The Year the NFT Died and Came Back to Life
2 years ago

The Year the NFT Died and Came Back to Life

Wired  

The inventor of the non-fungible token says he has spent the last two years lurching “from excitement to dread.” Although artist Kevin McCoy says he is “gratified” to see people engaging with what started as his “own private thought experiment,” he claims to be terrified by the gold rush it inspired. In March 2021 during the early throes of NFT mania a single token, tied to an artwork called Everydays: The First 5000 Days, by digital artist Beeple, sold for almost $70 million. When McCoy and his partner, entrepreneur Anil Dash, pitched the idea for a unique crypto-like token that demonstrated ownership of digital goods back in 2014, they had some sense it was an “important idea.” The intention was to create a mechanism for tracing the provenance of digital works and give small artists a new way to make money. “I’m a strong believer that you don’t need the hype,” says Shiva Rajaraman, VP of product at OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace.

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History of this topic

Are NFTs still as valuable as they used to be? | Explained
1 year, 2 months ago

Are NFTs still as valuable as they used to be? | Explained

The Hindu  

The story so far: A crypto gambling platform, dappGambl, which looked at tens of thousands of NFT collections concluded that most of them were worth close to nothing. WWF UK said it was ending the trial and noted NFTs were a “much debated issue.” dappGambl looked at 195,699 NFT collections which did not seem to have any owners or market …

Top-end art and luxury zoom while crypto bros dump NFTs
1 year, 8 months ago

Top-end art and luxury zoom while crypto bros dump NFTs

Live Mint  

The rich are living in a different economic world right now. Global art sales rose to $67.8 billion in 2022, according to art economist Clare McAndrew’s latest state-of-the-industry report for Art Basel and UBS Group. The British art market hasn’t quite recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but it is still attracting international buyers post-Brexit. With crypto bros spending their gains on …

NFTs now look headed the crypto way
2 years ago

NFTs now look headed the crypto way

Live Mint  

Non-fungible tokens have been all the rage. As with most things tech-oriented, many people bandy about new terms like ‘NFT’ without understanding how the technology works or what it is designed to do. Court cases and government actions over Napster’s software that allowed peer-to-peer sharing of song files forced that company to shut down in 2001, after a clumsy system …

Explained | The OpenSea tale on the future of NFTs
2 years, 4 months ago

Explained | The OpenSea tale on the future of NFTs

The Hindu  

The story so far: The writing is on the wall for the crypto market. While proponents of NFTs laud these assets as a way to revolutionise the art scene or explore new models of proving ownership, OpenSea users complain of excessive downtime on the platform. One of the best known OpenSea collections was musician Shawn Mendes’ collaboration with Genies to …

Sunak to forge ahead with 'NFT for Britain' despite plunge in markets
2 years, 6 months ago

Sunak to forge ahead with 'NFT for Britain' despite plunge in markets

The Telegraph  

Rishi Sunak is to forge ahead with plans for an “NFT for Britain” despite market turmoil that has wiped billions of pounds off the digital assets. “The NFT market is either going to recover and thrive on its own, in which case there is no need for the Government to get involved, or it won't, in which case no-one will …

NFT sales hit $25 billion in 2021, but growth shows signs of slowing
2 years, 11 months ago

NFT sales hit $25 billion in 2021, but growth shows signs of slowing

The Hindu  

From cartoon apes to video clips, sales of NFTs reached some $25 billion in 2021 as the speculative crypto asset exploded in popularity, data from market tracker DappRadar shows, although there were signs of growth slowing towards the end of the year. The art world has been quick to cash in, with auction houses selling NFTs representing simple cartoons for …

As NFTs are being sold by the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, what exactly are they?
2 years, 11 months ago

As NFTs are being sold by the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, what exactly are they?

Live Mint  

Some time ago, Amitabh Bachchan made an announcement to launch his own NFT collection to roll out poems, autographed posters and several other souvenirs. He was the first, but surely not the last, Bollywood actor to leverage blockchain technology and use it to launch his own digital assets. Non-fungible token, or an NFT, includes a unit of data stored on …

World's first SMS sold as non-fungible token for over $120,000
3 years ago

World's first SMS sold as non-fungible token for over $120,000

ABC  

The first text message ever sent, which simply reads "Merry Christmas", has been sold for 107,000 euros as a non-fungible token at a Paris auction house. Key points: Vodafone engineer Neil Papworth sent the SMS from his computer It was recieved by a manager in the United Kingdom on an Orbitel telephone The SMS was sold as an NFT The …

NFTs had a breakthrough year – What’s next for them?
3 years ago

NFTs had a breakthrough year – What’s next for them?

