Romania to launch NFT marketplace ICI D|Services on April 26

Romania’s National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics is moving closer to its goal of enhancing Web3 adoption in the country by launching an in-house NFT trading platform. 

Termed ICI D|Services, the institutional NFT platform will go live on April 26 and strives to establish a link between private and public sector users and institutions. As an NFT marketplace, the platform will enable both public as well as institutional users to manage, mint, and trade non-fungible tokens. 

ICI Bucharest has been keen to concentrate on research and development during the last five years; however, it has shifted its attention towards exploring Web3, blockchain, and NFTs, thanks to their worldwide growth. 

Paul Niculescu-Mizil Gheorghe, ICI Bucharest blockchain laboratory coordinator, said that non-fungible tokens have become popular in recent years owing to their potential to create exclusive and limited digital assets that can be applied across several use cases. As a result, they have transformed into valuable assets for institutions, which is the reason behind the NFT platform proposal within ICI Bucharest in late 2021.

The institution started developing and implementing the architecture of the marketplace system in collaboration with MultiversX midway through 2022, which happens to be the very first strategic project using the blockchain infrastructure provider.

The collaboration includes the development of a decentralized DNS (Domain Name System) and TLD (top-level domain) ecosystem. 

Gheorghe said that the Romanian government supports the project via the secretariat–general and the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitalization.

He added that the institute aspires to form a bridge between the young generations and the public institutions’ values to make way for a comfort zone that allows interactions with the digital space.

The platform’s launch will have five rare NFT collections developed in collaboration with several key Romanian organizations, sportspeople, and institutions. This also includes the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee; David Popovici, the 18-year-old 100-meter freestyle swimming world record holder; Agerpres, the Romanian news agency; Romfilatelia, the national philately organization; and Bucharest’s Central University Library.

Gheorghe believes that the Romanian government’s support of advanced projects such as ICI D|Services will increase the economic ability of the country by producing new revenue options, promoting economic growth, and cultivating a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Blockchain enhances the ability of institutions to approach prominent use cases related to digital asset management, transparency, and security in several institutional operations like health, supply chain management, education, land registration, and transport.