A Deep Dive Into The Art World With NFTs
CRYPTOAPES, CRYPTOKITTIES, Beeple – according to Collins Dictionary, NFT was the word of the year for 2021. The popularity of non-fungible tokens exploded during the course of last year, with celebrities such as Eminem and Melania Trump having jumped on the bandwagon, the total market cap was estimated to be in excess of $40 billion according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis Inc.
The founding of NFTs is inextricable from the art world; almost a decade ago, the first NFT was minted. New York-based digital artist Kevin McCoy created Quantum, a pixelated, radiating octagon, was minted on the Namecoin blockchain. The artwork was sold by major arthouse Sotheby’s through their Natively Digital online auction, and fetched just over $1.4 million last year.
Competitor Christie’s sold over $150 million worth of NFT artwork during the last year, Everydays – The First 5000 Days by artist Beeple being sold for a record-breaking $69 million, positioning him amongst the “top three most valuable living artists”, said the auction house. We examine the history, possibilities, and some of the African players in the NFT space.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE INTANGIBLE
“I’m clueless but excited… It’s like an internal combustion engine. You don’t need to understand how internal combustion works in order to benefit from it.”
– Koos Groenewald, of Jana + Koos
Proponents of the NFT boom in the art world point to its democratic potential; almost anyone can mint an NFT, and since this minting is performed through what is termed the smart contract – which governs transferability and ownership – these tokens have strong implications for authenticity verification and ongoing royalty payments, which has had some in the art world optimistic, even if
