As both fractional and traditional non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have seen exponential growth this year, the firm Otis has announced the launch of a marketplace called Otis House. The platform is a new NFT project that turns physical items into NFTs, and the tokens can be traded at any time for the physical items stored in a vault. The platform has launched the auction of six assets that include a vintage Super Mario Bros 3 video game and a rare Bob Ross painting.
Otis House aims to bridge NFTs and physical collectibles
While NFTs have been a hot topic in 2021, Bitcoin.com News has reported on a number of interesting projects that use NFT technology in a different way. For example, Bitcoin.com News spoke to popular American rapper Ja Rule in September about his startup Flipkick.io, a platform that leverages both physical and digital NFTs of artists, celebrities and of creators who wish to monetize their work. Our press office also discussed fractional NFTs a few times and highlighted four projects dedicated to divisible NFT technology.
One of the startups featured in the article among Unicly, Fractional, and Daofi is the company Otis. Otis has announced the launch of Otis House which aims to offer a different method of non-fungible token technology because the NFTs are tied to real-world items. Otis has offered NFT auctions in the past and on July 29, Otis introduced a limited edition NFT collection by the recording artist Grimes. The new NFT auction platform “turns rare [and] physical collectibles into NFTs, [and] NFTs purchased through Otis House can be traded in at any time for the physical item.”
Otis House claims to provide a bridge between NFTs and physical collectibles. Essentially, a collector sends a physical item to Otis House and the item is stored, authenticated, and insured in a safe. After the safe process, which must be an item valued over $ 5,000, Otis will hit an NFT to represent the safe collectible. Otis says auctions will be held regularly on the platform and that at any time the owner with a genuine NFT can exchange the digital item for the physical collectible. “Otis will destroy the NFT and ship the collector’s item to the owner,” the company’s announcement details Wednesday.
1971 Bob Ross, Super Mario Bros. 3, Lebron James Rookie Card
Currently, Otis House has six collectible assets that are up for auction. The collectibles include a 1993 Simpsons Matt Groening DeBart card (PSA 9), a 2003 Topps Chrome Lebron James Rookie card (PSA 10 Gem Mint), a Pokémon Yellow Gameboy video game (Wata 9.4) Special Pikachu Edition, a Nintendo Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wata 9.6), and a 1971 Bob Ross painting. Currently, the auctions have more than four days left to close at the time of writing. The Pokémon Yellow Gameboy video game currently has a bid for 1.2 ETH worth around $4,878 at press time.
According to Otis, anyone can submit a collectible worth over $ 5,000 and all items will be stored in temperature and humidity controlled safes in Delaware or New York. “Owners can list and auction the item, take out a loan against the NFT, or a group of buyers can Partybid or create a DAO to co-own the item together,” the startup’s website details. “Buyers can trade in the NFT to own the physical item where we’ll ship it, they can resell it in the market or split it up. The possibilities are limitless.”
