Israel’s parliament has hopped on the latest trend in digital artwork and presented the country’s new president with a digital copy of his father’s signed oath of office from 38 years earlier.
The Knesset presented Isaac Herzog with the NFT ahead of his inauguration as Israel’s 11th president on Wednesday.
Non-fungible tokens — or NFTs — use a version of the encryption technology employed to secure cryptocurrencies to create one-of-a-kind digital objects. The technology provides digital creations a kind of certificate of authenticity, allowing ownership of something that could otherwise be replicated endlessly.
This new kind of encrypted digital artwork has become popular and a rare few have been sold for millions of dollars.
Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy holds the NFT given to Yitzchak Herzog. (Photo: Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesperson)
The Knesset’s Technology and Computing Division dug out the oath of office signed by former president Chaim Herzog — father of the newly instated president — from the parliamentary archives and created an encrypted digital image. That NFT was loaned to the President’s residence and presented to President Herzog ahead of his inauguration.
The parliament said in a statement that Herzog “was visibly moved by the gesture.”
“Based on the global success of NFT, it is possible that the file lent to the President’s house on a secure and encrypted mobile device is already worth millions of dollars,” the Knesset said in a statement.
(AP)
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3 Responses
He must have solemnly affirmed to do righteously, but why it’s called so formally an ‘oath’ — is undoubtedly because secular people — including those in the well-meaning Israeli government cannot be trusted to merely affirm anything!
Your report and your headline say two completely different things. The headline says the NFT was given to Herzog. The report says that it was loaned to the President’s residence. Was it a personal gift worth maybe millions of dollars, a bit like cigars to Netanyahu, no, or was it a loan to the President’s residence?
It’s not worth millions it’s actually completely worthless! It’s just a fancy term for a certificate of ownership – except that you don’t own the thing, just a photograph of it! (Unlike crypto you can’t actually purchase anything with NFT’s). History repeats itself again with ‘Non-fungible tokens’ just as it did with the Dutch Tulip Mania in the 1630’s
Anyone want to purchase the first post on Yeshiva World for $6M? Well actually just an encrypted copy of it.