The phenomenon is attracting a strange brew of not just artists and collectors, but also speculators looking to get rich off the latest fad.Ī bubble it may be. Critics have dismissed the NFT art craze as just the latest bubble, akin to this year’s boom-and-bust mania around “meme stocks” like GameStop. They can then list their piece for auction on an NFT marketplace, similar to eBay.Īt face value, the whole enterprise seems absurd: big-money collectors paying six to eight figures for works that can often be seen and shared online for free. Doing so usually costs anywhere from $40 to $200. Artists who want to sell their work as NFTs have to sign up with a marketplace, then “mint” digital tokens by uploading and validating their information on a blockchain (typically the Ethereum blockchain, a rival platform to Bitcoin). By contrast, NFTs have unique valuations set by the highest bidder, just like a Rembrandt or a Picasso. But like dollars, cryptocurrencies are “fungible,” meaning one bitcoin is always worth the same as any other bitcoin. Like cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, they exist on a blockchain-a tamper-resistant digital public ledger.

NFTs are best understood as computer files combined with proof of ownership and authenticity, like a deed.

Nft 3d artist