Venezuela immortalizes with an NFT the Guinness World Record for the largest orchestra in the world.
Venezuela immortalizes with an NFT the Guinness World Record for the largest orchestra in the world.
After the National Orchestra System of Venezuela won the Guinness World Record for the largest orchestra in the world over the weekend, the government of Nicolás Maduro immortalized the official certificate of the feat in a non-fungible token (NFT). This was reported by the national superintendent of crypto assets, Joselit Ramirez, who via Twitter said:
From the National Superintendence of Cryptoassets, we celebrate this new milestone conquered by the National Orchestra System, and we immortalize it in the Blockchain with this NFT that represents the great pride we feel as Venezuelans.
Joselit Ramirez. National Superintendent of Cryptoassets of Venezuela.
The official specified that the NFT would be auctioned on the decentralized platform Raible. According to the site, the highest bid so far for the digital collectible is five wrapped ether (wETH), or about USD 20,000. In detail, the NFT was listed on the site by an account called Advisor and is owned by an unidentified person. It is a user who appears to have been created with the sole intention of selling the art.
At first, NFT was offered for 0.12 ETH. At that price, it was bought by a user, also anonymous, who then relisted it, but now for 0.67 ETH. Finally, another unidentified person bought it for 0.67 ETH and listed it at the same price. Here's the exciting part. Another NFT enthusiast who, according to his history on Raible, was the one who acquired the first non-fungible token launched by the Venezuelan State in June this year, bid for 5 wETH. While the auction ended with the 5 wETH bid, the site has not been updated. However, it may do so during this Monday. Thus, this user would own two NFTs released by the Venezuelan government.
Venezuela's first NFT
As mentioned, there are already two NFTs of the Venezuelan State. The first one was issued in June in commemoration of the Battle of Carabobo, one of the most critical battles of the War against Spain that defined Venezuela's independence back in 1821. The token, which is literally the government poster that was also physically hung in the country's streets, was also traded on Rarible and had a current price of 7 ethers. As reviewed by CryptoNews, the token was listed last June 24 on Raible. It was minted by an account called Advisor or Advisor (as is now the case with this new NFT).
The difference is that now, this NFT of the orchestras has an unidentified owner. The first one belonged to a person named Óscar J. Rojas, of whom no further information was obtained about his link to the National Superintendence of Crypto-assets. In Venezuela, NFTs are not new or unknown objects. There is already part of the population with a relationship or knowledge about this type of digital art for sale. In fact, and as published by this media, there have been cases of Venezuelans who, thanks to the NFTs, have been able to save their lives. This is the case of Alfonso Morales.
The world's largest orchestra
As the superintendent pointed out on Twitter, the State's new NFT seeks to immortalize the Guinness Record certificate, awarded to "El Sistema," as it is known in Venezuela.
But what did they do? On Saturday, November 13, 12,000 musicians gathered in the plaza of the Military Academy in Caracas to play the Slavic March, a piece of music by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which had broken the first record, belonging to Russia.
Thus, after 12 minutes of harmonious music, the whole presentation was subject to an evaluation by Guinness, which lasted for eight days. Then, finally, what many were expecting was confirmed. For the orchestra's director, Eduardo Méndez, "it is a great honor that the children and young people of Venezuela receive" in what he described as "a feat."
"Today, Venezuela should feel very proud of what it has, for those children, those young people, not only the 12,000 who were there but for the million children who are part of the system," said Méndez, according to Efe news agency.