Kepeng.io socialization with Warmadewa University “Towards Blockchain-based Tourism and Culture in Bali”
Cryptocurrencies in at least the last three years are growing fast globally. Digital currency has also experienced significant growth both in terms of value and type. The Indonesia Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (ICDX) commodity exchange stated that the overall capitalization of global cryptocurrencies currently reaches US$1.56 trillion.
The current trend of cashless payments has then become a driver of the growth of this cryptocurrency. Even recently, Visa, the world’s largest digital payment service provider, announced its long-term plans to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. One is that cryptocurrencies related to USD can be used to complete transactions on the network.
Kepeng Indonesia in collaboration with Warmadewa University Denpasar held a webinar with the theme “Towards Blockchain-based Tourism and Cultural Arts in Bali”. The event will be held on Friday 12 November 2021 at 09.00–11.30 WITA using the Zoom Meeting application. The event was hosted by NI host Luh Putu “Sintya” Budyawati and I A “Cynthia” Saisaria Mandasari, SE., MM the head of UPT. Warmadewa University Business Incubator as event moderator.
The webinar presented keynote speakers, I Putu Yuliartha (Chairman of the Denpasar City BKRAF Daily) and Wayan Hendrayana (Head of Tourism Resources and Creative Economy DISPAR Denpasar City). Also present was DR.DRS.A.A Gede Oka Wisnumurti, M.Si as Chair of the Bali Province KORPRI Welfare Foundation. From the Kepeng.io team, I G P Rahman Desyanta as Chief Executive Officer of Kepeng.io and Shofyan Shauri as Chief Marketing Officer of Baliola.com attended.
The event was attended by around 223 participants from Warmadewa University, Denpasar. It was held to introduceblockchain-based tourism and cultural arts in Bali, through Baliola which is the first NFT Marketplace in Bali.
Cryptocurrency, a virtual currency as part of blockchain technology, is becoming a hot topic for everyone in all parts of the world, including Indonesia. Cryptocurrencies can be used for investment, trading, mining, and transactional purposes. However, cryptocurrencies have their advantages and disadvantages.
The webinar “Blockchain-based Tourism and Cultural Arts in Bali” discuss the advantages and disadvantages.
The first advantage of this currency is that it is universal. One can use this currency without any conditions, including when they want to buy it. “In Indonesia, it is still limited. You can buy it as long as you have an ID. The second advantage, this currency allows fast transactions. Cryptocurrencies do not require a third party such as a bank to act as an intermediary in conventional financial transactions. “In seconds, in minutes, we can transact internationally.
The next advantage, cryptocurrency is transparent. Users can see all transactions made. However, only the transaction value can be known. Lastly, cryptocurrencies have the advantage of being able to be traded 7 days 24 hours. This means that cryptocurrency transactions can be carried out at any time. This is certainly different from conventional financial transactions that can only be done on weekdays.
On the other hand, cryptocurrencies also have their drawbacks. One of them is the gap for the crime. Illegal transactions can also be done. The next drawback, when you lose your password (password). When users forget their passwords, all their money can be lost. This can happen because until now, cryptocurrencies still do not have a third party, such as banks in conventional financial transactions, who can cover this problem.
Then, the last shortcoming is that in Indonesia, cryptocurrency is still considered a commodity, not a transaction tool. In other words, cryptocurrency to introduce transactions in Indonesia is not yet available,” said Rahman Desyanta.
NFT stands for non-fungible tokens. It’s usually created using the same kind of programming as cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but the similarities end there.
Physical money and cryptocurrencies are “worth it”, meaning they can be traded or exchanged for each other. They are also of equal value — a thousand rupiah is always worth a thousand rupiah; one Bitcoin always equals another Bitcoin. Crypto compatibility makes it a trusted tool for making transactions on the blockchain.
However, NFT is different. Each has a digital signature that does not allow NFTs to be exchanged or equivalent to one another (hence, not interchangeable). One NFT clip, for example, is not the same as another NFT just because they are both NFT, Rahman Desyanta added.
In the presentation of the webinar material “Sofyan” explained that Baliola.com is the first NFT art market in Bali. At Baliola.com, all works that are submitted before being made into NFTs will go through a verification and validation process first, so that it can be known whether the work being sold is the official product of the artist concerned or the result of illegal piracy. This verification process is of course carried out by a team of verifiers who are members of the official Baliola team.
Then discussing the object of NFT again, the products that can be sold at Baliola can be in various fields. In general, NFT can be grouped into several categories, namely art consisting of digital artwork such as images, videos, or GIFs. Collections represent items of interest to collectors. Games include digital objects used in competitive play. The metaverse is made up of virtual world pieces. Utilities that represent items that have a specific function and others including remaining collections.
The enthusiasm of the webinar participants was felt when entering the discussion session, one of the questions from today’s webinar participants was Adriana Pertiwi “What is the artwork verification mechanism like? Will baliola check the color/feature of a work? Or do we have to include proof of ownership of the uploaded work? Introduce blockchain by the machine or by the admin?”
“Sofyan” added that the verification process for work is proof of an original or pure artwork belonging to the artist. Even if later the artist has proof of ownership of the work he uploaded, it’s even better, because that’s what we will ask for later, during the verification process of this work, we will hold an interview or interview with the artist related to his work uploaded on Baliola.
Even if it’s a painting, it’s usually from a temporary team that comes to the location of an artist who comes to our office in Dharma Negara Alaya to show their work. For graphic design and illustrators, make sure that each work has a meaning or story, which is one of the references for the Baliola team to verify that the work was created and developed by the artist.
The verification process is carried out by the Baliola team themselves, not using a machine because if you use a machine, you still can’t prove that the artwork is original or not. So we have to make sure the artwork is original or not only with the Baliola team itself.
For the problem of color or features in a work, Baliola does not limit the artist, in this case, the artist has more freedom to his work, which must be emphasized here that his work is original and the artwork can be sold, Sofyan said.