What are NFTs?
What are NTFs and what applications do they have in the art world? Let’s find out together!
NFTs are the basis for the development of a new digital economy based on the Blockchain and the so-called SMART CONTRACTs, i.e. digital “smart contracts”, in which it is possible to uniquely connect digital elements to digital or physical products.
But what are NFTs?
NFTs, an acronym for “non-fungible token” is a type of cryptographic token on Blockchain that represents a unique digital or real asset.
What distinguishes NFTs is precisely their non-fungibility, i.e., the non-interchangeability given by a unique, non-replicable code.
In the case of two identical fungible goods, it can be said that there is no difference between the two, since they can be reproduced and exchanged without any guarantee of authenticity.
In contrast, a digital work in NFT, thanks to the blockchain, is digitally signed by the artist who made it, which makes it different from other seemingly identical ones out there, just as an authentic, signed painting is different from a copy of it.
What are the applications of NFTs in the art world?
They allow to demonstrate and certify the authenticity and therefore the intellectual property of the work because, regardless of the transfer of ownership, its attribution will always be attributable to the author.
So, in the case of a GIF, video or digital image sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, the blockchain can serve to ascertain and store information by which two things can be said: that that work is “the original” and that its authorship and ownership can be proven.
By creating a permanent and publicly transparent stamp of ownership, NFT and Blockchain present what experts call the biggest technological innovation since the iPhone.
While initially thought to be resources for nerds and geeks, according to Duncan Cock Foster , co-founder of the NFT platform Nifty Gateway, the evolution of the digital art market will follow a path parallel to that of Bitcoin “You’ll see art institutions collecting NFT as people become more familiar with the concept.”
Today, more and more people are willing to pay hundreds, even millions, of dollars to own unique digital artwork.
Just think of the records set by the artist Beeple first on the SuperRare platform and then with Christie’s or the million-dollar sales of artists such as Ben Mauro, Pak, Kenny Schachter and the Italian duo Hackatao, among others.
Blockchain technology and the application and use of NFTs are producing a real revolution in the art world, which will lead to a new way of conceiving the system and the market compared to how we know it today.
Among the tools supporting Artists, Collectors and Professionals that exploit the potential of the Blockchain to track and guarantee the authenticity of digital art we find Art Rights, a platform for the management and certification of artworks.
How about you, are you familiar with NTFs for art?
Photo Credits: The Business of Business
