Popular K-Pop Girl Band To Mint Digital Collectibles on Polkadot

On Jan 16, 2020, the parent company of K-pop sensation girl band Mamamoo revealed that it would release non-fungible tokens (NFT) on Hong Kong-based exchange Xeno.

K-pop Merch Going Digital

The move by RBW (Rainbowbridge World), a South Korean entertainment company that represents top K-pop bands, will enable music fans to purchase digital merchandise associated with their favorite band conveniently.

In an exclusive interview with Coindesk, Xeno stated that RBW had provided the exchange special rights to mint and list their NFT-based digital collectibles.

The token listing will offer K-Pop music fans genuine ownership of NFTs associated with RBW performers such as Mamamoo, Vromance, and Oneus.

Jae-Woong Wang, CEO of RBW Japan, explained that digital items such as event tickets and digital content rights could be captured and housed on the blockchain as NFTs.

“Fanbases get digital goods for their favorite artists that they can truly own, and artists and content creators get new and exciting products to offer their fans,” the CEO explained.

Digital Commerce in Entertainment is on the Rise

The decision by RBW to start offering the sale of singers’ digital products highlights the growing trend of digital commerce in the world of entertainment.

NFT-based digital items offered by RBW will include 3D model renderings of the top K-pop idols on the South Korean music scene. The underlying digital items will also consist of occasion tickets for virtual shows and other merchandise that will enable k-pop celebrities to engage their fans easily.

NFT trading volumes have tripled in the past year as per data from Dune Analytics. Demand for digital tokens is driven by the need for digital alternatives to access performers in the wake of the cancellations of in-person events during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unlike fungible cryptos such as Ethereum, holders of NTFs can’t exchange them one to one. Therefore, holders of these special tokens gain ownership of a unique digital collectible established around a specific band or vocalist.

Xeno Taps into the NFT Market in East Asia

Xeno delved into the NFT market last month after its executives saw the vast untapped potential in East Asian jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea.

Unlike most NFT exchanges that currently leverage the ETH network, Xeno is constructed on Polkadot, an emerging blockchain that offers better scalability and broad cross-chain interoperation.

Xeno’s president, Anthony Di Franco, added that his company chose Polkadot due to its unique “parachain” function that offers dev teams full control of the system’s procedure layer.

By working with RBW, Xeno has now positioned itself to offer reputable digital products markets to the South Korean market, which boasts the fourth-largest video gaming market in the world. 

The Asian country also has “very high engagement” with fans worldwide due to its broad range of home entertainment avenues, such as the flourishing K-Pop market.

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K-Pop Sensation Mamamoo to Mint Digital Collectibles on Polkadot

Fans of K-Pop girl group Mamamoo will soon be able to buy digital products related to the band using blockchain technology.

RBW (Rainbowbridge World), a South Korean entertainment company representing Mamaoo and other popular K-Pop artists such as Vromance and Oneus, is jumping into the cryptocurrency world by issuing non-fungible tokens (NFT) on South Korea-based exchange Xeno. The tokens give K-Pop fans and other investors a claim of real ownership in digital products related to RBW entertainers.

Read more: NFT Art Sales Reached All-Time High of $8.2M in December


In an exclusive interview with CoinDesk, the Xeno team announced that RBW has given the NFT exchange exclusive rights to mint and list their NFT-based digital products.

“Fanbases get digital goods for their favorite artists that they can truly own, and artists and content creators get new and exciting products to offer their fans,” Jae-Woong Wang, CEO of RBW Japan, told CoinDesk in a statement. “Digital event tickets, membership tokens, even digital content rights can all be captured and housed within NFTs. The trend of digital commerce is growing and RBW wants to stay on top of these trends while at the same time open new markets when possible.”

The exact time of when the NFTs will be launched has yet to be announced. Xeno told CoinDesk that the underlying digital products will include “3D model renderings” of fans’ favorite K-Pop idols, event tickets for virtual concerts and membership tokens that “allow artists to engage their fanbases”.


RBW’s move comes at a time of explosive growth in trading volumes for NFTs, which tripled in 2020 compared to 2019, according to data from Dune Analytics. The increased interest in NFTs is partly driven by the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced most cancellation of in-person events.


Unlike fungible cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, NFTs are unique tokens that cannot be exchanged one to one. For fans of Mamamoo, that translates into ownership of a unique digital product developed around the singers.

Xeno’s NFT marketplace launched last month after the company saw a potentially huge market for NFTs in East Asia, Xeno’s president, Anthony Di Franco, told CoinDesk. The company currently operates primarily in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

Read more: The Blockchain NFT Wars Are Here

South Korea alone has the fourth-largest gaming market in the world, with well-established digital goods marketplaces, Di Franco said. The East Asian country also has “very high engagement” with all forms of entertainment including the K-Pop industry. The Gaon Digital Chart, South Korea’s music industry standard ranking recorded singles, shows nearly 21 million weekly plays for this week’s No. 1 song alone.

RBW’s news could lead more prominent entertainment companies in East Asia to follow the NFT trend, as most live events around the world are still on pause due to the pandemic, according to the executives at Xeno. Besides those in K-Pop, several partnerships with well-established names in high fashion and the online gaming industries are already “in the pipeline,” the exchange said.

“RBW is a fairly moderately impactful company, with popular girl group Mamamoo along with several boy bands and a new girl group, Purple Kiss, under its management,” Tamar Herman, K-Pop journalist at Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, told CoinDesk in an email. “The company has a reputation for high-value performances and artistry.”


While most NFT exchanges are based on the Ethereum blockchain, Xeno is built on the Polkadot network because of its better scalability, full cross-chain interoperation and integration, and Polkadot’s unique “parachain” feature that gives the team full control of the protocol layer of the system, Di Franco told CoinDesk.

Read more: Some Asian Traders Are Using Polkadot to Predict Bitcoin’s Future

“NFTs are the perfect medium for these habits to grow and evolve in,” Di Franco said. “NFTs take ownership of digital goods out of their silos, turning a collection of mutually exclusive walled gardens into a true marketplace, and exponentially increasing the possibilities for creative entrepreneurship for digital artists and the business opportunities for the platforms they work on.”



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