Tamil Nadu police launch NFT to award Idol Wing members

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu police Idol Wing has now launched an initiative to mint it's non-fungible tokens (NFT) to award members of Idol Wing unit as rewards.

This initiative will make Tamil Nadu Police the second police force in the world after Dubai to mint its NFTs.

NFTs Tamil Nadu Police’s Idol Wing is the first police unit in the world to mint Soulbound Tokens (SBTs), a non-transferable form of NFT, as “Digital Medals” to motivate officers in the wing to make exceptional contributions.

Digital medals will be awarded to recognise and commend officers for doing an extraordinary job. Digital rewards will only augment the existing reward system and will not replace any of the existing rewards in the police Department. Digital rewards will only serve as an additional incentive to encourage and motivate officers to give their best, a press release from Idol Wing said.

NFTs are unique digital assets which cannot be swapped for another item and are stored and corroborated using blockchain technology. The value of a NFT is linked to the fact they tend to be a one-of-a-kind item, with such rarity which drives up their worth. The present collection features 50 digital assets.

The first five digital assets were presented as rewards today to the team headed by DSP Muthuraja and DSP Mohan, which seized 15 idols from the residence of Ratnesh Banthia on November 18, 2022, by masquerading as wealthy Idol collectors. Besides, the above rewards an SBT as a Digital Medal is being presented to Inspector Indira for her outstanding work this year.

NFTs which were presented were created by Arjun Reddy, Kameshwaran and Ramkumar, co-founders of Guardian Link.

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) can immensely help in preserving our rich cultural heritage. NFTs are revolutionising how we preserve and share our cultural heritage. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique data stored in the general ledger on a blockchain. NFTs represent objects such as images, videos, and audio, and the holder of the NFT will be able to prove the authenticity and ownership of the digital object. This trait has sparked the interest of the cultural sector that deals with delicate and one-of-a-kind things. They offer a new way to store and appreciate cultural artifacts, from ancient monuments to modern-day idols.

Through platforms like Monuverse, we can keep digital versions of these artifacts, protecting them from censorship, plagiarism, and the ravages of time. We can also use NFTs to create digital versions of our cultural artifacts, allowing us to share our heritage with future generations. For example, we can create NFTs of our favourite idols, allowing them to be appreciated long after they are gone.

We can even create NFTs of entire ecosystems or places of cultural significance to preserve and share with the world digitally. NFTs are a great way to ensure how we preserve our cultural heritage for future generations. NFTs are quickly becoming more popular as a way to share and preserve cultural artifacts.Following are the digital rewards that the wing plans to give to incentivise good work.

Besides the existing regular awards, the Idol Wing staff who do good work may receive NFTs as rewards in future. The first NFTs are being issued for the following good work done by the North Zone team.

DSP Muthuraj, DSP Mohan and team, on 18 November 2022, masquerading as Wealthy Idol collectors approached the residence of Mr Ratnesh Banthia at No: 2, Jayaram Street, Thiruvanmiyur, and searched the home of Banthia between 11 45 am to 3 pm during which they found and seized 15 idols suspected to be antique. Hence, they become the first police team in the world to receive NFTs as rewards today. The team who received the NFTs can preserve the NFTs either as collectables which would appreciate with time or use them as currency for playing games in the Metaverse or to visit or buy a Monuverse when the proposed Metaverse or monetise it as a crypto coin to play in the virtual gaming sites of Guardian Link.

The officers who received NFTs today in their wallets from the DGP IWCID, Dr K.Jayanth Murali, Dr Dhinakaran IGP IWCID and SP IWCID Dr. Ravi are :

1. DSP Muthuraja

2. DSP Mohan

3. SSI Ramalingam

4. HC Reagan

5. Grade 1 Laxmikant

The Idol Wing plans to give NFTs to the public who volunteer information on people possessing illicit antique idols or on the movement of antique idols by idol smugglers, or volunteer information on the availability of stolen idols in foreign museums.

The wing will also plan to recognise the excellent work of the "Friends of Culture "with digital assets and also the students of colleges, who register and, in their free time, volunteer work in connection with the preservation of the culture and heritage of Tamil Nadu.