Vibranium is on a mission to take the Indian NFT community forward
90% of the world’s artist population want to quit their art! Yes, you heard us right! That is shockingly a huge number, especially in India, the melting pot of art and tradition. There are a lot of valid reasons that the artists have and one of the most disturbing ones is that they do not have a place or an allocated body to help them sell their art.
So why are we telling you this? It is important because art and culture drives innovation across the world and if artists were to quit, we will be losing one of the pillars that once built the world.
What is the Solution?
VIBRANIUM, the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) powered marketplace platform that will help artists help sell their art for the right price. NFT’s are slowly turning out to be the best thing that could happen to the blockchain network and it is only fair that you tap into a market with infinite possibilities. Vibranium is not just a regular marketplace where people can buy and sell art using blockchain, it is also a marketplace where you can contribute to strengthen the artistic community.
What is the idea behind Vibranium?
Artists started flooding the NFT communities when 5000 art pieces were bought for a huge amount of $69 million in march. This was an incredible feat but not for the artists in India. The artists in India did not have a native marketplace to sell their art and this means that they had to go through heavy gas fees to get access to a biased marketplace with heavy competition. Vibranium is a marketplace that removes all that.
With 210+ NFT artists and 11+ NFT collectors, the community is growing by the day and is expected to see a boom in intakes in the coming days. Vibranium gives artists the freedom to sell and tap into resources from around the world to sell their art and helps them not face the troubles of steering through an illiquid market.
Access to a rich market comes with a heavy price, but with Vibranium, it is affordable. With zero gas fees for the first 200 NFT creators to a $0.5-$1 gas fee range, Vibranium is a revolution of a kind.
So, who are the brains behind this incredible idea?
Vibranium started out as a small venture to help artists find their space to sell their art in March,2021. But with the incredible minds of Mr. Hesan Kumar Naik(Founder and CEO),
Mr.Misan kumar (co-Founder and CMO), Mr. Emmanuel Digal (co-Founder and CFO) and
Founding member and Talent manager Mr.Ayan khan, Vibranium is now slowly turning out to be the enigma that brings the Indian artistic community closer to the possibilities of what the NFT community can do.
So, how established is Vibranium?
Vibranium is seeing a steady climb since its inception and is actively roping in investors to take the marketplace to the next level. Vibranium released their very own native utility token VIBRA in may and managed to have nearly 2600 holders and growing in just a month’s time.
With more people enrolling themselves with Vibranium, it is safe to say that it is garnering attention and within no time is expected to see a strong linear growth in the number of people accessing the marketplace to sell their art.
Vibranium has one goal in mind, educate people about NFT’s and play to the strengths of the NFT movement. The people at Vibranium are keen on making this happen and with growing numbers, it is evident that all efforts are in the right direction.
What is a real-challenge for Vibranium?
Vibranium is a marketplace that is powered with NFT’s and with a population of billions, educating the masses about NFT is a real challenge. Vibranium and its efforts to penetrate into the market has the power to overcome that challenge with ease provided it has got the support and investments to back its ventures. Vibranium is turning out to be a passion from India to the world powered through NFT’s. Vibranium runs on the most sophisticated blockchain, The Binance Smart Chain and supports wallets like Metamask, torus, Portis, Coinbase and Formatic.
The environment of the Vibranium marketplace is highly dynamic meaning anyone with the will to grow will grow. With an aspiration to capture 60% of the Indian NFT market share, Vibranium has the potential to become the dominating factor of the Indian NFT movement.
How tough is the competition?
Right now, In India there is only one NFT marketplace that targets sophisticated artists leaving behind more than 80% of the artist population behind. Vibranium’s target is that 80%. If all plans were to steer well in the right directions, Vibranium is a potential marketplace that you simply shouldn’t be missing out on.
Disclaimer: This is a company press release. No HT journalist is involved in the creation of this content.
Laya Mathikshara: to the Moon and back with NFTs
13-year-old Laya Mathikshara is exploring space, codes and the pandemic through NFTs
Art is no longer limited to traditional silos such as the white cube or plain digital. The new creative economy deals in cryptocurrency, collects non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and offers complete transparency. This opens up the field to pretty much any creator, which explains the success of artists like 13-year-old Laya Mathikshara from Chennai.
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This May, she minted her first NFT, an animated artwork titled What if, Moon had life? It shows the “cold” satellite’s active core bubbling. The teenager listed the reserve price as 0.384400 ETH (the token of the Ethereum blockchain) — “inspired by the distance between the Earth and the Moon (3,84,400 km). It sold for 0.39 ETH (approximately ₹90,500) on the platform Foundation. “My parents didn’t really believe in NFTs. Nor did I initially,” she tells The Hindu Weekend. “Then, three weeks later, someone bought it. That’s when I got the confidence it could work and began minting other artworks.”
