Why the future of investing in art could be digital Business News

Paiblock is a Business Reporter client.

The art market has long been a subject of intrigue. Blind auctions, paintings worth tens of millions of pounds, theft and counterfeiting, maverick trading – this is the stuff of Hollywood thrillers. It is also often dismissed as elitist and inaccessible to those of modest means – a toy for the very wealthy who can spend considerable sums on works of art that they rarely display in their homes.

But like all markets, it is constantly changing. In terms of the impact and scale of the transformation, the latest phase may well be the deepest since the rise of auction houses in the 18th century: the growth of digital art and shopping technology. and sales that supports it.

Digital art as a concept is pretty straightforward: it’s art made using digital tools that exist, for the most part, on a digital platform. The technology supporting the digital art market is a bit more complicated. At the heart of it are NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. Digital works of art are printed on blockchain technology in the form of NFT, a process known as ‘coinage’. In turn, these NFTs provide indelible proof of ownership. NFTs cannot be stolen, tampered with or forged, and they mean that the digital artwork can be exchanged cryptographically secure. In other words, unlike a Rembrandt hanging on the wall of a gallery or a stately home, these works simply cannot be ripped off and sent to the black market.

The rise of digital art and NFTs has already made artists famous and millionaires who until recently had only fans online. In March of this year, an NFT artwork by artist Beeple – real name Mike Winkelmann – was sold at Christies, long the market for Matisse and Van Gogh’s canvases, for $ 69 million. This makes him the third most expensive living artist at auction, behind David Hockney and Jeff Koons.

But the work, Daily – The first 5,000 days – a composite of 5,000 digital images that Beeple had taken since 2007 – had a unique story. It was the first digital artwork to be sold in a traditional auction house. The sum did not simply reflect a new artist finding his rhythm; it was the moment when a whole new medium of art came under the hammer.

Check the fine print under the Christies listing and you will see details on the ‘wallet address’ and ‘non-fungible token’. No artwork sold at Christies has carried these details before, and this has led many to question whether digital art and the crypto-technology that supports it will ever move the physical canvas to the center of the marketplace. art.

Digital futures

Works like Beeple’s aren’t the only style to have won high prizes. Memes have also been minted and sold for tens of thousands. CryptoPunks, a collection of 10,000 cartoon-like digital characters stored on the Ethereum blockchain, all unique, started in 2017 at between $ 1 and $ 34 apiece. One of them sold in July for $ 7.5 million; last year the average price was $ 207,211.

Digital art works much like physical art in that public perception is a key driving force behind the monetary value of a work. But when it comes to a coin that is part of a collection, such as CryptoPunks, the value is also influenced by the number of people who buy and sell.

One thing that prompts speculators to take a closer look at the digital art world is the fact that the appreciation in price of some of the more well-known digital artwork has probably been faster than any other artwork. in recorded history. With the explosion of virtual wealth in recent years – thanks to the popularity of bitcoin, Ethereum and others, which have limited use outside of digital commerce – it is now a buyer’s market.

At the heart of the whole process for the artists themselves is the ability to punch their work – to turn it into NFT. Since its inception ten years ago, Denmark-based Paiblock has provided the most affordable typing services in the industry. Using Paiblock’s own blockchain platform, an artist can create 900 works for just $ 1. In addition, the company only takes commissions if the work ends up selling. If they don’t sell then, aside from the low cost of typing, the artist doesn’t lose anything.

Democratize the art market

Part of the appeal of digital art, especially among the younger generations, is the ease of accessibility. Potential buyers do not have to enter galleries or auction houses. And while they might not have the original artwork to hang on their walls, the extent of online engagement among Gen X, Y, and Z means that doesn’t seem to be a deterrent. Paiblock itself hosts two sets of collectibles: CryptoPops and CryptoPandas. Like the CryptoPunks, who many consider to have started the cryptoart movement, they are uniquely generated characters that can be owned by an individual or a business – and like all art, they function either as a collector’s item or as a piece of art. commodity to be exchanged.

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