Al Jazeera  

When Canadian artist Trevor Jones graduated 14 years ago from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, he was quickly confronted by the harsh realities of the art world. “When you make an NFT there’s always a limited number of them,” Yan Ketelers, CMO at Venly, a Belgian startup that builds NFT marketplaces, told Al Jazeera. “Whenever you sell them, it …

NFTs are overhyped but useful for our creative economy
3 years ago

NFTs are overhyped but useful for our creative economy

Live Mint  

Full-page Bollywood celebrity endorsements in Indian newspapers are a common sight. The rationale is that once ‘digital goods’—say, a photo, an e-book, an audio or video clip or any digital file for that matter—are locked with software-defined usage rules, then an entirely new creative economy could stand on this foundation. That judgement doesn’t do justice to the motivations of a …

NFT Sales Reach $10.7 Billion in Q3 2021 As Crypto Asset Frenzy Hits New Highs
3 years, 2 months ago

NFT Sales Reach $10.7 Billion in Q3 2021 As Crypto Asset Frenzy Hits New Highs

News 18  

NFT sales volume surged to $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021, up more than eight-fold from the previous quarter, according to data from market tracker DappRadar, as the frenzy for crypto assets reached new highs. Since then, no known NFT has come close to this price, but auction houses still hold NFT sales, often fetching millions. However, despite …

The Times podcast: Are NFTs worth your money?
3 years, 2 months ago

The Times podcast: Are NFTs worth your money?

LA Times  

An NFT titled “SHIFT//” by Mad Dog Jones is displayed in June during a preview of an NFT sale at Sotheby’s in New York City. Today, L.A. Times business reporter Sam Dean gives us a crash course in what exactly NFTs are and how to think about whether they’re worth your money. And a pair of NFT collectors tell us …

This 12-Year-Old Is On Track To Earn Over $400,000 Within 2 Months Of Selling NFTs
3 years, 3 months ago

This 12-Year-Old Is On Track To Earn Over $400,000 Within 2 Months Of Selling NFTs

News 18  

A 12-year-old coder based out of London is on track to earn over $400,000 from a collection of digital whales that are selling as NFTs, a report in CNBC said. Earlier this year, the young coder became interested in NFTs, the ubiquitous digital commodity that is tied to everything from videos to artwork to tweets. Ahmed launched his first NFT …

NFT sales surge as speculators pile in, sceptics see bubble
3 years, 3 months ago

NFT sales surge as speculators pile in, sceptics see bubble

The Hindu  

Non-fungible token sales surged in August, according to the largest platform for the burgeoning digital asset class, as speculators bet growing interest across the art, sport and media worlds will keep prices rising. Reuters found one NFT representing an image of a cartoon ape that was sold on OpenSea for 39 ETH - the cryptocurrency ether -last week, by an …

Will NFT trend in art prove to be next frontier in trading, or merely a new form of 'tulip mania'?
3 years, 8 months ago

Will NFT trend in art prove to be next frontier in trading, or merely a new form of 'tulip mania'?

Firstpost  

Since the 17th century, tulip mania has become a byword for the irrationality of financial bubbles. Last week, Nifty Gateway, a specialist online marketplace for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, held an auction that included a computer-generated illustration by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, whose JPG collage “Everydays — The First 5000 Days,” was sold online by Christie’s earlier …

Artist Beeple on selling NFT collage for a record $70M: 'People are trying to look for some scam; I don't see it'
3 years, 8 months ago

Artist Beeple on selling NFT collage for a record $70M: 'People are trying to look for some scam; I don't see it'

Firstpost  

Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, spoke with AP about his auction result, NFTs and how the crypto art boom is affecting him and other artists who haven’t previously had a way to guarantee exclusive ownership of digital works, which by their nature can normally be freely copied. The Associated Press caught up with Beeple, whose real name is …

What is an NFT, and why does John Cleese want to sell you his for $69.3 million?
3 years, 8 months ago

What is an NFT, and why does John Cleese want to sell you his for $69.3 million?

