Canon USA, the American subsidiary of the renowned Japanese camera and digital imaging corporation, has disclosed its intention to launch an in-house NFT photography marketplace called Cadabra later this year, which will be based on the Ethereum blockchain. The marketplace will showcase various photographs in different categories such as wildlife, sports, lifestyle, and landscapes.

The participating photographers are yet to be announced by Canon. However, the platform will feature physical prints of the images offered by Canon in addition to tokenized photos. Cadabra is a curated marketplace for tokenized photographs and will offer initial drops of photo collections, along with a secondary marketplace for reselling NFTs. This marks Canon’s second venture into the NFT market after its successful NFT drop on the Solana blockchain in July 2022 with Immutable Image, which included tokenized shots from renowned photographers such as Sam Abell, Barbara Bordnick, Melvin Sokolsky, and Joyce Tenneson.

The launch of Cadabra is expected to garner more attention from conventional players in the photography domain as Canon continues its transition into Web3. The trend towards blockchain-based marketplaces and the tokenization of assets is rapidly gaining momentum across multiple industries, including art, music, fashion, and real estate.

Although the photo NFT market has been comparatively small compared to larger sectors like PFPs and generative art, it has produced valuable collections, such as Justin Aversano’s “Twin Flames” and Isaac “Drift” Wright’s “Where My Vans Go?”. Other notable photo NFT platforms include Quantum Art, Fellowship, and Sloika.

Initially, Cadabra will only be available in the United States, and it will accept credit/debit card and cryptocurrency payments. The announcement of Canon’s entry into the Ethereum-based NFT photography market is a significant development for the industry, and it is anticipated to generate further interest in the niche photo NFT domain and bring attention to the potential of Web3 technology for traditional players in the photography industry.