Non Fungible Token’s (NFT’s) are well and truly with us. The latest ‘internet fad’ kicked off in 2012, with the creation of the tongue-twisting Colored Coins cryptocurrency. NFTs didn't move into the mainstream until a few years later, when the blockchain game CryptoKitties began selling virtual cat art in 2017. Most NFTs include some kind of digital artwork such as photos, GIFs, videos, or music.
For LettsArt, the NFT marks an inevitable pivot in the world of the art trade. Theoretically, anything digital can become an NFT. NFT’s could finally break the link between free, ad driven media and a new world where any kind of information can be bought and sold - triggering a long overdue micro payments revolution. This means that LettsArt works and artists can be part of the revolution. Joining a movement that will see the art marketplace innovation to exponential levels.
How? Why? NFTs are tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique items. They allow us to tokenize things like art and collectibles - even real estate. They can only have one official owner at a time and they're secured by the Ethereum blockchain – so no one can modify the record of ownership or copy and paste a new NFT into existence. NFT’s also support a royalty system so that creators can get a percentage of future resales.
In the case of LettsArt, the largest sector of NFT trading today is the art market. NFTs are most commonly sold in so-called 'drops', which are timed online sales by blockchain-backed marketplaces like Nifty Gateway, Opensea and Rarible. Where artists and galleries can place NFT’s for specific auctions.
Sales volumes recorded on the largest NFT trading platform, OpenSea, hit $3.4 billion in August last year, compared to March's $148 million. In January 2021, the monthly volume recorded on the platform was just over $8 million. By the end of 2021, more than $10 million in NFT transactions were taking place daily, according to the website DappRadar.
Artists like Beeple, Larva Labs, Pak, Michah “Mad Dog Jones” Dowbak, Edward Snowden (??) and XCOPY have become instant millionaires. Two of them have overtaken the likes of Hockney and Koons as the world’s most-expensive living artists.
The British Museum is also jumping on the innovation, having announced that they will be putting twenty of JMW Turner's paintings up for sale in digital form. Which presumably means that they will photograph the paintings and sell them with a digital signature of the famous artist. The starting price for his rarer paintings are set to start at around €4,999.
By incorporating NFT enablements, LettsArt is able to trade its creator’s product seamlessly and digitally, whilst allowing artists to maintain their work’s originality and authenticity. This is ensured by the NFT feature of a unique digital token encrypted with an artist's signature, verifying its ownership and authenticity - something that is permanently attached to the piece.
NFTs therefore offer an abundance of reasons for buyers to utilise these enablements through LettsArt. For some, it will be of emotional value, because some see NFTs as collectors items. For others, it is an investment opportunity similar to cryptocurrencies, where the value could increase.
The future for art is NFT. At LettsArt, our artists embrace NFT’s because they can sell digital derivatives of their physical art and open up a much needed new income stream. After all, if the British Museum can sell photos of original paintings as NFT’s - so can any other painter. Sculptors will sell videos of their 3D creations while eventually audio, video and performance artists will switch to NFT like ducks to water.
Mostly, NFT’s will enable content creators of all kinds to sell their IP directly to their supporters. Journalists, writers, photographers, filmmakers, designers, architects and consultants could soon be selling their original works as NFT’s. Publishers, gallerists and retailers will likely follow.
Many argue that when NFT’s become totally mainstream, which they likely will, then it will start to digitise everything that is physical. As a result, it won’t be long before everyone is collecting an abundance of digital goods.
For now, NFT means art. Tomorrow NFT will mean so much more. It appears that Web 3.0 really is taking off, and LettsArt is at the forefront.
This article was first published at the Letts Journal, a sister venture to LettsArt of the LettsGroup incubator. LettsArt is available to UK artists and galleries in limited beta. Artists can sign up at www.lettsart.com. Keep up to date with its progress through @LettsArt on twitter. Find out more about the branded incubator group, LettsGroup, and its ventures through @LettsGroup on twitter.
Pulled from: https://www.lettsjournal.com/p/nfts-will-change-the-internet
