NFTs, the Future of Digital Art?

By Brenna Parker, Think Round Fine Arts Online, April 8, 2021

“Everydays – The First Five Thousand Days” a digital collage by artist Beeple selling for almost $70 million

If you have kept up with art-related news this year, you have probably heard someone mention NFTs. In fact, one digital-only artwork made by the artist Beeple sold this year for roughly $69 million at Christie’s auction house. Can you believe the owners of this artwork didn’t walk away with any physical assets?

What are NFTs?

NFT stands for non-fungible token. When something is non-fungible, this means that there are unique properties preventing the asset from being interchanged. According to BBC, “NFTs are ‘one-of-a-kind’ assets in the digital world that can be bought and sold like any other piece of property, but they have no tangible form of their own.” The digital tokens can then be considered a sort of certificate of authenticated ownership, which can be bought and sold again.

So really, people who purchase NFTs are really buying “lines of code on a blockchain that prove the authenticity of ownership of a digital asset–like a piece of artwork, an audio file, a video clip, or a plot of virtual land.” (The Hustle). These authenticated lines of code are important to associate with NFTs because it is extremely easy to re-download, copy and share most of the artworks that are created online. However, the lines of code specifying each piece of art and who owns it gives a greater sense of validity and verification.

How NFTs Work?

To better explain the entire process of creating and selling NFTs, The Hustle Newsletter has provided a helpful guide:

Zachary Crockett / The Hustle

Are NFTs Here to Stay?

There has been a recent spike in interest for NFTs, which could be partially fueled by substantial, multi-million dollar purchases of digital art and celebrity involvement.

$69 million for one of digital artist Beeple’s artworks
$6 million for musician Grimes digital art
$500,000 for Nyan Cat Gif

But could all of this hype around NFTs just be a bubble waiting to burst? It is hard to say. There are some who truly believe in the long-term future of buying and selling authenticated digital art, as a new concept of fine art collecting. This could be a great opportunity for digital artists and other digital creators to share their work and actually be able to sell it with validity. However, this market has the potential to become saturated pretty quickly, as more and more people come forward showcasing their new works. Time will tell as to whether the craze around NFTs is just temporary, or if the momentum can carry into an art collector’s daily routine.

Brenna Parker is Digital Analytics and Marketer at Think Round Fine Arts Online.