The Norwegian bank Sparebank1 and the cryptocurrency exchange service provider Kaupang Krypto have, in collaboration, introduced a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on digitalised historical local money from the mining community on the isolated island of Svalbard. They grew fond of the long-term storage offering Piql can provide and decided to write all of their original NFTs and their associated digital coins and notes as well as historical information to piqlFilm. The data was deposited in the Arctic World Archive on the 14th of February, 2022. Svalbard has a unique history of producing local money. Throughout much of the 20th century, American, British, Norwegian, Soviet, and Swedish coal mining companies created their own banknotes. The Soviets also created coins for their operations. The miners received their salary in local currency and used it for purchasing goods - exclusively on Svalbard. Sparebank1, initiated the Svalbard money project to tell the story of the phenomenon that was Svalbard money using pictures, maps, art, sound, and text. This goal was made possible through deep analysis and careful digitizing and recreation of an important part of Norwegian history. The Svalbard money project has analysed and digitally reproduced accurate representations of 551 bills and 111 coins from the isolated Svalbard community. “With the help of Piql’s technology, this unique part of financial history will be stored safely for eternity in the Arctic World Archive. In one way, the Svalbard money will be everlasting. It is a beautiful idea”, - says Morten Søberg, Director of Public Relations at Sparebank 1.
