DUBAI: A carpet presented by the United Arab Emirates as a gift to the head of the Catholic Church a few years ago has been sold in the form of NFT. While the original remains in the Vatican, its digital representation has been successfully used to collect funds for the people of Afghanistan. The Pontifex carpet was gifted by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Pope Francis during a visit to the Vatican City. In September 2016, the two met to discuss the strengthening of the diplomatic relations between UAE and the Vatican as well as the promotion of inter-religious harmony. A non-fungible token (NFT) representing the carpet was sold for $82,000, the Khaleej Times reported. The money raised through the sale will be used to support vulnerable families in Afghanistan during the cold winter months. The head of the Catholic Church will keep the physical version of the carpet, which was woven by Afghan women. The buyer of the NFT will receive a scaled down replica of the original created by Zuleya, the retail arm of Fatima Bint Mohamed Bin Zayed Initiative (FBMI). TLTP
