DigiStamps are tokens recorded on the Polygon blockchain, and work like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) but with an important difference. NFTs were once hyped as the future of tradeable digital assets, with people speculating wildly on badly drawn electronic images of bored apes and cryptopunks that came with digital authentication tokens stored on the immutable blockchain ledger, as proof of ownership. However, NFTs soon became synonymous with large-scale hacks and fraud on the internet, and “rugpulls” in which developers closed down their crypto projects and made off with massive amounts of investor funds. It would take a brave company to launch any NFT related product in 2026.
Instead, Australia Post and its Austrian technology partner StampFinity use “soulbound tokens” (SBTs) instead for the novelty collectible stamps. While SBTs are digital tokens that can be cryptographically authenticated, the abovementioned important difference is that they are not transferrable between digital wallets. No private keys are provided for the digital wallet, an Australia Post spokesperson said, and the DigiStamp is forever associated with the stamp card in a collector’s possession.
The DigiStamps are accessed via a nearfield communications (NFC) chip on the stamp card. Philatelists can verify the authenticity of the DigiStamps on the Polygon blockchain, but not the actual physical stamp. “The owner of the physical card containing the NFC chip and QR code retains ownership of the digital token,” an Australia Post spokesperson told iTNews. In that scenario, hanging onto the stamp card which has the NFC chip for authentication becomes necessary.
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