KaryaKarsa Welcomes the NFT in Its Platform

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) has recently attracted creators' attention to monetize their artwork in digital format. In Indonesia, this method is not really common, but it holds great opportunities. KaryaKarsa's creator appreciation platform is one of several exclusive partners of TokoMall, the NFT Marketplace platform created by Tokocrypto, to explore this opportunity.

KaryaKarsa's Co-Founder & CTO, Aria Rajasa explained to DailySocial that his team's interest in NFT is due to this technology has changed many people's lives and has become an interesting opportunity for creators to work. Also, to gain exposure globally and financially.

“KaryaKarsa has a vision that is in line with [NFT], but not all creators are ready or have the know-how to create and market NFT. Therefore, when Tokocrypto invited KaryaKarsa to collaborate in launching the NFT Gallery, we were very interested,” he said.

KaryaKarsa alone is a platform for creators from various creative economy backgrounds to get direct support from their fans, much like Patreon.

TokoMall has become a blow of fresh air for KaryaKarsa, because of the technological challenges and the procedures for using NFT which are quite complicated. Plus the difficult access to the market as it is already so crowded with creators from various parts of the world in the global NFT marketplace. TokoMall was created by Tokocrypto specifically for the Indonesian market and more specifically for TKO token holders.

“Since it was launched on the 19th, there have been more than 8 thousand collectors who are ready to buy NFT works at TokoMall. We think this is a good initiative from TokoMall to educate the Indonesian market about NFT and for KaryaKarsa to be able to educate and invite qualified creators to enter the country's market.”

He continued, TokoMall's approach to NFT was interesting and different from the others. First, they lock the price of NFT in Rupiah to avoid price fluctuations. In this way, it may be more acceptable for Indonesian people to look at NFT.

Furtnermore, there are several NFTs that can be claimed as physical goods, such as from the NeverTooLavish brand for their jacket projects. "Unisocks has been doing the same thing."

In order to support this movement, KaryaKarsa will invite all creators in various fields as well as in its network to launch their work on TokoMall. As a launching partner, his team is in charge with curating the works to be launched.

A number of creators with good reputation, such as Mice Cartoon, Mochtar Sarman, Shakti Shiddarta, Rhoald Marcellius, Kei Kusuma, Adriano Andigracio, Galang Larope, and Bumilangit have joined. They are top creators in various fields, such as satire, photography, animation, and 3D CGI.

In addition, Indonesian director, Wregas Bhanuteja, who won the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, sold his unique work from his short film Tak Ada Gila di Kota Ini (2019). Visitors can purchase a shot from the film to get memorabilia used by the cast.

“We want to reach as many fields at once and see firsthand what the tastes and interest of the market are like.”

Aria admitted, after the launching, his team will invite all creators at KaryaKarsa to participate in enlivening the NFT market at TokoMall. In terms of monetization, TokoMall will take 10% as platform fee and KaryaKarsa will take 10% as curator for every work sold.

"However, for this launching, we don't take any fees because 50% of the sales proceeds will be given to charity," he concluded.

Since it was founded in October 2019, KaryaKarsa is said to accommodate tens of thousands of creators and has grown 10 times this year.

NFT market in Indonesia

Globally, there are many NFT marketplace platforms. Among them that are quite well known, including OpenSea, Rarible, Nifty Gateway, and others. Besides TokoMall, another local player that will be present in the near future is Neftipedia from Tiga Digital Token.

Later, Neftipedia will provide offers to creators. They get the opportunity to tokenize their work, therefore, it can be more authentic. There are many choices of media artworks that can be tokenized, such as digital images, videos, GIFs, and collectibles.

Through TokoMall, both creators and collectors have its own benefit. Creators can ensure the continuity of royalties from each NFT marketed. Meanwhile for collectors, marketed NFT works can be a long-term investment because they can be resold through TokoMall. They can even exchange their collected NFTs for physical items.

However, this work of NFT is yet to be free from piracy and plagiarism. When a work of art is encrypted and entered into the blockchain, it is forever attached and cannot be deleted. Many people see that there is a gap prone to being abused by a group of irresponsible parties.

Quoting from the Whiteboard Journal, local artist Kendra Ahimsa's work under the moniker Ardneks is alleged to have been plagiarized by crypto artist Twisted Vacancy. Kendra is known for illustrating various covers and posters for music shows. Kendra received more than 20 reports of alleged plagiarism by Twisted Vancancy.

–Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian