Do Not Want To Be Left Behind, Associated Press Teams Up With Xooa To Launch Its Own NFT

The oldest news agency in the US Associated Press launches NFT (photo: Coingape)

JAKARTA – After the entry of a number of large companies into the NFT market, this time the Associated Press (AP) news agency is reportedly preparing to release its own non-fungible token. AP's NFT is in the form of photos from various global news platforms that collectors can purchase.

According to Cointelegraph, the NFT's initial collection will include photographs of subjects such as space, climate, and war photos from AP photojournalists. They will be released over several weeks starting January 31 at varying prices, according to the AP-owned marketplace website.

The AP will print its photos on Ethereum's tier two network, Polygon. The platform will also support secondary transactions using a debit or credit card as well as payments in Ethereum (ETH).

For information, The Associated Press is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, AP operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. Its members are US newspapers and broadcasters.

Currently the AP marketplace is being built by Xooa, a blockchain infrastructure platform focused on creating a “white label NFT marketplace for brands and IP owners.”

With this partnership, Xooa believes that cooperation with AP will serve as a strong link between the real world and the virtual world. The statement was made by Xooa's head of marketing, Zach Danker-Feldman.

In addition, the marketplace also provides support for the MetaMask crypto wallet. Support will also be provided to Fortmatic, Binance, and Coinbase. There are also plans for additional features that include “withdrawal to other marketplaces,” “social media capabilities,” “new content concepts” and “off-chain benefits” for these NFT holders.

The company plans to launch a “Pulitzer Drop” which contains a number of photos of the Pulitzer Prize winners. The photo will include detailed photo metadata including: date, location, equipment, and technical settings used for the photo.

The AP itself announced that the funds from the sale of photographs in the NFT will be used to fund AP journalism. Until now, the AP news agency is 175 years old since its establishment.

Previously, in October 2020, AP had collaborated with Chainlink Labs aimed at ensuring that the data of members of US newspapers and broadcasters would be cryptographically verified.

In the same year, AP used the Ethereum and EOS blockchains for publication of election results. Whereas in 2018, AP partnered with a blockchain-based civic journalism startup to facilitate its plan to track content usage and secure intellectual property rights.

AP is not the only news organization showing interest in the potential use of blockchain in the journalism industry. In June 2021, CNN launched its NFT project “Vault by CNN: Moments That Changed Us” which contains a collection of historical moments for the news publisher's 41 years.