Whiskey brand fetches $270,000 for extremely rare NFTs

Whiskey makers Glenfiddich have sold extremely rare non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for $270,000.

An NFT is a digital asset that exists on a blockchain. The blockchain serves as a public ledger, allowing anyone to verify the asset’s authenticity and ownership.

So unlike most digital items which can be endlessly reproduced, each NFT has a unique digital signature, meaning it is one of a kind.

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NFTs are usually bought with the cryptocurrency Ether or in dollars and the blockchain keeps a record of transactions.

While anyone can view the NFTs, the buyer has the status of being the official owner, a kind of digital bragging rights.

Utilising the surge in popularity in NFTs, Glenfiddich has fetched $18,000 apiece for 15 bottles of Armagnac-casked, 46-year-old whiskey along with its own unique.

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According to Dov and Sam Fallic, founders of BlockBar, who handled the technical side of the project, ''Who cares about something that’s digital? But the younger generation spends more time in the digital world than the physical world. That's where they live, and that's where they interact.''

''We are always looking at new ideas; most recently, we've been working on converting our delivery trucks to work on biogas fuel generated from distillery waste. The whisky is unique, using an Armagnac cask was an innovation in 1973, and has an incredible flavour. This is a marriage of a very rare, unique proposition in whisky with blockchain that felt right for us,'' said William Grant and Sons will certify the possession of the NFTs.

Total NFT trading volumes on the Ethereum blockchain amount to over $400 million, nearly half of which were in the last 30 days, according to NonFungible.com, which aggregates data from NFT marketplaces.

Enthusiasts see NFTs as the future of ownership. All kinds of property - from event tickets to houses - will eventually have their ownership status tokenised in this way, they believe.

For artists, NFTs could solve the problem of how they can monetise digital artworks. They can receive more income from NFTs, as they can get a royalty each time the NFT changes hands after the initial sale.