Japanese food brand Calbee Inc. drops potato chip NFTs on Astar Network
Calbee Inc., the top snack food producer in Japan, has revealed its plan to launch Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Astar blockchain. The NFTs, which will be part of a promotional campaign named “NFT Chips,” will be hosted on the Astar Network, a smart contract platform designed for multichain use.
Potato Chips on the Blockchain
Customers who purchase Usu-Shio, Consomme-Punch, or the sought-after Nori-Shio potato chips will be eligible to participate in the NFT Chips promotion. Through playing an origami-inspired game called “Ori-pake,” participants can acquire a complimentary Potato NFT that will continuously evolve.
To engage in Ori-pake, players must adhere to the guidelines printed on the package and meticulously fold it, much like origami. After that, they must use Calbee’s “Lbee Program” smartphone app to scan and validate their advancement.
To receive their complimentary NFT, customers are required to download the “wappa” Web3 data wallet, which was developed by DataGateway. Each time a customer completes an Ori-pake by folding the package and scanning it with the “Lbee Program” app, their NFT will evolve and expand. Upon completing five Ori-pakes, users will observe their NFT undergo its final transformation, ultimately becoming one of many characters from the “Jagaverse” virtual realm.
Out of all participants, one hundred fortunate winners will acquire a distinctive “gold character” in their wappa wallet, granting them six complimentary packets of potato chips. Meanwhile, anyone who possesses a fully evolved Potato NFT will have access to novel digital experiences in the upcoming future.
Astar Network – expanding ecosystem
Sota Watanabe, the CEO of Astar Network, has conveyed his enthusiasm regarding the application of the NFT chips campaign on Astar Network. He aims to raise awareness of Astar Network within the Japanese population, even those who have no prior knowledge of blockchain technology.
Watanabe acknowledges that Calbee’s chips are the most widely consumed potato chips in Japan and assumes that virtually everyone is familiar with this product. As numerous prominent brands in Japan start to recognize the potential of Web3, Astar emerged as a primary NFT platform in the country. Most recently, Astar partnered with Tokyu Railways to provide train commuters with complimentary utility NFTs.
Astar Network serves as a smart contract platform that links layer-1 blockchains such as Ethereum and Cosmos with the Polkadot ecosystem. In 2022, it was voted as the most favored blockchain by the Japanese Blockchain Association, and CoinGecko’s latest rankings have positioned it at the pinnacle of Japan’s most sought-after coins.
Calbee’s NFT Chips promotional initiative on Astar became feasible thanks to the partnership between Calbee and DataGateway, which cooperatively created the Wappa data wallet alongside Hakhudo and CryptoGames. This allows customers to own and oversee their growing NFTs. The Wappa wallet prioritizes individuals’ data sovereignty over corporations, meaning data saved within the wallet can only be shared anonymously with individual companies, subject to the wallet owner’s approval.
Empowering blockchain development
Astar Network empowers the development of decentralized applications (dApps) via EVM and WASM smart contracts. It enables developers to achieve genuine interoperability through cross-consensus messaging (XCM) and a cross-virtual machine (XVM). Furthermore, Astar’s Build2Earn concept facilitates a dApp staking mechanism that allows developers to receive compensation for their code and the dApps they create.
As one of the earliest parachains in the Polkadot ecosystem, Astar has flourished with support from all significant exchanges and top-tier VCs. It provides developers with the versatility of all Ethereum and WASM toolings, enabling them to commence developing their dApps. Additionally, Astar SpaceLabs facilitates an Incubation Hub for dApps to expedite growth on Polkadot and Kusama Networks.
