The global NFT boom now has a distinctly Malaysian address.
Pentas.io, launched this month by five Malaysian co-founders — Mohamad "Mo" DW, Muhaimin Hadri, Izzan Zinol, Marish Molah and Irsyad Saidin — is an NFT marketplace built on BNB Chain with a deliberate focus on local art and heritage. Where the big international platforms treat Southeast Asian creators as a long tail, Pentas puts them front and centre, with a Bahasa-friendly community and onboarding designed for artists who have never touched a wallet.
Early traction
The platform's growth through its first year tells the story: by 2022 Pentas reported roughly 150,000 transactions, around 8,100 users and more than 81,000 NFTs minted. It sits alongside other local entrants — including MyEG's NFT Pangolin marketplace — in a fast-forming Malaysian NFT ecosystem.
Why the association is watching
Marketplaces are infrastructure. When Malaysian artists mint on a Malaysian platform, the fees, the community and the cultural context stay local. Between record-setting sales by Malaysian artists and now homegrown venues to trade on, 2021 is shaping up as the year Malaysia's creative economy discovered web3 in earnest.