Pos Indonesia, the country’s official postal service, has launched its inaugural series of postage stamps that come with non-fungible token (NFT) counterparts, merging traditional philately with modern digital innovation. This announcement was shared on the company’s official Instagram account, highlighting the debut of the NFT stamp showcasing the ‘Cenderawasih,’ commonly known as the bird of paradise. Each NFT stamp will have a corresponding physical version, and the entire collection will be available in a booklet format.

The initiative aims to blend traditional cultural values with cutting-edge blockchain technology, appealing to both collectors and tech enthusiasts alike. This move reflects Indonesia’s increasing engagement with the Web3 ecosystem. Furthermore, on March 28, local financial regulators revealed intentions to establish a regulatory sandbox for crypto assets, slated for early 2025, to mitigate risks of fraud.

While this introduction comes amid a downturn in digital collectibles, with NFT sales hitting their lowest monthly volume since January 2021—recording $296 million in September, a 20% drop from August and an 81% decline from March’s peak of $1.6 billion—it still signifies a unique approach to revitalize interest in stamps. The number of NFT transactions also fell significantly from 7.3 million in August to 4.9 million in September, indicating a 32% decrease.

The concept of NFT postage stamps is not entirely novel. Previous attempts to integrate blockchain technology into stamp collecting have occurred in various countries, including the UAE, Austria, and the Netherlands. For instance, to commemorate its 50th anniversary on June 17, 2022, the UAE launched a modern postage stamp that featured a gram of gold and included an NFT version. Additionally, discussions at the Blockchain Expo in Amsterdam in September 2022 revealed collaborations between the Netherlands’ PostNL and the Austrian Post Office to explore the use of NFTs in reinvigorating stamp collecting.