Austria’s postal service is tapping rising investor interest in cryptocurrency assets with a new stamp it says will be the first to carry an embedded chip that stores information on a blockchain.
Oesterreichische Post AG’s new issue carries an image of a whale, an allusion to the elusive leviathan in Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, according to a statement on Friday. It’s the third crypto stamp issued by Austrian Post in the last three years and is being introduced amid heavy turbulence in digital-currency markets.
“This opens up a broad new field,” said Stefan Nemeth, the chief product manager at the Vienna-based company. The Near Field Communications chip embedded in the stamps will enable packages to be handled more efficiently, he said.
Post said it’s limiting circulation to 100,000 units of the 9.90 euros ($12.07) stamp. It can be pre-ordered and will be issued on June 21.
Previous crypto issues by Austria’s postal service bore images of unicorns and dogs identified with the Ethereum and Dogecoin digital currencies and were sold out to collectors. It began offering prepaid Bitcoin vouchers in denominations as large as 500 euros in 2017.