Also read | NFTs expanding the definition of ‘artist’
Clockwise from left: NFTs ‘What if, Moon had life?’, ‘Black Hole’, and ‘Radial’
Virtual bragging rights
An NFT is a digital asset that exists on a blockchain, which certifies authenticity and ownership. For Mathikshara, who started painting at the age of nine, her first NFT was a big step. It all began during lockdown last year, when, taking a cue from her sister, a computational neuroscientist, she started to learn programming languages such as Python and C++. This naturally transitioned into an interest in digital art. “I had just three to four hours of [online] school, so I began looking for hobbies. I found digital art and animated videos cool,” says the student of Chennai Public School. “I started by learning programmes like Blender and Cinema 4D. It was hard and I messed up a lot, but I watched YouTube videos and figured it out.” Currently, she has 17 creations listed on Rarible, 13 on Foundation, and seven on Indian platform WazirX.
Among her most recent works is Gratitude, a 110-second short film minted on WazirX. It was screened at the 16th Busan International Kids and Youth Film Festival last month. Next, the typography-and-animation work that pays tribute to Covid-19 warriors will be screened in theatres in New York City in October, for the All American High School Film Festival. “It’s like the Oscars for teenagers,” Mathikshara says excitedly.
Mathikshara’s ‘Gramaphone’ NFT
Into the metaverse
In the last year, the artist says she’s found a sense of community in the NFT world. “I was able to get in touch with a lot of creators, and understand how artists got into the NFT space,” she says, adding that contacts are everything. They are important for recognition and to improve chances of getting a bid on your collectibles. Gratitude, for instance, was sold within an hour to Indian artist and musician Ramesh Gopal, an avid collector on WazirX, at its listed price of 300 WRX (approximately ₹30,000).
Also read | Making sense of the NFT boom in art, music and fashion in India
Between the speed of technological developments and the changing interests of a teenager, Mathikshara is picking up something new regularly. “One week ago, I didn’t know what generative art [which incorporates code] was. Today, I have made one,” she says, referring to her recent works made using programming software p5.js. “It’s all very fascinating and I wouldn’t want to choose a particular career. I would say something in the metaverse — at the intersection of art and tech, or maybe games,” she says, referring to the virtual world that is finding new proponents in the likes of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
Priya Malik, Vinay Kaushal, DJ Shaan, and other Indian artists to launch NFTs on WazirX NFT Marketplace
WazirX NFT Marketplace has announced renowned Indian artists Priya Malik, Vinay Kaushal, DJ Shaan, Nehha Rajpal, and Abhishek Bhaskar, among others, will launch non-fungible digital tokens (NFTs) on its platform as a tribute to 75 years of India’s Independence.
The creations by these top artists will be bound by a common theme of challenging the norms, staying fearless, and breaking free, the marketplace announced, adding that a total of 2071 NFTs have been minted so far on its platform, out of which 752 NFTs worth 109,512.56 WRX have been sold.
Talking about the new offerings in the market and identifying this massive trend, Vishakha Singh, Vice President, WazirX NFT Marketplace, said:
Get connected to WazirX
“The passion economy has presented a new way for artists to capitalise on creativity and engage with a wider community. WazirX NFT marketplace has been on a mission to create more opportunities for our South Asian native artists who inspire their community every day through their creations. No matter what the form, art, and tech has been uniting people for centuries."
He added, “NFTs is that business solution for the passion economy. For the month of August, we are excited to have onboard some of the most sought-after artists who will be dropping NFTs based on their personal interpretation of unity and freedom.”
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Vishaka and the WazirX team believe that since the crypto market gathered momentum in India, NFTs have been gaining traction amongst the millennials and Gen Z, and that NFT marketplaces are a great platform for artists to monetise their work.
The marketplace added in its statement that because the sales of the NFT majorly depend on virality, Indian creators are gaining popularity in the international NFT market as well.
“Minting NFTs not only puts the power back in the hands of the artists but these are also considered a tool for artists and creators to engage with their audience and unite them with the power of art,” it said.
Earlier in the week, WazirX said it has recorded 2,648 percent growth in user sign-ups from Tier-II and -III cities of India.
Based on a report generated by payments gateway firm Razorpay, WazirX said Tier-II and -III cities have driven almost 55 percent of the total user sign-ups on its platform in 2021, thereby overtaking Tier-I cities that demonstrated a sign-up growth of 2,375 percent.
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