outer Space
Austin Miller & John Meyer
June 07, 2022
GM, and welcome to the Mint, where we give you samples of NFT news like Costco gives you samples of overpriced, unnecessarily large items that you’ll probably only use one of.
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The Easiest Way to Become an Astronaut is…holding an NFT?
Since Apollo 11’s moon landing in 1969, it’s been nearly every child’s dream to go to outer space. Unfortunately, the likelihood of fulfilling that dream is pretty low. NASA is notorious for its incredibly difficult selection process. Less than 1% of applicants actually get their dream job of being an on-staff Astronaut.
Fortunately for the unlucky applicants, commercial space flight has become quite popular in the last few years. If you’re lucky enough to get a ticket aboard a Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin flight, you can experience the outer parts of the atmosphere and even experience zero gravity.
On May 10, Uplift Aerospace announced that one holder of its Launch Pass NFT would be eligible for selection aboard a Blue Origin flight.
The project was very successful, as all 1969 NFTs were minted. Uplift is going through the selection process as we speak. Who would’ve thought that minting and holding an NFT could get you a ticket to outer space? What a time to be alive!
Take Note America
BTS, Squid Game, and now a fully-fledged government plan to develop and maintain an interconnected metaverse with blockchain technology? You’re on a roll, South Korea!
“Adding our digital capabilities to industries across the board can help transform our economy from a fast-follower into a pace-setter…this is the goal of the Digital New Deal”
Earlier this year, South Korea announced its Digital New Deal 2.0, a state-funded program that helps the country get ahead of emerging technologies. Within the deal, South Korea pledges to put ~$177 million into “developing hyper-connected industries including a Metaverse...as well as setting up a ‘Technology Innovation Support Center’ to support early growth, along with institutional improvements taking account of the characteristics of blockchain.”
South Korea is the first country to announce such an initiative. The Mint staff thinks that this is a massive step in web3 adoption. South Korea had a lot of success with a similar initiative to help drive science and technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it looks like it’s using that momentum to continue to grow its technology industry.
Going, Going, Gone!
Baseball, quite possibly the most antiquated sport of all time, is finally doing something for its contemporary audience. That’s right, MLB is entering the NFT space. Technically, they’ve been in the space since June 2021, but who’s keeping track.
On June 1, the Minnesota Twins announced that they will be doing an NFT giveaway for ticket holders of the Twins-Rays game at Target Field on June 10th. Each ticket holder gets a free NFT like the one shown below. The NFT collection is in partnership with Candy Digital, the official digital collectible partner of the MLB.
This is the Twins’ second venture into the NFT space. Earlier this season, the Twins gave their season ticket holders a commemorative NFT. Take it from the staff here at The Mint, being a Minnesota sports fan isn't easy, so when they give us something to reward us for our fandom, we'll take it with open arms.
Enlightenmint!
It’s our goal at The Mint to entertain AND educate about NFTs, not sure which one is more important, but in this section we educate. This week’s Enlightenmint segment is all about Seed Phrases. That random string of 12-words is as valuable as your social security number, but likely more private.
Here’s John explaining what a seed phrase is and why you should keep yours super safe. (Click the photo to watch the video)
Minty-Fresh News
An OpenSea employee was charged in the first-ever NFT insider trading case
Solana surpassed $2 billion in all-time NFT sales
After saying no to NFTs earlier this year, Kanye West is entering the space
a16z launched a weekly web3 newsletter, and you can sign up here
Past Mints
Today’s newsletter was written by Austin and John
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That concludes this week's version of The Mint! Thanks for reading, and make sure to share your freshly-minted knowledge with your friends and coworkers.