Art has been around nearly as long as humans and has existed in many forms: sculptures, paintings, film, and photographs, among others. And now a new variety has popped up: “crypto art,” which is art stored in the digital realm.
This art can take various forms, including music, VR dreamscapes, graphics, photos, or videos. But crypto art isn’t just “any” digital art. You could create a unique image or graphic right now, but what makes these works popular and unique is how they’re identified, stored, bought, and sold.
It’s a whole world that has earned some artists jaw-dropping sums. Even Hollywood is noticing projects like Cryptopunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club! You don’t need a deep knowledge of cryptocurrency and all its technical aspects to get involved as a buyer or creator. (But some baseline knowledge will serve you well.)
This article may inspire you to jump into this fascinating world. Keep reading as we answer various questions that may pop into your head.
How Does Crypto Art Work?
The unique thing about crypto art is that it’s stored on the blockchain, utterly protected with a bulletproof verification of ownership.
For the uninitiated, blockchain technology works like a database, but it organizes information in chunks or “blocks” that are connected or “chained” together. People cannot modify these ledgers, which prevents nefarious actors from sneaking in and committing fraud.
Crypto art exists as non-fungible tokens, also known as NFTs. These are special identification codes attached to the digital artwork (digital files from JPEG memes to GIF videos) stored as digital assets on the blockchain.
NFTs use what’s known as the ERC721 token standard. This is a smart contract (built using the Ethereum blockchain) to prove it’s authentic.
The Basics of Ethereum and NFTs
We’ll back up for a minute. Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform and the second most popular type of crypto behind bitcoin. And a smart contract is a self-executing contract with the terms written directly into lines of code on a blockchain network. Decentralized applications are programs that run on a blockchain or peer-to-peer network instead of a single computer.
Not all NFTs are centered on art, but the artistic variety has recently been spotlighted. NFTs have become mainstream enough that even famous filmmaker Kevin Smith created a comedy-horror anthology film titled KillRoy Was Here as an NFT. People can’t see it in a theater, buy a DVD copy, or stream it. The only way to see it is with a unique “crypto key.”
Once you purchase one of the NFTs, you own it completely; Smith has gone on record stating, “the specific version of KillRoy you get is YOUR KillRoy to do with whatever you want: Make your own movie, turn it into a cartoon, license him for lunchboxes!” he earlier stated.
And he’s not the only Hollywood celebrity joining the NFT craze. Reese Witherspoon’s company Hello Sunshine has made a deal with NFT collective World of Women to produce content.
One last example: Anthony Hopkins starred in a film titled Zero Contact that was distributed as an NFT (along with a run in movie theaters.) So you can see that Hollywood has started their climb aboard the NFT train.
Can You Buy and Sell Crypto Art?
Yes! Think of the crypto art world similarly to traditional art in the art market. Fine art, such as paintings, is bought and sold all the time. Same here. Within the blockchain, the NFTs come with an invincible mark of authenticity and ownership.
NFTs are either unique or produced in minimal amounts. This makes them much more valuable. Sure, people can manufacture fake copies, but the blockchain allows artists and owners to distinguish which is the “real” one.
Let’s use a piece of traditional artwork as an example. “American Gothic” is one of the most famous paintings in the world. You could buy copies from many places. But there is only one “true” version of it. It’s the same thing here.
Fun fact: Buyers can procure the rights to fractional royalties in certain situations, along with permission to duplicate the piece.
Fractional royalties result from people dividing up ownership of their NFTS while still earning royalties. As an example, let’s say someone creates a piece of crypto art. They could give a part of that NFT ownership to a charity or family members so that they could earn a fraction of those royalties.
What Platforms Are Used To Buy and Sell Crypto Art?
Depending on your circumstances, there are many crypto art marketplaces. Let’s look at a couple to help give some additional insight.
Foundation
This is among the most popular platforms used to sell crypto art. If you want to sell your NFT here, you will get 85% of the sale price.
But there’s an exciting kicker: Let’s say someone buys your crypto art collection and then sells it to Foundation or another NFT marketplace. You would then get a 10% royalty that would continue eternally.
In other words, you would get 10% of the sale price every time your crypto art gets sold. If it passes into different hands often enough, that’s a serious chunk of change!
OpenSea
This is a peer-to-peer marketplace where people can create, collect, and sell crypto art.
(For the uninitiated, peer-to-peer in this context is when each computer can be used as a server for the others, which means they can share access to files. In other words, they don’t need to go through a central server.)
You can scroll through more than 200 categories of products, so there’s certainly no shortage of selection. OpenSea takes a 2.5% cut from every purchase, which you can pay for with more than 200 different cryptocurrencies. These include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Sandbox, and Decentraland.
Who Creates Crypto Art?
The short answer is anyone with the means and desire to do so! You’ve likely heard of famous “traditional” artists like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Jackson Pollock. The crypto art community has its own famous artists!
