Have you ever come up with the thought that a video clip, a tweet, a meme, or even a classic image of a basketball game that you inadvertently saw on the Internet could be auctioned off like a physical artwork?
In March 2021, Everydays: the First 5000 Days is a digital work of art created by Beeple. The work is a collage of 5000 digital images created by Beeple for his Everyday series.
It was auctioned off as NFT, which sold for $69.3 million at Christie’s, making it second on the list of most expensive non-fungible tokens.
So what is NFT? Why is NFT so expensive?
NFT is also known as a non-fungible token. The name seems a bit difficult to understand.
In fact, it is a virtual asset with blockchain technology, just like the well-known Bitcoin.
However, NFT and Bitcoin are not the same thing. The difference between them is whether they are “Fungible” or not.
Firstly, take Bitcoin(fungible token) as an example, each Bitcoin has the same value and can be substituted for each other or divided into small units; likewise, currency in real life is also a fungible token.
Each $100 bill has the same value, and any $100 bill can buy a commodity worth $100, or it can be divided into two $50 coins or ten $10 coins.
However, NFT is the opposite of the aforementioned currency. Each NFT is unique and can be in various forms such as a picture, a video clip, or a piece of music. NFTs cannot replace each other, nor can be divided into smaller units.
When the creation is turned into an NFT, due to the characteristics of blockchain, it is impossible to be tampered with and can’t easily be copied.
Therefore, when such technology is applied to digital artworks, the original author of the artwork and the transaction records of the resale will all be recorded and publicly visible.
Meanwhile, the holders don’t have to worry too much about the authenticity of the artworks, since holding NFTs is just like obtaining a digital creation with warranty.
● No. 10: “Ocean Front” by artist Beeple($600 million):
● No.9: “Crossroads” by artist Beeple($660 million):
“Crossroad” is a 10-second short film. A huge statue of former US President Trump fell on the grass, covered with slogans, such as LOSER, POOR BOY and so on.
● No 8: Ringers#109 by artist Dmitri Cherniak($711 million):
● No 7: CryptoPunk #7804 ($756 million):
● No 6: CryptoPunk #3100 ($758 million):
No 5: CryptoPunk #4156 ($1026 million):
● No 4: CryptoPunk #7523 ($1180 million):
The avatar is an alien wearing a mask, one of the nine Alien Punk characters in CryptoPunks, and the only one wearing a mask among all CryptoPunks.
● No 3: “Human One” by artist Beeple ($2900 million):
This is Beeple’s first physical artwork. The sculpture is more than 7 feet tall and has a computer attached to the bottom, allowing the screen to play a video of an unsung hero like an astronaut.
● No 2: 《Everydays－The First 5000 Days》by artist Beeple ($6934 million):
This collage is a collage of all 5000 image files that Beeple himself posted on the web every day from May 1, 2007 to January 7, 2021.
● No 1 《Merge》by artist Pak ($9180 million):
Conclusion
So far, we can observe the gradual growth of value in cryptocurrency investment and NFTs. Affected by the epidemic, people are gradually getting used to the digital lifestyle. With the popularity of online shopping and mobile payment, people have begun to observe and even accept the existence of digital assets.
Nevertheless, there are still many people who are worried about the skyrocketing price of Bitcoin and the short-term straight-line price of NFT. Digital crypto assets may end up in a bubble crisis. Therefore, we must still carefully assess the risks while we invest and buy the digital assets.
