In a first of its kind initiative, the Idol Wing CID of the Tamil Nadu Police has embarked on a new drive to mint Soulbound Tokens, a non-transferable form of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), as “digital medals” to motivate officers in the wing.
The Idol Wing CID became the first police unit in the world to create the first virtual museum (www.tnidols.com) using augmented and virtual reality images of seized idols on February 27, 2022. The branch has now set its sight on another initiative that will make Tamil Nadu Police the second police force in the world, after Dubai, to mint its own non-fungible tokens or NFTs to award them as rewards.
Director General of Police, Idol Wing CID, K. Jayanth Murali said, “The Tamil Nadu Police’s Idol Wing is the first police unit in the world to mint Soulbound Tokens (SBTs), a non-transferable form of NFTs, as “digital medals” to motivate officers in the wing. Digital rewards will only augment the existing reward system and will not replace any of the existing rewards in the Police Department. It will only serve as an additional incentive to encourage and motivate officers to give their all.“
NFTs are unique digital assets that cannot be swapped for another item and are stored and corroborated using blockchain technology. The value of an NFT is linked to the fact they tend to be a one-of-a-kind item with such rarity that drives up their worth.
The first five digital assets were presented as rewards on Thursday to the team headed by Deputy Superintendents of Police U. Muthuraja and R. Mohan, which seized 15 idols from the residence of an art collector on November 18 in Thiruvanmiyur. In addition, the digital medal was being presented to Inspector Indira for her outstanding work this year.
The NFTs that were presented were created by Arjun Reddy, Kameshwaran and Ramkumar, co-founders of Guardian Link.