These include Grimes, DJ Deadmau5, and Micah Johnson. (If the name Grimes rings a bell, she had a relationship and child with Elon Musk.)
But some crypto artists wish to remain anonymous and, as a result, create pseudonyms. (A real-world comparison would be Daft Punk.)
Why Is Crypto Art Popular?
It gives distribution and opportunity to a broader pool of artists. Some people who may have never made it “big” in the traditional art world can succeed here.
As just one example, let’s focus on a digital artist, Beeple. One of his pieces was sold at Christie’s for an astonishing $69.3 million! Could Beeple have succeeded as a “traditional” artist — to this level, no less?
We don’t know. But this shows the kinds of opportunities crypto art provides. It’s not a stretch to say you can do more with pixels in the crypto art movement than you might be able to do with physical art.
And it’s a big movement! How big? According to NonFungible.com, the total market capitalization of crypto art exceeded $2 billion in 2021!
(Pssst. Don’t know what market capitalization is? No worries! In the world of cryptocurrency, it’s a way to measure popularity. It’s determined through a formula: Circulating market cap = current price x circulating supply.)
How Can I Create Crypto Art?
Are you a talented artist? Because we’re not here to tell you how to create art. But if you can create a piece that others might find unique and captivating, you’re already well on your way!
Once you’ve created your unique art in a digital capacity, you just need to introduce it to the digital world by turning it into an NFT — and that’s a reasonably straightforward process. Simply open an Ethereum account, make sure you have a crypto wallet, upload the piece you’ve created, and add it to the blockchain.
(If you don’t know, a crypto wallet isn’t the same as the one you carry in your pocket or purse. They are either pure software or a piece of hardware with the software on them. They store your private passwords that guard your crypto assets.)
There are platforms to help facilitate the creation of crypto art — one example is Art Blocks, which is built on Ethereum. It allows you to create 3D models, interactive content, and various images.
And once you finish, you can officially turn your new artistic creation into an NFT and tack it onto the blockchain. You can then list it for sale on any NFT marketplace you like.
We’ll share one more example: Portion is an auction house where anyone can create an NFT on the platform and receive every bit of the proceeds. After reading this article in full (to ensure you have all the critical information), we hope you’ll go back and examine some of these links and opportunities more closely.
Does Crypto Art Have Any Risks?
Yes, it does. Everything carries risk. Here is some context worth having: Do you recall when celebrity music and CryptoKitties led the way for NFTs back in 2017? You didn’t have to be a techie to have heard of these, as stories about them seeped into the mainstream news cycle.
As a refresher, CrypoKitties were NFTs of digital cats, which all were unique. You could even “breed” two kitties to form a new one.
Although there was a growing popularity here, it didn’t launch as expected because there was no regulation. Average users found them inaccessible and unaffordable. And BitClout, a platform for social media and cryptocurrency, was accused of allegedly selling NFTs without proper consent, which sparked a controversy.
And what about now? There have been structural improvements in the cryptocurrency space since then, but only some are convinced.
Some people believe NFT artwork will not remain popular and will eventually fade into utter obscurity. Others think it will be an ongoing success. Only time will ultimately tell. If you have additional questions about crypto art, we would love to discuss them with you. Please pick our brains!
The Bottom Line
Crypto art exists digitally in the form of NFTs stored on the blockchain. Like traditional art, others can make copies, but only one “official” version can be worth a lot of money.
There are plenty of platforms for you to get started as either a crypto/NFT art trader or creator. People who may have never made a dent in the traditional art world can become extremely wealthy and famous within this digital ecosystem.
But, like anything else, you never know how long the wind will blow in its current direction of popularity.
Ethereum is a cryptocurrency used as a foundation for crypto/NFT art, and it’s wise to have at least some working knowledge of it. Dipping your toes into the cryptocurrency marketplace can help you better understand NFTs and how to best navigate the world.
If you’re curious about getting involved in cryptocurrency and not sure where to start, Pluto can help.
Pluto is an investing app that helps you automate investing in stocks and cryptocurrencies by building a portfolio of "strategies" or rules for when to buy and sell. With Pluto, you can quickly build a portfolio of strategies to watch your investments and make better decisions with your own rules, like “if Bitcoin dips below $20k, then buy.”
If you’d like to learn even more, visit our blog, which is full of essential and updated information. And don’t forget to contact us so we can help answer all your important questions.
The cryptocurrency market is exploding and rife with opportunity. More and more people are joining the trading world, entering crypto exchanges, taking calculated risks, and growing their earnings significantly.
And some people are using those earnings to buy crypto/NFT art, or they’re in that space to earn coins. Maybe you’d like to as well. There’s no time like the present to get started. If you have a passion for art, this is an ecosystem you should consider navigating!