Today, Japan Post is launching its first postage stamp artwork NFTs on the Rakuten NFT market.

Early NFTs are identical to postage stamp art, but the plan is to add variations over time.

As a national post office, one could expect a large number of NFTs to be removed. Instead, it divided the NFTs into three packs of animals, flowers, and landscapes, with an average of 100 units of each pack selling for about $20. As expected, it sold out.

Resale prices are substantially higher but not ridiculous. For example, only 100 packs of animal series were sold, containing five stamps, so each stamp cost $4. Each stamp sells for up to $82 on the secondary market, so it still represents a reasonable return.

Like sports cards, stamps represent one of the most traditional forms of collecting. The question is whether there is a good demographic overlap with NFT. For example, the average stamp collector in the United States is over 60 years old. Sports cards and stamps differ because sports cards have always had a core base of young collectors, making them a more obvious choice for a digital makeover.

However, both stamps and coins have previously been issued as NFTs. In September of last year, Swiss Post launched its first Swiss Crypto Stamp, with 65,000 copies of the most common stamps released. He must have done well because this August he launched Crypto Stamp 2.0 with 25,000 copies of ten different stamps and a giveaway.

The Central Bank of Lithuania issued digital collectible currencies as NFTs in mid-2020, before the rise of digital collectibles.

Meanwhile, Japan Post invested in Rakuten last year and the two companies have a joint venture focused on the digital transformation of logistics. Rakuten is best known as an e-commerce and marketing company, but it also has a significant presence in mobile and financial services.

As in the West, there are numerous NFT markets in Japan. Rakuten launched in February and Japan’s largest messaging app Line launched in April. Financial services giant SBI Group also has an NFT marketplace.