First NFT lesson conducted at Turkish university

ANKARA

Senior officials from the Turkish Presidency and the Culture and Tourism Ministry have attended the first class on NFTs (Non-fungible token) at a Turkish university.

Ankara University became the first university in Turkey to add a course on NFTs on its curriculum.

“This is a groundbreaking university. We are happy to teach about NFTs, but our students are happier than us,” Necdet Ünüvar, the rector of the university, said in his opening speech.

Among those to attend the course, “Introduction to NFT,” taught by academic Buğra Ayan, were Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Özgül Özkan Yavuz and Ali Taha Koç, the head of the Turkish Presidency’s Digital Transformation Office.

“We believe that NFT will trigger artistic creativity, skills and talents among youth,” Yavuz said in the ceremony.

“The step that Ankara University has taken by means of expanding awareness on NFT is very important.”

NFT is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded.

“I am looking forward to seeing the results at the end of the academic term. We can exhibit all NFT works produced by the students that participated in this lesson,” Yavuz added.

Koç said his office is working on many digital projects, too. “Do not think that NFT is just a matter of technology. There is also a legal dimension of NFT which will make us see how it will affect our business styles,” he said.

He also highlighted that he and his colleagues were trying to coin a Turkish term for NFT and asked all attendees of the course about their ideas on it.

“I will start a poll on social media platforms about it. Everyone should join and add an alternative name to NFT,” he noted.

The first known NFT was “Quantum,” a videoclip created by U.S. citizen Kevin McCoy in May 2014. McCoy registered the video on the Namecoin blockchain and sold it to tech-executive Anil Dash for $4.

As of March 2021, analysis of NFT markets found that most NFT artworks were selling for less than $200, with a third selling for less than $100.