The 8SIAN NFT Collection Aims To Bridge Asia And The NFT Space

The NFT industry has a major problem: it is severely lacking in representation and inclusivity. To illustrate, if you randomly picked one NFT from all the existing collections, you are highly likely to pick something that caters to cis-gendered White men. Even ones focusing on animals (read: BAYC) have low to no female traits. Female representation aside, when it comes to Asian representation, the picture grows grimmer. To be honest, as an Asian woman, this reporter can hardly find NFTs that look anything like her. Fortunately, projects like 8SIAN are now coming up to bridge this ever-growing gap in the industry.

Seeing the obvious lack of representation of women and Asians in the NFT industry, Nicole founded the 8SIAN NFT collection to represent “strong, Asian women” like herself. 

“We want 8SIAN to represent and showcase the many cultures and heritage of Asia in the virtual world, a future that we believe is inevitable,” the 8SIAN team wrote. “We want 8SIAN to bridge the gap and create a community within the NFT space for everyone who shares and admire the many cultures of Asia.”

All about the 8SIAN NFT collection

The main 8SIAN NFT collection includes 8,888 NFTs of Asian women, truly showcasing the art and culture of Asia. True to their aim of creating authentic Asian female avatars, the NFTs in the collection are highly detailed and amply represent the myriad Asian cultures. Ultimately, the 8SIAN team hopes to bridge the Asian culture with the metaverse.

The NFTs come in five different rarities: Goddess, Ultra Rare, Super Rare, Rare, and Original. While Goddes NFTs are the rarest with only 36 NFTs in all, Original is the most common. Like other NFT collections in the space, 8SIAN offers several benefits to their NFT holders. 

Firstly, 2.5% of all secondary sales go to their community-led fund. The team will mainly use the fund to increase awareness around the project and for initiatives benefiting the community. This includes supporting emerging artists, hosting contests and events, supporting charities, and more. Indeed, the community can vote on how the funds will be utilised. 

8SIAN plans to integrate into the metaverse

Next, the project has big plans for the metaverse. This includes an 8SIAN Museum, 3D metaverse-ready 8SIANs, Asian inspired digital wearables, and more. To fulfil these plans, the team has already bought land in Decentraland and The SandBox. Besides, 8SIAN VIP GOLD PASS holders will have early access and benefits. The GOLD PASS holders also get access to a private alpha group. 

Apart from these, the project also has plans to set up blockchain scholarship programs to educate those in the community. 

The collection dropped in late December 2021 at 0.088 ETH mint price. At the time of writing, its floor had gone up to 0.209 ETH, with 4,600 ETH (about $11.6 million) generated in OpenSea trading volume. Besides, the project has already built a strong community—we’re talking about 15,000 Discord members and nearly 26,000 Twitter followers!

All things considered, the 8SIAN NFT collection is a refreshing addition to the industry. Hopefully, the project will inspire more Asia-focused collections to join the space.