‘Cryptorastas’ Seeks To Bridge Reggae Culture And Music With Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Cryprorastas is a revolutionary new venture that ties together Reggae culture and music to the non-fungible token, known more commonly as NFT. These are rare digital collectibles, spearheaded by Founder of Brazilian Reggae sound system Digitaldubs Marcus MPC, who has enlisted two hundred official Reggae titans to come onboard, such as Lee “Scratch” Perry, Cedric Myton, Jah9 and Sister Nancy.

“I started Cryptorastas as a pilot project, to learn in practice. I was studying the NFTs and my initial plan was to launch an official Digitaldubs NFT. However, before launching this official project, I wanted to test the platforms and understand it in practice,” Marcus explained.

NFT is a form of a digital certificate, which confirms that a digital artwork is original and exclusive. This is done with blockchain technology – the same used to create bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. From there, artistes can sell their digital art (like jpg, gif, video, audio, etc.) and fans can collect it and also resell, invest, support, etc. One particular NFT project, Cryptopunks, has attracted the most attention. Launched in 2017, Cryptopunks have become somewhat of a subculture in the NFT world, valued today at millions of dollars. It served as an inspiration for Marcus to create Cryptorastas, linking it with Reggae and Jamaican culture.

“When I saw the Cryptopunks, I immediately thought about the historical connection of the punk movement with Reggae in the late 1970s, especially in the UK. So came the inspiration to create the series. I researched and noticed that there was no one doing it, there was nothing about Reggae in the NFT world, so I did it,” the founder elaborated.

Cryptorastas break digital barriers, directly benefiting the artists and the music scene. Part of the profits will support projects with Jamaican and diaspora artists, making a difference in the physical world. So far, a total of forty characters have been released to much fanfare, having sold out and increasing the hype around the project. It has even reached as far as American rapper/ singer Azealia Banks, who reached out via Instagram expressing her interest in purchasing.

Phase 2 of the project includes a total 10.420 of unique avatars blessed on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. They are generated with different levels of rarity and will be available to mint for 0.5 ETH on August 29th. After that, a very special limited edition of the 200 official collabs will be auctioned, with a floor price of 1 ETH.

“The NFT opens many new possibilities. We are all very excited about the next steps for the project,” Marcus expressed.