Crypto art has been receiving a boon on social media, with the recent Beeple sale. Beeple, a computer science graduate named Mike Winkelmann, was able to sell a piece of crypto art at Christie’s for US $69 million. The owner of the $69-million art piece is now named in a digital record, called a nonfungible token or NFT, that confers ownership that is stored in a global database:
This database is decentralized using blockchain, so that no single individual or company controls the database. As long as the specific blockchain survives in the world, anyone can read or access it, and no one can change it.
But “ownership” of crypto art confers no actual rights, other than being able to say that you own the work. You don’t own the copyright, you don’t get a physical print, and anyone can look at the image on the web. There is merely a record in a public database saying that you own the work – really, it says you own the work at a specific URL.
Since crypto art is really just a link to a JPEG file, why would anyone spend a lot of money for it? The Conversation dives into the world of crypto art and its significance. Check their full piece here.
Image via Artnome
Newest 3 Comments
This is really interesting. Thanks for sharing! Makes me wonder if I should look into crypto art as an artist, but I really don't get crypto in general...
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What is a mintue ?
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for the rare memes? i duno
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