Samsung readies NFT support for 2022 TV range

Non-fungible tokens will take a giant step towards being mainstream this week when Samsung unveils TVs in Australia that will support them.

Non-fungible tokens will take a giant step towards being mainstream this week when Samsung unveils TVs in Australia that will support them.

NFTs are the new digital way to show you own an item, whether it be an artwork, musical track, memorabilia, collectable or an experience – anything. In part they are a new-age form of receipt and are particularly suited to items in the digital world – even abstract items.

In January fans snapped up digital ownership of 19cm x 19cm areas of centre court offered by Tennis Australia at The Australian Open in exchange for NFTs. They won prizes should the last bounce of the ball fall into their square during match point in any of the approximately 450 matches during the tournament in Melbourne.

The 6776 ‘artball NFTs’ were sold around the world for about $350 each.

NFTs can appreciate in value and can be bought and sold. After the tournament, the NFTs where Rafael Nadal’s and Ash Barty’s winning shots landed reportedly received bids for thousands of per cent more than their original cost.

NFTs are proving popular in the digital world because you can prove your ownership of, say, an animated 3D digital artwork, and prove it’s not just a copy. The NFT record is stored on a ledger in the cloud called the blockchain and cannot be tampered with.

The rising popularity of NFTs has seen manufacturers start to build displays that let you show off an NFT at home. You sign into your NFT wallet, access the NFT token and cast it onto the screen.

Tokenframe will display your NFT’s on screens with bespoke wooden frames, 2K and 4K antiglare screens and built-in audio for artworks with sound. Frames can rotate between portrait and landscape.

Modem manufacturer Netgear has updated its Meural Wi-Fi Photo Frame and Meural Canvas II to display NFT-held art. The Meural range already lets arts lovers digitally display thousands of works from galleries around the world, so NFTs are a logical extension. The Canvas II starts at $1199 in Australia.

These frames are the price of a 4K UHD television and the TV makers have taken note. They are jumping aboard.

Samsung foreshadowed its interest in NFTs in a collaboration with Sotherby’s in 2021.

Samsung then announced the initiative at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January but now it is coming to market.

This week Samsung will unveil NFT capability on its 2022 Australian TV range.

It said it would be available on the company’s MicroLED, Neo QLED and The Frame models. Its NFT platform would allow users to display NFTs bought from several marketplaces.

An NFT marketplace app on mobile phone

“In 2022, Samsung is introducing the world’s first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favourite art — all in one place,” Samsung said in January.

A day later, Korean rival LG said it too had plans to bring NFT capability to its sets. Other TV makers are expected to follow.

Samsung has also been active promoting blockchain security on its smartphones with keystore and wallet security offered through its Knox security application aimed at keeping digital assets safe.

How it works

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital record minted with a unique ID signifying an asset such as an artwork or piece of music, and its owner. Its existence is recorded on a universally circulating blockchain in the cloud, so an ownership record cannot be tampered with.

Ownership is coupled with a ‘smart contract’ that determines what happens when the asset is re-sold. For example, the NFT smart contract might require the original artist to be paid 10 per cent when the work is sold a second time on the blockchain.

A new record is created on the blockchain signifying the new owner when resold.

Originally published as Samsung readies NFT support for 2022 TV range