Tezos Commons :: A Closer Look at NFTimbre
September 25, 2024A dive into the release of NFTimbre 2.2 from La Poste-Philaposte and philately in the web3 space.
If you’re any bit like me, you’ve probably seen NFTimbre pop up on your timeline. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was, nor did I know who La Poste was, as is the case for many European companies collaborating within the Tezos ecosystem. But it’s pretty interesting, and La Poste is no small company.
Let’s dive into NFTimbre, the latest release of 2.2, who La Poste is, and more!
What is NFTimbre?
Before we discuss NFTimbre deeply, it’s worth pointing out who La Poste is. La Poste Groupe is France’s national postal service, operating in several sectors: mail, banking, parcel delivery, and digital services. In 2022, it generated €35.4 billion in revenue and employed about 238,000 people. La Poste ranks among Europe’s largest postal operators, though it trails behind Deutsche Post DHL and USPS in size.
In terms of NFTimbre, it’s a project from La Poste-Philaposte with collaboration from Nomadic Labs. La Poste-Philaposte is La Poste’s philately division, responsible for designing and producing French stamps and collectors focusing on cultural and commemorative themes. The division operates semi-independently within La Poste’s broader structure.
NFTimbre is a philatelic project that combines traditional postage stamps with digital NFTs. Each NFTimbre has a physical stamp and its digital counterpart, which was created on the Tezos blockchain. Users can collect, exchange, and display these digital stamps in their Tezos wallets. The stamps are linked to the Tezos blockchain and help ensure authenticity and ownership.
The very first piece showcases a whirlwind of objects coming out of a mailbox. Pretty much as if the box were opened to release a whole world: postcards, envelopes, administrative mail, gifts, and everything in between. The neat thing about these La Poste NFT stamps is that they can be collected or used for mailing. The digital version, typically a video or HD image, reveals hidden details of the physical stamp that aren’t visible otherwise.
Per the roadmap, NFTimbre2 is currently a three-part NFT stamp collection. A third edition, NFTimbre 2.3, will be released in November 2024. That said, the collection follows a young woman at the center of a journey symbolized by her stance and the environment around her. In both cases, she is shown facing an open space, more clearly a window in NFTimbre2.2.
The first edition shows very fuzzy and digital anecdotes, which fit the theme of connecting the physical and digital realms. The most obvious parallel here is the concept of a physical copy of the stamp itself and its digital “twin” counterpart.
The editions can be purchased on the NFTimbre site for about €8 each. I must admit that, as a U.S. resident, it would not let me purchase them when I started to enter my shipping details. Perhaps it was still possible; the site seemed not to let me move further once that information was provided. So, if you’re in the European region, get your hands on some!
Final Thoughts
As a coin collector, I feel drawn to stamps and the whole collecting aspect of it all. Combining postage stamps with NFTs makes perfect sense as an application of blockchain. Blockchain helps ensure transparency and authenticity, making it ideal for collectibles like stamps. You can’t alter the information once it’s on the chain, and there are many cool things you can do with it, as evident here. This is important, though, when it comes to preserving the stamp’s provenance and ownership history, and what better way to do just that than on the Tezos blockchain?
When we consider some of the most successful verticals for blockchain, we’re immediately brought to something similar: art. There’s a reason for that. Not only does it help eliminate this rampant issue of forgery or processes to verify the authenticity of physical collectibles, but I think it’s part of where everything is moving towards. Our books, collectibles, and even money are virtually all being digitized. You hardly see anyone pull out a checkbook these days except my dad.
Jokes aside, blockchain simplifies this entire process, and there’s virtually no trade-off. When you have a technology like that that eliminates so much friction, it seems like a matter of time. I’m excited to see the next edition of NFTimbre come out in November of this year. Be sure to be on the lookout for that!
A Closer Look at NFTimbre was originally published in Tezos Commons on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
