Blockchain technology has created a new and unique market of crypto-art and digital collectibles. 

You might have come across news surrounding NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and crypto art recently and found it difficult to understand the terms or the workings of this digital world.

The crypto world is fairly new and has just begun to emerge as an alternative to what we have known until now. This article will give you a fundamental idea of what is what and to understand that you need to start from the basics.

What Is The Blockchain Technology?

The blockchain is a system of digital records of transactions that are duplicated and distributed as a network amongst the computer systems on the blockchain. 

The blockchain can be simplified as blocks of transactional records that are linked together through the ‘chain’ that are really public databases. This whole system is known as a ‘digital ledger’.

This digital ledger is decentralized i.e there is no central authority overseeing or controlling these transactions.

It might come across as unsafe, which is yet another topic to discuss but these digital ledgers are highly secure as far as the data is concerned. The transactions are authorized by the owner with a digital signature that safeguards and authenticates a person’s data from tampering.

Computer systems in this network can see the data but nobody can corrupt it.

The blockchain system makes it almost impossible to hack or change the system.

The decentralized database managed by multiple participants is called a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). Blockchain is a DLT.

How Is Blockchain Associated With Cryptocurrencies?

Most cryptocurrencies are functional because of the blockchain system. These currencies use the blockchain to record transactions. Bitcoin and Ethereum are two of the popular currencies that are based on the blockchain system. 

What Are NFTs?

NFTs stands for Non-fungible tokens. “Non-fungible” means that each NFT is unique and cannot be replaced simply by another NFT. 

Like cryptocurrencies, most NFTs work on blockchains. This NFT is a unit of data in the blockchains but unlike currencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, each NFT has a different value to it. An NFT can be any unique digital file consisting of art or audio, video, or even video games. 

Any form of digital art can be considered an NFT.

The catch is that people can simply download these digital art files if they wish to as they are infinitely reproducible but the buyer gets proof of ownership over the artwork. The NFT are cryptocurrencies that are attached to crypto art instead of coins. Only the owner can trade it. 

Cryptocurrencies like Etheruem, Bitcoin have their own token standards assigned to use these digital files. NFTs are largely Ethereum based 

An NFT can be created by uploading a file that contains digital artwork, to an NFT auction market (KnownOrigin, Rarible, or OpenSea). This creates a copy of the file recorded on the digital ledger as an NFT, which can be bought with cryptocurrency and resold. 

The buyer of the NFT does not gain exclusive access to the work, nor does the buyer gain possession of the “original” digital file. A person who uploads a certain work as an NFT does not have to prove that they are the original artist, and there have been numerous cases where art was used for NFTs without the creator’s permission.


Also Read: Why Is The Government Planning To Ban Cryptocurrency When #IndiaWantsCrypto?


Rise Of Crypto-Art And Digital Collectibles 

Due to blockchain technology, NFTs are really gaining popularity.

The total value of the crypto-art market is estimated to be about $80 million to date.

Crypto art is not a new phenomenon, it has been around for a decade but only recently with a more than 400% increase in Bitcoin value has the attention been brought back to digital collectibles.

The Last Bitcoin Supper by French artist Youl, which was sold in 2014 for nearly $3,000 on eBay.

One of the most famous artists in today’s crypto-art world is Beeple also called Mike Winkelmann, whose recent artwork was sold for more than 69 million dollars. His previous pieces have also been sold for millions of dollars. 

“Everydays — The First Five Thousand Days” by the artist Beeple by Christie’s auction house.

Another example is the ‘Nyan cat’ gif by Chris Torres that was remastered and sold for $600,000

On February 28, Canadian musician and artist Grimes who is also Elon Musk’s girlfriend sold her own collection of digital art for over $6 million dollars. The collection consisted of 10 pieces of artwork that included a “one-of-a-kind” video names “Death of the Old” among other pieces.

WarNymph collection by Grimes.
WarNymph collection by Grimes.

Emerson Barrett, a musical artist and a member of UK based band called “Palaye Royale” also released his artwork as an NFT called “Lost Genesis”.

“Lost Genesis” by Emerson Barrett.
“Lost Genesis” by Emerson Barrett.

Other famous digital artists include Blake Kathryn, FEWoCIOUS, Giant Swan, Pak, Carlos Matos, Trevor Jones, and José Delbo.

Here are their artworks:

Futuristic artwork by Blake Kathryn.
Futuristic artwork by Blake Kathryn.
Artwork by 17-year-old FEWoCIOUS.
Artwork by Giant Swan.
Pak created a gif that gained a lot of attention.

 

Artwork by Trevor Jones.
Wonder Woman artwork by Jose Delbo

Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: Rollingstone, Business Insider, NY Times

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