The commercial bank of Dubai has collaborated with a regional NFT artist for the project.

The blockchain boom may have led to a surge in rates of cryptocurrencies in the past few years, triggering different responses ranging from excitement to skepticism among netizens as well as governments, but digital tokens created using the same technology, have carved out a separate market for themselves. The crypto tokens which act as ownership certificates for digital assets, allow artists to sell their work online by finding a wider audience, and companies can also turn real estate, collectibles and other products into NFTs, to access a larger market.

Collectors across the globe have been benefiting from the increasing number of online auctions which replaced actual events during the pandemic, and have continued to be the preferred medium of selling art in the new normal, while some platforms are even hosting online exhibitions. Following in the footsteps of Emirati firms which have made news for buying viral videos and memes as NFTs worth millions, the Commercial Bank of Dubai has unveiled a digital event where the digital tokens will tell the story of its own evolution, using iconic symbols that have been registered on the blockchain.

Launched in collaboration with a Dubai-based artist who creates collectible NFTs, the project will feature the bank's headquarters, a clocktower which inspired its logo and other objects that signify the organisation's identity. The exhibition will be held at the innovation hub, situated in Dubai's financial centre and will make CBD the world's first bank to sell its own NFTs to clients.

As for the artist Amrita Sethi, she has created a buzz online, by using voice notes to create non-fungible assets, which means that sound waves generated by saying a word are depicted in visual format before being converted into an NFT. This is why she has been chosen to narrate the story of the bank's journey over the years, by creating voice-based images that people can later scan to reveal the tale.