NFT for Art: A New Chapter Begins
Non Fungible Tokens or NFTs have been the most exciting space. Interestingly NFT was searched by over 600% on Google since mid-February. NFT is directly hitting on the initial coin offering (ICO), and on top of it, NFT platforms are making millions of dollars every day.
Remember, when the sports collectibles platform NBA Top Shot sales’ hit more than $7.89 million, art-house OpenSea took to $4.88 million, and the “digital antique” NFT project CryptoPunks netted $3.28 million.
Quite fascinating, the mainstream media is pushing itself to NFTs more than crypto. BBC to The New York Times is deep-diving into the NFT spaces more than ever. The art has got a great appreciation and recognition with Christie’s NFT platform. Jack Dorsey’s “just setting up my twittr” was sold for the equivalent of $2.9 million to a Malaysia-based businessman. On the other hand, an Alien Crypto Punk changing hands for $7.57 million was the most significant move. Famous artists such as Banksy and Damien Hirst shifted to the trend along with musical acts Kings of Leon, 3Lau, and Aphex Twin.
Initially, everyone was so attracted to cryptocurrency, decentralized finance or the DeFi, digital assets, and blockchain. But today, the ball is in the NFT court. Now people are interested in owning a JPG.
“This is a very good thing, as NFTs are bringing new demographics into crypto, outside of the usual finance and tech types,” said Colin Goltra, co-founder of the NFT-based Narra Art Gallery in Decentraland.
“Suddenly we’ve got this fresh blood of people exploring the space with new eyes,” says Goltra, who also heads up Binance Philippines, adding: “It’s refreshing to interact with new community members — you’re really inspired by the art, you have a lot of fun, and it’s kind of like a game to collect.”
“Make sure you’re getting some combination of that stuff out of it too because if you’re just treating this as financial speculation, honestly, there’s probably other games in town for that.”
Find the Best NFT
The value of the NFT is not like the DeFi protocols. You can value a DeFi project by analyzing its revenue and growth potential to the price of its token value locked. But NFTs aren’t so. They are highly subjective and can change instantly. For instance, CryptoKitties were at an average price of $1,263, but then they had fallen to $115 by March.
It is always about what you are actually paying for. It is like an NFT that gives you ownership of a unique token linked to the art, a certificate of authenticity. But then you don’t own the copyright of the artwork, nor do you get a physical copy of it. Also, it doesn’t stop anyone else from copying or viewing it.
Australian dance music producer Flume sold music and animation NFT “Saccade” for $66,000 but then retained the copyright to the music and left it freely available for anyone to watch on YouTube.
Well, blockchain technology also plays a crucial role in the NFT and its price tag. NFTs would really need a fast and secured blockchain like the NBA Top Shot using Flow, as it is the only place you can buy licensed NBA memorabilia.
Categories of NFTs
Different categories of NFTs such as art, music, in-game items, virtual land, and collectibles have different value drives. The in-fame assets derive value from their utility. For example, a sword with 10 times the power of the average sword will fetch a higher price, and virtual land is priced according to “location content and parameters”. Crypto arts are valued based on the artists’ reputation, while collectibles “derive their value from the narrative that surrounds the asset.”
NFTs in all the categories are driven by their scarcity and uniqueness. On the NBA Top Shot, sport “Moments” with low serial numbers go for higher prices. Recently, a collector turned down a $1 million offer for a moment with a #1 serial number which matched player Zion Williamson’s jersey number, #1.
NFT is always easy to understand for newcomers. The prominent artists can command higher prices with the overall volume of work. Prominent artists are seen launching a lot more work than others, and they can fetch bigger numbers in the NFT market.
NFTs can be released as editions of 10, 50, or even more like hundreds, similar to a real-world book print of 500 with a hand sign. They can also be one-of-one editions standing out with uniqueness. So artists mainly focus on the one-of-one editions and price higher.
“I do like the idea that I can be the unique owner of beautiful imagery or a beautiful piece of art,” says Goltra.
NFT Challenges
Quite a lot! NFT projects at times happen to make money which turns out to be a disaster. At times, the artworks are stolen and put for sale. This is a big trap that the investor has to keep an eye out for.
Russian artist WeirdUndead was outraged to find her stolen work up for sale on OpenSea after someone automatically tokenized it using Tokenized Tweets. Also, Rosa Menkman, a visual artist, faced a similar discovery of her artworks which were tokenized using a website called MarbleCards and auctioned on OpenSea.
A Piece of NFT Advice
These challenges are being addressed and resolved possibly. And the NFT is genuinely becoming the potential tool, and almost everything that is of art might switch to the NFT. Although everything seems to be experimental, soon sports, game items, arts, and anything that’s historical will gain traction. Everyone’s focus will be turned onto it. People can buy art that they like, and most probably that is historical.
To go for it or not, one should look for the scarcity, uniqueness, and value or worth that the respective NFT-based art has; go for it. So, find the super rare ones before you actually begin your conversation with the NFT platforms. Wanting to win an NFT-based artwork is one thing, but knowing the worth and owning is the other! Make sure you love what you buy.
To all the NFT sellers, you go and sell it when you see everyone else is FOMOing for it. Do not sell your artwork because you need money; it takes you to the worst times.
