Don’t worry if you haven’t heard this term “NFT” yet. It has only risen in the recent few months, when Christie’s sold American digital artist Beeple’s work Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $69.3m, in March 2021. 

NFT (Non-Fungible Token) was founded during the midst of growing popularity of the advanced blockchain technology that certifies a digital asset such as media, songs, arts and collectibles to be unique and therefore not interchangeable. At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store extra information that makes them work differently from, say, an ETH coin. It is worth noting that other blockchains can implement their own versions of NFTs. 

A lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art. 

NFT from different points of view...

A lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art. 

NFT from different points of view...

I’m an artist.

NFT opens more doors for artists to sell their work. Also, NFT offers a feature of artists to enable a royalty system, that will pay the artist a certain percentage every time the work is sold or traded, which ensures the artists to gain benefit even though the ownership is with somebody else. NFT is a noble way to expand artists’ income source. 

I’m a buyer.

One of the benefits of purchasing art through NFT is that it gives people an opportunity to financially support the artists of choice. Purchasing an NFT also gives the buyer basic usage rights, such as being able to post the image online on the platform of choice or set it as your own profile picture. 

I’m a collector.

NFTs can work as any other speculative asset, which allows people to make any purchase and sales, even for investment purposes. 

NFT art holds the potential to transform the entire creative industry; its emergence is only the beginning to a new chapter for us and the future generations. Companies are even exploring insurance options for NFT, trying to make NFT as reliable as possible。