NFT and Crypto plan to boost Gold Coast economy and fund infrastructure

The Gold Coast will get into the NFT business under a bold plan to help fund critical infrastructure and create the next hi-tech boom for the city's economy.

THE Gold Coast’s Home of the Arts could be revamped as a digital arts museum under a bold plan to cut its costs and monetise its existing art collection.

Mayor Tom Tate wants to get council into the non-fungible tokens (NFT) business, selling digital representations of its existing art and sculpture collection in a bid to fund the next stage of the cultural precinct’s expansion and generate income for the artists.

NFTs are similar to property title deeds and allow a person to buy an image, its copyright, licensing and digital reproduction rights while the original owner retails the physical asset.

Mayor Tom Tate wants to investigate using NFTs as a way of booming the city’s economy. (Photo by DEVI RAHMAN / AFP)

Crypto-currency is needed to buy the images.

Mr Tate said it was a way of making HOTA more profitable, while using its gallery as a digital art museum would cut its expenses.

He had become fascinated by NFTs and was investigating how the council could take advantage of them, he said.,

“I’ve been following crypto and NFTs and I would like us to look into the latter more and see if there is a way we can use our existing $34m art collection to help fund the next stage of HOTA,” he said.

Mayor Tom Tate. Picture Glenn Hampson

“We retain the physical part of it while selling the NFT. If you look at the market, some of these things can sell for tens of thousands of dollars and it would deliver a boon for the city.

“We are an innovative city and it would ensure our local artists can sell their work this way and not be poor like Van Gough - and to me that is quintessential Gold Coast.”

Some NFTs have sold for significant amounts of money, with Pak’s The Merge going for $91.8m in December 2021.

Bond University creative media expert Dr James Birt said Mr Tate’s proposal had merit.

“There are many positive sides to NFTs allowing for new businesses, supporting gig economy workers and artists and people interested in unique collectables,” he said

Dr James Birt.

“However there are downsides such as power requirements to process the blockchain transactions resulting in climate change concerns, although there are new prove of stake approaches looking to reduce the power requirements.

“NFTs have certainly hit the mainstream with multimillion dollar sales at Christie’s auction house and the promise of lifetime earnings on transactions.”

Mr Tate’s proposal to recalibrate HOTA to become a digital art gallery comes as city leaders look to lower the gallery’s costs.

The HOTA Gallery. Photo: HOTA

The Bulletin last year revealed a $500,000 blowout to transport one of the world’s biggest private art exhibitions to the gallery.

Many councillors were furious to learn the city faced an extra impost in securing the world premiere of the Contemporary Masters from New York, featuring iconic artists Andy Warhol and Jean-­Michel Basquiat.

Cr Tate, fresh from visiting the Atelier des Lumières digital art museum in France, said it was a way of allowing the Gold Coast to host world-famous art without the pieces leaving their original locations.

“We could look at doing a deal with an overseas museum digitising their masterpieces, and instead of transporting them here and having to pay the insurance, you can forgo all that and download them in super high definition so it’s just like the real thing,” he said.

“The world of crypto and NFTs understand this and it saves you from flying things over here.”

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Originally published as NFT and Crypto plan to boost Gold Coast economy and fund infrastructure