CRYPTO-STAMPS: THE FUTURE OF PHILATELY?
A crypto-stamp consists of two parts: a traditional physical stamp which can be used to post your mail, or collected just like any other stamp and, crucially, a digital image of a stamp which is stored on a blockchain – a digital ledger – and can be viewed, collected, sold or traded.
The acronym ‘NFT’ stands for ‘non-fungible token’ and is a unit of data stored on a blockchain. This blockchain cannot be altered and so provides proof of ownership and a record of the price paid for a particular unit stored as an asset. So, a crypto or ‘NFT stamp’ is a digital image stored as a piece of data within a digital ledger which proves that the asset is unique and not interchangeable. This technology doesn’t include copyright and it is worth noting that the ability to view the NFT record is not limited to the owner.
Who can issue them?
Anyone can create a crypto-stamp, ‘mint’ it to the data ledger and offer it for sale. However, postal authorities around the world are now beginning to
