It’s not all hectic days of geopolitical and economic discussions at the Davos Forum, taking place May 22-26. There is also time for new trends and technologies, and here, against all odds, the House of Alba appears. The foundation that manages the legacy of the noble family this Wednesday presented to the participants of the World Economic Forum (WEF, for its English acronym) one of the letters from Christopher Columbus to Isabel La Católica, which he owns and which has become a unique digital asset of the Document known in technical jargon as NFT (acronym for non-fungible token).
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An NFT is an encrypted document, a crypto that cannot be replicated or sold. They launched last year and have grown into a multibillion-dollar business ranging from computer-generated artworks, cartoon characters costing thousands of dollars, to photographs, to luxury items like Hublot watches. “It’s about dematerializing an object and creating its digital twin with all the guarantees of origin and authenticity,” explains WISeKey President and Founder Carlos Moreira, the company that developed the technology that made the document possible to convert from Colon . It is the first time that a noble house has started an NFT project. “We are making history, we look forward to opening this door to the metaverse, which is undoubtedly the future,” declared Emilio Ramírez, Secretary of the Casa de Alba Foundation, a month ago while presenting the project at the Palacio de Liria in Madrid .
“Starting with the letter from Columbus is very symbolic, he’s talking about entering the New World, which America used to be, and now he’s entering the New World, which is the metaverse,” Moreira points out. WISeKey itself has created artistic awards to recognize the impact of specific projects on the development of the NFT industry. The Duke of Huéscar, Fernando Fitz-James, son of the current Duke of Alba, was due to make the presentation and accept the award in this first edition, but he did not attend the elite Swiss city on Wednesday. Eventually he was picked up by the person in charge of the foundation. The Letter of Columbus NFT consists of a three-minute animation by Spanish-Venezuelan artist Pedro José Sandoval, a series of sculptures, images and original music centered around the character of Columbus and his many voyages to the Americas. The NFT is now on display at the Palacio de Liria, home of the Casa de Alba Foundation.
However, it is strange that the presentation of such an initiative takes place in the Davos Forum. Because if you have not one, but twenty of the forty letters from Christopher Columbus to Queen Elizabeth and you want to promote them as historical documents, go to one of the prestigious international book fairs or organize an exhibition in a major museum. However, if you want to put the value of the letter on the market, you go to someone who knows money and business, and that is Davos’ specialty.
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Years ago, the auction house Christie’s valued the letter at 100 million dollars (around 93.7 million euros). This is of course a purely theoretical assessment. Since it is a historical document, its possible sale or even the temporary departure of the letter from Spain for an investigation or an exhibition would have to be previously authorized by the Spanish Historical Heritage Qualification Authority, which belongs to the Ministry of Culture, hardly I would agree to that. However, the same does not happen if it is an NFT.
The buyer of an NFT can prove its authenticity through a blockchain code, the same code used by cryptocurrencies. Some market estimates put the value of the letter from NFT of Columbus at between $10 million and $20 million (€9.3 million to €18.7 million), although the House of Alba insists its initial goal is not to sell, certainly not in the United States next three years.
WISeKey announced this Wednesday that this “NFT will be the first to be offered in the form of a loan rather than a sale.” He added: “This is a new way of investing in art, especially for museums and private foundations that want to be part of this amazing collaboration with little or no carbon footprint. Imagine that hundreds of thousands of people can watch this video from anywhere in the world. It’s a museum piece and WISe.ART will manage its future.” But there are more alternatives.
Another detail of the letters of Columbus. David Fernandez (EFE)
“Creating one of these assets makes it possible to obtain financing in the market or to rent it for an exhibition. The main target are the museums, especially from the Gulf States, which have great buildings but lack great artworks. This could be a way to publicize the House’s immense legacy,” stresses Moreira, who was born in La Línea de la Concepción, lives in Switzerland and has his company listed on Wall Street. In fact, Goldman Sachs just extended a line of credit using NFTs as collateral to receive cash, another move toward cryptocurrency-backed lending that was already a reality in the US.
Image of the video that accompanies the NFT of Columbus’ letter.
Moreira, a regular guest in Davos for more than 15 years, has also chosen an emblematic location for presenting these awards: the famous Piano Bar of the Europa Hotel in Davos. There, Barry, the famous pianist, has shared an instrument with some of the most media-savvy experts on world geopolitics, or accompanied a former US Treasury Secretary determined to speak out while a huge audience of bankers, journalists, businessmen and politician advisors danced and sang on beat. It may seem like a virtual world, but it’s absolutely real. Of course it’s Davos.
Another picture from the video.
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