In today's digital age, it is very easy to copy and paste a **, especially the art or design works spread on the Internet are easy to copy, and it is difficult to prove the author's ownership or copyright ownership of a picture. NFT art, as a crypto asset, is stored on the blockchain, and like cryptocurrencies, it can solve the above problems by proving the uniqueness of the data by technical means.
A collection of objects with special meaning in the material world, whether it is a painting or a postage stamp, or a book signed by the author, are all unique to the individual collector. If a book with the same content is exchanged for the one signed by the author, the collector will most likely not agree. The content of the two books is the same, but they cannot be equivalent, because the value of the author's signature is irreplaceable for the collector. And in the digital world, all the content is a set**. We can save the ** of an e-book, plus the author's unique digital signature, on the blockchain, and then produce several identical signed e-books, which is equivalent to creating an NFT.
British artist Damien Hirst's NFT work "Currency".
NFTs make digital assets unique and have a monetary value. As long as it can be digitized, almost all of them can be converted into NFTs, including paintings, songs, copyrights, ** models, etc. The collector collects an NFT, and this NFT is owned by the collector personally, even if someone takes a screenshot or **what they see**, they can't **own**, so they can't keep it as their own. The magic of blockchain is its ability to do the above.
British artist Damien Hearst with his NFT work "Money".
The combination of NFT technology and art has created a new artistic medium. The first known NFT art was created in 2014 by New York University professor Kevin McCoy and technologist Anil Dash, and the work is an edited **. McCoy registered the ** on the blockchain and sold it to Dash for $4**, and also gave an offline demo in New York. McCoy and Dash call the technology "monetized graphics." A non-fungible, tradable blockchain token that is explicitly linked to a piece of art via on-chain metadata. This is very different from other blockchains and platforms that can be replaced, and it creates a new artistic medium.
McCoy's NFT work "Quantum" (*screenshot).
The creation of NFT art has sparked a revolution in digital collectibles. In 2017, Canadian game studio Dapper Labs launched CryptoKitties, a game that gathers people to suck cats, making NFTs the focus of discussion on moving to a larger market. CryptoCats is a game designed based on the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to buy, breed, and trade virtual cats. Each cat is unique, and different characteristics determine the rarity of the cat, and the rarity determines the trade value of the cat. Users start with 100 initial cats and 50,000 breeding cats, and all other crypto cats are bred through initial cats and breeding cats. In 2018, the most expensive virtual pet was born, and a cryptocat worth 600 ETH (Ether, Ethereum-specific cryptocurrency) was worth about $170,000 at the time. This game, like collecting cards, is the best interpretation of the value of NFTs. CryptoKitty marked the beginning of a revolution in digital collectibles and drove new all-time transaction volumes on the Ethereum blockchain.
CryptoKitty from Canadian game studio Depp Labs.
Launched in the same year, Cryptopunks (also translated as "Cryptopunks", NFTs with pixel characters) are one of the iconic NFT projects. Cyberpunk paved the way for the subsequent popularity of PFPs (profile pictures, often used as verified social avatars) and NFTs. Created by mobile game development company Larva Labs, Cyberpunk features 10,000 hand-drawn 24px 24px (**size) characters. Each cyberpunk has unique attributes, which are reflected in hairstyles, clothing, and other characteristics. Cyberpunk has gradually gained recognition in pop culture and has made its way into ** and art exhibitions. Cyberpunk pixelated expression is very stylistic, which directly promotes the proliferation of PFP and NFT projects, and promotes NFT to be collected and accepted as a digital collectible. In February 2022, "CryptoPunk 5822" (digital artwork) was sold to the CEO of a blockchain company for a record 8,000 ETH (about $24 million).
Digital artwork "cryptopunk
The highlight of NFTs took place in 2021. American digital artist Mike Winkelmann's digital artwork "EveryDays: The First 5000 Days" sold for a staggering $69 million at Christie's. This is the first time that digital artworks have appeared on the stage of large-scale international auctions, and they have been sold**, which has completely pushed the development of the NFT art market to a frenzy, and the mainstream ** has begun to report on the content of NFTs.
Cryptopunk's pixel avatar.
One of the most imaginative NFT transactions also took place in 2021. Jack Dorsey, then co-founder and CEO of Twitter, took a screenshot of his first tweet in 2006 in the form of an NFT. This screenshot was sold to a cryptocurrency company in Malaysia for more than 1,630 ETH through auction. Dorsey converted the proceeds into Bitcoin and donated them to charity.
NFT crawling pet "cryptoreptile".
A profound change is unfolding, which has long gone beyond the NFT itself and extends to the establishment of new production relations. In the future, NFTs will be more than just a token or an art form. When we are talking about NFTs at this moment, NFTs have become a trend that represents a paradigm shift in how value, ownership, and production relationships are viewed. The development of NFTs has led us to think about technology, creativity and sustainability, and it has also challenged humanity and the potential of future technologies.
This article is excerpted from the 6th issue of Chinese Art in 2023.
The Cross-Innovation and Prospect of NFT Art and Technology
Chinese Art, No. 6, 2023