Nfts
Japanese village harnesses NFTs to combat woes of aging population
The Japanese village of Yamakoshi uses non-fungible tokens (NFT) to address the challenge of the aging population by raising awareness of this problem and thus generating nearly half a million dollars.
The village is offer Yamakoshi has offered digital citizenship to holders of its digital collectibles, the Nishikigoi NFT collection, named after a breed of koi carp indigenous to the region. Since launching the collection in 2021, at the height of the NFT craze, Yamakoshi has attracted just over 1,700 digital citizens to bolster its dwindling population numbers.
To date, the collection has brought the small village approximately $423,000 thanks to funds deployed to meet the needs of seniors and a series of community initiatives. The report highlighted the allocation of funds to support a sports day for village pupils as part of plans to increase the initiative’s reach to public services.
For Yamakoshi’s 740 permanent residents, access to Nishikigoi tokens is free, but those seeking digital citizenship will pay the floor price of 0.0318 ETH. Details in the project’s whitepaper indicate plans to increase the village population from less than 800 to over 10,000 by Leveraging Digital Collectibles.
Using NFTs to raise funds for an aging population is a new strategy, but it shows promise. The Yuri Group claims in a report that digital collectibles could generate up to $500 million for the cause if the Yamakoshi Experiment achieves its goals and expands to other municipalities.
“If their strategy works and expands to other villages, we estimate that rural Japan could seek to raise funds in the order of half a billion dollars while testing a new wave of social technologies with global appeal,” reads a report from the Yuri Group.
Japan has long faced a problem of an aging population, exacerbated by declining birth rates and high life expectancy. Report says more than 800 Japanese municipalities are at serious risk of disappearing due to population imbalance, but emerging technologies could offer a solution for the region.
There are several challenges to using NFTs, including language barriers for foreign digital citizens and voter apathy associated with running a decentralized autonomous organization. The declining value of digital collectibles is also a major challenge facing the project, but a a thriving entertainment culture in Japan could continue to fuel their adoption in the country.
Japan explores NFTs
Japan explored NFT use cases before the offering became mainstream in 2021, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida including it in his digital transformation. strategyAt the time, Kishida confirmed plans to turn to digital collectibles to reward the country’s top-performing mayors.
The ruling government has since provided funds to “promote efforts to expand the use of Web 3.0 services that utilize the metaverse and NFTs.” stimulate private companies to join the fray. Local companies like Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (NASDAQ: MUFG) and SBI (NASDAQ: SBHGF) have seen their subsidiaries dabble in NFTs, mirroring the national government’s efforts.
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