The only countries in the world that have not taken part in SpareBank 1’s crypto project are Eritrea, Somaliland and North Korea.
– But North Korea is good at hiding its tracks, says Morten Søberg jokingly.
He is a public contact in SpareBank 1 and has spent the last year on what is the first NFT project in the Norwegian financial industry.
NFT stands for “Non-Fungible Token” and is a unique digital certificate of ownership that is made on a blockchain. It is often associated with a digital object such as a picture or a video, and the ownership of that object.
– PERMAFROST: Morten Søberg in SpareBank 1 on his way down to mine 3 on Svalbard to end the crypto project. Photo: Karen Anna Kleppe / TV 2
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The project has also led to a completely unique collaboration beyond the borders of Norway.
– This is the first international collaboration between cryptofinance and a traditional bank to create such an NFT project, and we have received enormous international attention, says CEO of Kaupang crypto, Nikolai Gobel.
In addition to bringing a large Norwegian bank into the world of cryptocurrencies, they have disseminated Norway’s hitherto unknown and completely unique monetary history to the whole world.
Goes for 80,000 kroner
In the 20th century, American, British, Soviet, Swedish and Norwegian mining companies printed their own money for the miners on Svalbard. Through the work they did, the miners gained access to the money that was printed on the Arctic archipelago.
Expressions such as “mining” and “proof of work” are traditionally associated with mining and work, but today are widely used in connection with cryptocurrency. Therefore, it was only natural, according to Søberg, that Svalbard money and blockchain technology came together.
– There are obvious linguistic parallels between Svalbard money made by mining publishers and mining, and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, says Søberg.
Together with Kaupang Krypto and designer from Haltenbanken, SpareBank 1 made identical coins and banknotes, which began to appear as digital collectibles on the blockchain Etherum last year.
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Design: Ørjan Ingvaldsen / Haltenbanken. 3D design: Ole C. Loftesnes.
Through the project’s website, people have learned about money history, but also had the opportunity to make their own NFTs, and with it their own unique digital copy of a real seat or coin from Svalbard.
Some have already been sold on to almost 80,000 kroner.
– We have had several hundred users and several hundred thousand visitors, says Gobel.
– THE BEGINNING: Nikolai Gobel in Kaupang Krypto thinks this is just the beginning of how the technology behind NFT can be used in a few years. Photo: Karen Anna Kleppe / TV 2
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New crypto-banks
But the project is not just about public education and history. By making the Svalbard money available as an NFT on a blockchain, the bank has also acquired knowledge that may soon become invaluable.
– The goal was to contribute to public education, but also provide us with more insight into this new technology and digital ownership, in order to be able to use this insight strategically through new business opportunities and financial services, says Søberg.
– RUSSIAN INTEREST: The Russian Consul General in Barentsburg, Sergey Gushchin, flew a helicopter to Longyearbyen to participate in the archiving of the project. Photo: Karen Anna Kleppe / TV 2
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He refers to Switzerland, which already last year had a complete body of legislation that regulates everything that has to do with blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
– We see the emergence of completely new banks and funds that offer new services within this “universe”. It is very promising, exciting and definitely something we must be curious about, says Søberg.
Søberg receives support from senior researcher Svein Ølnes at Vestlandsforsking. He is researching in particular how cryptocurrency and blockchain technology can be used in the public sector. He thinks the banks in Norway are already behind.
– It is up to the banks how relevant they will be in the future. At present, Norwegian banks are much more afraid of cryptocurrencies than banks in other countries. They are very nervous about believing wrong, says Ølnes.
– CRYPTO RESEARCHER: Senior researcher Svein Ølnes is researching in particular how cryptocurrency and Bitcoin can be used in the public sector in the future. Photo: Isac Skjevik Kvello / TV 2
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He thinks Norwegian banks must be more offensive and understand that cryptocurrency is coming to stay. Because in not many years it will be used for fairly everyday things, says Ølnes.
This is how it can become part of every day
– Tickets to festivals, concerts or football matches are obvious. NFT is as created for that type of documentation, says Ølnes.
He thinks it is only a couple of years before NFT can be used for services like this, and that it will then be better than solutions we have today.
– For example, there is greater security against counterfeiting, in addition it will be possible to cut out intermediaries. Today, a good number of people pay a fee for ticket handling, says Ølnes.
If you look further into the orb, NFT can be used as proof of ownership in the future. If you buy a car, the purchase contract can be an NFT, and one will release the approval from the third party, which in this case would be the Public Roads Administration.
– MILLION ART: This NFT, a picture of a stone, sold for almost two million dollars last year. Photo: Isac Skjevik Kvello / TV 2
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– But exactly this is a bit far ahead. First, the user experience must be better, says ølnes.
Almost like myke verd
Søberg also envisages that NFT may sometime in the future be a form of equity, which can be used in connection with loans, for example.
– Many Norwegians who own cryptocurrencies are concerned about the phenomenon, and the financial sector must deal with this. But this must be done in coordination with law and order and clarified tax matters, says Søberg.
He thinks the entire Norwegian financial sector walks around with a dog and a white cane and tries to feel it.
But while the financial sector feels blind, Søberg is in Svalbard to complete the first NFT project for a Norwegian bank.
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The most unique NFT coin in the collection is the Falsen coin, after Christian Magnus Falsen and the mountain Falsenslottet on Spitsbergen. Design: Ørjan Ingvaldsen / Haltenbanken. 3D design: Ole C. Loftesnes.
At the beginning of February, 10 months after the project started, the opportunity to create new digital collectibles from Svalbard money was closed.
551 sets and 111 coins have been produced. While real Svalbard money goes to auctions for between 50,000 and 100,000 kroner, one of the digital Svalbard money has already been sold for 80,000 kroner.
– It has been a triumphant march all over the world, with visits and users from 193 countries.
Store in the permafrost
On Monday, the SpareBank 1 project will end. Even if the unknown money history were to be forgotten again, or the prediction about cryptocurrency turns out not to come true, it will always exist in a mine on Svalbard.
– In Latin it is said that what is not in the archive, is not in the world, says Søberg in the concluding speech, underground in the permafrost in a closed mine in Longyearbyen.
Good luck to the Arctic World Archive. On physical film reels inside a container in the mine, the project owners archive absolutely all the data belonging to the project.
– CONCLUSION: Morten Søberg puts in place all the data and information about the first Norwegian NFT project for a Norwegian bank, now stored for a thousand years on a physical film roll in a mine on Svalbard. Photo: Karen Anna Kleppe / TV 2
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If everything goes according to plan, it will be underground in permafrost together with the first maps from Mexico, manuscripts from the Vatican and football history to Brazil for several hundred, if not a thousand years.
– Now this will exist forever, in an entire peripheral part of the world, in a demilitarized zone. It is a new chapter in monetary history, and now it will also be secured for posterity, where it will start, says Søberg.
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