WILL CRYPTO CURRENCY STAMPS BEGIN A NEW PHASE OF DIGITAL PHILATELY?

Recently, Croatia, the United Nations, and Austria have issued stamps featuring crypto currency.  Many collectors will be vying to obtain first issues of this new and evolving philatelic phenomenon. 

The web shop (crypto.posta.hr/stamp/v2) where Croatian Post enables the purchase of crypto stamps is conceived as an interactive mosaic that provides an opportunity to pay for a stamp with cryptocurrencies. In order to faithfully translate collectibles into the digital world, cryptographers are divided into different categories with an emphasis on uniqueness and exclusivity. The motifs of crypto stamps for individual digital categories are related to the transfer of postal items throughout history, and five different ones have been identified. Thus, one digital category is limited to 3,000 copies (mail coach), while the largest edition issued a stamp with the motif of an Austro-Hungarian postman (9,000 copies). A postilion on horseback (4,000 copies), a telegraph deliveryman on a bicycle (6,000 copies) and a postman on a moped (8,000 copies), together with the previous two categories, make a total circulation of 30,000 copies. It is interesting that each digital category in the Crypto stamp 2 has a corresponding exclusive gold-plated version. Only 5 of the 30,000 digital categories are available in gilded edition.

The crypto stamp project is extremely important for the development of this relatively young industry in Croatia, but also for putting Croatia on the blockchain world map, as well as on the philatelic world map.

Whether digital albums will replace philately albums remains to be seen, but it is already clear that the passion that people have for collecting rare items has not disappeared with the emergence of digital technologies.