Salon  

"Monty Python" actor John Cleese wants to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. That's because an NFT is like a virtual trading card that comes "tagged" with digital proof of authorship and ownership. "Domain names, event tickets, in-game items, even handles on social networks like Twitter or Facebook, are all non-fungible digital assets," Devin Finzer, CEO of the NFT marketplace Open …

NFTs are Confusing Everyone, But the Newest Internet Token is Raking in the Memes
3 years, 9 months ago

NFTs are Confusing Everyone, But the Newest Internet Token is Raking in the Memes

News 18  

What is an NFT? The first NFT album was ‘Kings of Leon’s ‘When You See Yourself.’ After art and auction houses, news organizations and galleries So what really, really is an NFT? James Murphy, CEO of Future Fallout, writes that ‘just like a concert ticket symbolises the ownership of the space of a seat in the concert arena, and a …

Explained: What Is Non-Fungible Token aka NFT and Why Is It So Popular Suddenly?
3 years, 9 months ago

Explained: What Is Non-Fungible Token aka NFT and Why Is It So Popular Suddenly?

News 18  

Non-fungible tokens, a type of digital asset, have exploded in popularity this year, with NFT artworks selling for millions of dollars and musicians such as the Kings of Leon rock group embracing them for their latest album. While anyone can view the NFTs, the buyer has the status of being the official owner – a kind of digital bragging rights. …

NFTs are setting the creative world alight. Are they also bad for the planet?
3 years, 9 months ago

NFTs are setting the creative world alight. Are they also bad for the planet?

ABC  

By this point, you've probably heard about NFTs — even if you still don't really understand them. But adding data to the blockchain — a process of running software that people call "mining" — requires a large amount of computing power. A Turkish digital artist with a PhD in artificial intelligence, he said that while not as bad as the …

Decoding the boom in visual art and NFTs
3 years, 9 months ago

Decoding the boom in visual art and NFTs

Hindustan Times  

On March 11, Christie’s auctioned a JPG file for $69 million, catapulting its creator – digital artist Mike Winkelmann, who goes by the name of Beeple, to instant worldwide fame. The auction house said in a tweet that the first purely digital artwork’s auction places Beeple among the top three most valuable living artists. This digital collage, titled Everydays: The …

Digital artist Beeple $US70m richer as NFT piece becomes first sold by major auction house
3 years, 9 months ago

Digital artist Beeple $US70m richer as NFT piece becomes first sold by major auction house

ABC  

An artist has netted $US70 million from the landmark sale of a digital artwork that does not exist in physical form. Key points: Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, has become one of the world's most profitable artists The artwork is in the form of a Non-Fungible Token, which is authenticated by a blockchain This piece of art is the first …

How NFTs are fueling a digital art boom
3 years, 9 months ago

How NFTs are fueling a digital art boom

CNN  

Editor’s Note: This article was updated following the auction of Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 days,” which sold for $69.3 million. But until now, people hadn’t figured out a good way to collect digital art – and NFTs allow you to do that,” Cock Foster said on a video call, adding that buying tokens is easier and “a lot more …

NFTs Are a Collective Hallucination—So What?
3 years, 9 months ago

NFTs Are a Collective Hallucination—So What?

Wired  

Have you had a shot yet? Eventually, the winner paid $3,666,666 in US dollars for what 3Lau called “the first tokenized album.” Bidder 65 now has unique access to the song, which others one day might hear for free. Currently, Christie’s is auctioning digital work by the artist Beeple, whose pieces look like Lucien Freud designing for Pokémon. That was …

What the Heck Are NFTs, and Why Are Grimes, Lindsay Lohan, and the Guy Who Made Nyan Cat Selling Them?
54 years, 11 months ago

What the Heck Are NFTs, and Why Are Grimes, Lindsay Lohan, and the Guy Who Made Nyan Cat Selling Them?

Slate  

You know Nyan Cat? Take the art that Grimes sold: The digital images and short videos she put up for sale—and which went for prices as high as $389,000—are freely available on the web, so you don’t really have to “own” anything to view and appreciate the art, nor did buying one get you something like a canvas or other …

NFTs Boom as Collectors Shell Out to ‘Own’ Digital Art
3 years, 9 months ago

NFTs Boom as Collectors Shell Out to ‘Own’ Digital Art

Wired  

It started with CryptoKitties. Each image was associated with a unique string of digits—a cryptocurrency “non-fungible token,” or NFT—that could be traded on the Ethereum blockchain platform as a title deed granting the holder ownership of a particular kitty. Its end point is an auction that started on Thursday, in which a token associated with a digital collage of 5,000 …

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