SINGAPORE - The Food Bank Singapore (FBSG) is dipping its toes into the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in a bid to raise funds for families who struggle to put food on the table.
The food charity's mascot KooriMo has been minted, or created, into three art NFTs for auction.
NFTs are cryptocurrency assets that record the ownership of a digital file such as an image, video or text.
FBSG, which marks its 10th anniversary, aims to raise $12 million this year for its Bank Card Programme.
This will provide 10,000 beneficiaries with stored value cards with which they can redeem free meals for a year.
Beneficiaries will get a $100 top-up each month to their cards, which can be used at various food and beverage outlets or at more than 60 vending machines dispensing food and daily essentials here.
Around 150 outlets, including Encik Tan and selected Subway outlets, have joined the programme, which is targeting to rope in 1,000 outlets by the end of this year.
FBSG is also accepting cryptocurrency donations in various coins like Ether and Bitcoin, with details at this website.
These donations are currently not tax deductible, due to challenges converting from cryptocurrency to dollars, said Ms Nichol Ng, FBSG co-founder.
The art NFT auction will run from Thursday (April 21) till Sunday on NFT marketplace OpenSea.
The three artworks are drawn by an artist from multimedia design studio Smobler Studios, which has also been appointed as the charity's metaverse architect.
The Canada-based studio, which owns Cobbleland in Sandbox - currently one of the biggest metaverses - signed an agreement with the charity on Thursday at The Maha Co Café in Fusionopolis.
Plans are under way to build KooriLand and other metaverse assets that can be sold to raise funds to support the charity's mission of ending food insecurity here.
The charity also worked with cryptocurrency platform Coinhako, which is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to build a secure platform to accept cryptocurrency donations.
FBSG works with a network of more than 300 organisations, including homes, soup kitchens, family service centres, voluntary welfare organisations, religious organisations, and schools with children from low-income families.
It has provided fresh and cooked food to more than 100,000 families and over 300,000 people since it started in 2012.
