[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #741: Digital artwork can now be worth as much as famous paintings

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OPLIN 4Cast #741: Digital artwork can now be worth as much as famous
paintings
March 10th, 2021

[image: Man looking at paintings on wall of a museum] Way back in high
school, one of my favorite things to do on our school's Apple IIe's was to
make digital art...but, back then, it had to be literally coded pixel by
pixel. There were no "graphics programs." Then came notable programs like
MS Paint, Photoshop, and even VR applications like Google's Tilt Brush
<https://www.tiltbrush.com/> that allows art to be created in a
three-dimensional space. However, no matter how good any artwork is, it
isn't really uniquely valuable; digital artwork can be recreated and
copied. But, when blockchain gets added to the mix, suddenly a digital work
can have a unique provenance--which means that it can also be worth a *lot*
of money. Welcome to the new world of Non-Fungible Tokens.

   -
   - The bitcoin elite are spending millions on collectable memes
   <https://www.wired.co.uk/article/crypto-art-nft?utm_source=pocket-newtab>
   [Wired] "Yet NFT proponents purport to be solving exactly that problem: the
   near-impossibility of monetising digital artworks. “As a mechanism, NFTs
   make it possible to assign value to digital art, which opens the door to a
   sea of possibility for a medium that is unbridled by physical limitations,”
   says Noah Davis, a specialist in post-war and contemporary art at
   Christie’s."
   - NFTs, explained
   <https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq>
   [The Verge] "“Non-fungible” more or less means that it’s unique and can’t
   be replaced with something else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade
   one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing. A
   one-of-a-kind trading card, however, is non-fungible. If you traded it for
   a different card, you’d have something completely different. "
   - How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million
   <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-retail-trading-nfts-insight-idUSKCN2AT1HG?utm_source=pocket-newtab>
   {Reuters] "Investors caution, however, that while big money is flowing into
   NFTs, the market could represent a price bubble. Like many new niche
   investment areas, there is the risk of major losses if the hype dies down,
   while there could be prime opportunities for fraudsters in a market where
   many participants operate under pseudonyms."
   - Blockchain company buys and burns Banksy artwork to turn it into a
   digital original
   <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/banksy-nft-injective-destroy-art-digital-token/>
   [CBS News] "While digital art has recently become popular, this event is
   the first major instance in which a physical artwork was turned into a
   unique digital asset, according to Injective Protocol executive Mirza
   Uddin."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - NFTs Are Booming, But They're Nothing New in the Art Market.
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=149011848&site=ehost-live>(Tarmy,
   J. (2021). NFTs Are Booming, But They’re Nothing New in the Art Market.
   *Bloomberg.Com*, N.PAG.)
   - KuCoin Enters NFT Market with the Plan of Launching NFT Exchange
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=202011160046PR.NEWS.USPR.CN92394&site=ehost-live>
   (PR Newswire. (2020, November 16). KuCoin Enters NFT Market with the Plan
   of Launching NFT Exchange. *PR Newswire US*.)
   - Hip-Hop Artist ILL Bill to Auction 'Silk Road' Music NFT on Phantasma
   Blockchain
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=202103021414PR.NEWS.USPR.NY96245&site=ehost-live>
   (PR Newswire. (2021, March 2). Hip-Hop Artist ILL Bill to Auction “Silk
   Road” Music NFT on Phantasma Blockchain. *PR Newswire US*.)

------------------------------
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