Over the course of the pandemic, more and more aspects of life have continued to move into a digital space. One of those aspects? The buying and selling of art through digital tokens called NFTs.
An NFT is a token that proves ownership of an intangible item, like digital art. They work similarly to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in the sense that an NFT is a unit of data that exists on a blockchain.
However, the main difference between NFTs and cryptocurrencies lies in its name — NFT stands for non-fungible token. If you trade a bitcoin for another bitcoin, you get the same thing. If you trade an NFT for another NFT, it represents a completely different item. Therefore, NFTs are more like digital, one-of-a-kind trading cards.
NFTs can represent digital files such as art, audio, videos, items in video games, and other forms of creative work. And now, NFTs for digital art are bring sold for sky-high prices.
In March, an NFT for a digital piece by the artist Beeple was sold at a Christie’s auction for $69 million dollars. The same work of art can be found on Google by searching ‘Beeple NFT.’
In fact, most of Beeple’s work can be found on his Instagram page. So what makes an NFT so valuable?
In a video with Business Insider, Beeple, or Mike Winkelmann, put it this way: “If everybody wants it, then it has value.”
“What makes a Louis Vuitton purse so valuable? It’s just a brown leather purse.”
As the NFT market continues to grow, more celebrities are getting involved with the crypto and blockchain markets than ever before.
NFL stars Eli and Peyton manning announced Wednesday that they would be releasing an eight-piece NFT trading card collection next week. Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady is also planning on releasing an NFT platform called Autograph sometime this spring.
