The popular K-pop band, BTS (also known as the “Bangtan Sonyeondan”) announced plans to launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) last year in November. But widespread fan outrage forced the popular South Korean band to ditch the move.
Now—despite fans backlash threatening boycotts, and lodging environmental concerns—BTS has vowed to proceed with the initial plan (of unveiling NFTs) claiming it won’t bow down to fans pressure.
BTS is launching NFTs in the form of digital photo cards of its band members (in the first half of 2022) through a collaboration with Dunamu, a Fintech company.
In a statement released last year, Bang Si-Hyuk, chairman of Hybe (the band’s management agency), exclaimed that they plan to partner with Dunamu …
“[…] to create a way to expand the fun experience more diversely and securely, such as digitally authenticating the uniqueness of these photo cards and making them permanent, but also allowing them to be collected, exchanged, and displayed in a global fund community platform like Weverse.”
BTS Army “not happy”
John Kim, Hybe America’s project manager overseeing the NFT business, believes NFTs will expand the band’s popularity. He hopes that the NFTs … “will provide fans with more varied experiences and opportunities to express themselves.”
While the NFT launch is a forward-thinking idea, the BTS fan base (popularly known as BTS Army) is not happy with the move.
The “army” argues that investing in NFTs (which are recorded in a digital ledger in the same way as cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin) has an atrocious effect on the environment.
To the legion of fawning fans, BTS is now openly supporting a social problem given its earlier stance of promoting environmental sustainability—a contradictory move.
In a display of massive anger, fans revolted online by creating and trending Twitter hashtags such as #ARMYsAgainstNFT and #BoycottHybeNFT.
NFTs embrace criticized immediately
The hashtags opposing the move last month quickly became Twitter’s top-trending list, and BTS supporters have no plans of halting the revolts. The bulk of their criticism centers on the large energy consumption needed to create NFTs.
They’re peeved with BTS embracing NFTs, which clashes with the band’s climate activism—especially knowing they “promised” to protect the environment in a recent speech at the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
According to Mel Palmer, a popular BTS fan with a colossal TikTok following and who now leads the online criticism, BTS is now destroying the environment … “and that’s not how we want to support them.”
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