SA gets NFT marketplace

Momint has launched a South African social media marketplace for artists, filmmakers, musicians, sportspeople and creators of all kinds to sell their works as NFTs. 

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) have hit the headlines lately world over as artists, celebrities and other content creators use them to sell digital works. 

The big news for fans is that they don’t have to buy NFTs using crypto-currency, as is the case with other offerings. On Momint, they can use good old Rands (fiat currency) to buy unique items from their favourite creators.

Gadget was the first South African publication to put a media NFT up for auction, with all proceeds going to charity. See the auction here.

Momint beta-tested its app two weeks ago with an auction of a 3D turntable of rugby superstar Bryan Habana racing a cheetah, making Habana the first South African sports star to sell an NFT. The beta was a huge success, included 800 people from 25 countries and raised over R150,000 for the Bryan Habana Foundation. 

It also auctioned some limited edition coins, in conjunction with Smutby (an exclusive members club for decision-makers, and celebrities), which will contribute funds to the SPCA wildlife division to help in the aftermath of the recent fires in Cape Town. Cumulative sales during Momint’s closed beta release reached over R300 000 across two days.

On Friday, the service went live with NFT offerings from sports stars Bryan Habana and AB de Villiers, musicians Goldfish and The Kiffness, influencer Diipa Khosla and filmmaker Dan Mace. 

“An NFT is a digital certificate of ownership. In the past it was impossible to prove ownership of digital works, which can be easily copied, pasted, altered and shared online. Using NFTs, if a work is altered, even by a fraction, the fingerprint of that work changes, and it’s quite easy to see it’s not the same digital work,” says Momint CEO and co-founder Ahren Posthumus. 

This makes ownership indisputable and guarantees the value of the work as it is unquestionably original. As a result, says Momint COO and co-founder Joshua Minsk: “NFTs offer a means for creators to sell their works and support themselves without needing to litter their work with sponsor shout outs or advertisements.”

In order to encourage creativity and quality content, it restricts the number of posts a content creator can post per week. This, says CTO and co-founder Adam Romyn, should help ensure that creators don’t all post the same types of content, as seen on many social media platforms.” 

NFTs can be sold via auction or directly to a fan for a fixed price. The only cost to the creator is a 12% auction fee or a 0,5% direct sales fee that Momint charges once it is sold.

Fans can collect and display moments on the service’s app, adding a social element to the offering alongside standard features such as likes, comments and follows. 

Founded by Minsk, Posthumus, Romyn and investor Rob Hersov, Momint raised pre-seed funding that values the company at over R30m from a mix of foreign and local investors. The company is in discussions with a number of local celebrities to launch further NFTs in the near future. In the longer term, it plans to take the platform global. 

Says Bryan Habana: “It was wonderful to be part of the Momint beta and be the first South African athlete to sell an NFT. We’ve seen NFTs really taking off for athletes, particularly in the US, and they present an exciting avenue for sportspeople, musicians, and so on to commercialise and monetise their work. I’m grateful to the Momint team for the opportunity and looking forward to seeing offering go from strength to strength.”

Filmmaker Dan Mace says Momint offers a great way to support creators. “It’s another point of contact for followers to be able to own something they’ve always wanted,” he comments. “It enables anyone to not just appreciate but actually own art within a digital space from anywhere in the world, to have access to unique, scarce pieces of work. 

“I’ll be selling my project and timelines from films that I’ve made,” he says. “It’s a slice of life for people who appreciate the hard work that goes into creating, and in so doing, sharing my love for what I do.”