18th century temple in Taiwan comes up with NFTs to boost popularity

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) have gained a massive amount of popularity in the past couple of years but the Dajia Jenn Lann Temple in Taichung has found a never-seen-before way to use the modern technology. The temple, which is around 100 miles down the coast from Taiwan, introduced NFTs in connection to the sea goddess Mazu and they are already popular among younger people.

The temple organises a 300-kilometer pilgrimage in honour of the sea goddess every year and the economy of the region is mainly dependent on the revenue generated from tourism. The “Mazu economy” is driven by donations and the sale of merchandise associated with the temple.

As a result, the release of the NFTs have created a buzz among the devotees and media reports claimed that NFT acts a “priority pass” for people visiting the temple which was built in the 18th century by the Qing dynasty. Mazu, a mythical sea goddess who is popular for being the protector of seafarers, attracts several pilgrims every year and the digital tokens have increased the popularity.

Mingkun Cheng, vice chairman of the board of the Dajia Jenn Lann Temple, told Forkast that the NFTs have already increased the number of pilgrims and the tokens will generate more than five billion Taiwan dollars (US$163m) in spending. Since their initial launch in August 2021, over 2800 tokens have been sold till now and its current market price is somewhere around $18,800.

The popularity of the NFTs coincided with the global attraction towards cryptocurrencies but the dip in the market can see the temple diversify when it comes to their latest attractions.