Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航) is to issue 15 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with each one set at a floor price of NT$150,000, the airline said in a statement yesterday.
In partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Maicoin Ltd (現代財富科技), the airline is to auction the 15 tokens from today to Thursday, allowing only Taiwanese to participate, the low-cost carrier said.
Consumers can purchase the tokens by credit card, it said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
The NFT issuance would be the first among Taiwanese airlines. The Ming Hwa Yuan Arts and Cultural Group (明華園戲劇總團) and Shiyun (師園) fried chicken shop issued NFTs in recent months.
Tigerair Taiwan is providing substantial perks to holders of its NFT tokens, such as allowing buyers to fly standby for free on any of its flights from July to the end of next year, it said.
“NFT buyers could get on a flight at the last minute if there is an unoccupied seat, although there is no guarantee of boarding when flying standby,” a Tigerair Taiwan official said in an interview with the Taipei Times.
Sometimes those who fly standby choose a different destination if they cannot get on their desired flight, but overall, it is an opportunity to save quite a bit of money, the official said.
Token buyers would also be eligible to take three complimentary trips on the airline’s new Airbus SE 320neo jets when the aircraft are delivered, the statement said.
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
US sports leagues rushed to get in on the multi-billion US dollar bonanza of legalized betting, but the arrest of an National Basketball Association (NBA) coach and player in two sprawling US federal investigations show the potential cost of partnering with the gambling industry. Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and an NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested for his alleged role in rigged illegal poker games that prosecutors say were tied to Mafia crime families. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was charged with manipulating his play for the benefit of bettors and former NBA player and
RSS