You may have noticed the massive sums being spent on NFTs lately. Heck, even NFT memes are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This might have you wondering: what’s the point of buying and collecting NFT art?
Well, you’re in luck, because today we’re going to run through the top five reasons to buy NFT art from a collector’s perspective.
First, NFTs can simply be cool. Second, NFTs cannot be duplicated. Third, NFTs are easily authenticated. Fourth, you can establish a unique connection with the artist. Fifth, it’s possible that NFT art could be a good alternative investment. Sixth, it’s so easy to get started, and we show you how as well as which NFT wallets should be considered.
Before diving more in-depth into these reasons, though, let’s cover NFTs and NFT art in case these are new concepts to you—and, if not, just skip on ahead.
What are NFTs?
NFT is an acronym that stands for “non-fungible token.” It’s a fancy word, but non-fungible just means “unique.” You can think of it as the opposite of fungible, which essentially means interchangeable.
Fungible goods you’re likely familiar with include things like common shares of a given company or standardized currency like dollar bills. For all intents and purposes, they’re completely interchangeable.
So, all this is to say that NFTs are unique and noninterchangeable. They’re built on platforms that typically use the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts.
So, what’s the deal with NFT art?
NFT art refers to digital artworks that are sold online and usually purchased with cryptocurrency such as Ether (or ETH, Ethereum’s cryptocurrency).
Since NFT artworks are 100% unique, as this unique identifier is written into the blockchain, they can fetch huge sums of money as the art world—and collectible market in general—revolves around scarcity.
Since NFTs have exploded in popularity in 2021, all kinds of people and brands have been getting in on the craze, from the NBA and Taco Bell to Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, who auctioned off his very first tweet for nearly $3 million.
Musicians and artists have also been keen to capitalize on the growing NFT space, releasing unique songs and artworks that NFT collectors have been happy to gobble up.
It’s hard to believe, but in March 2021, the artist Beeple sold a digital art piece for almost $70 million—no, that’s not a typo. Seventy million dollars.
As you might expect, more and more artists and more and more collectors are flooding the NFT space to participate in this red-hot market. Musical artist Grimes, known for her relationship with the crypto- and NFT-loving Elon Musk, sold an art collection for around $6 million.
While artists have been creating artwork and sharing it on the internet for decades now, there has been no real way of ensuring individual ownership and collectability. The NFT space has filled the gap, and many people are clearly all in.
This space has grown largely due to the Covid pandemic, as more people have been saving money, and many people decided to invest their stimulus checks into alternative investments such as cryptocurrency and NFTs.
But what are the main reasons why collectors might want to buy NFT art? Let’s take a look.
Top Five Reasons to Buy NFT Art
Here are the top five reasons to buy NFT art, all of which are unique to NFTs:
- The cool factor – Unlike traditional artworks—paintings, mosaics, statues, and the like—NFT art can come in a wide range of possibilities. There are 2D, 3D, and animated pieces available, some of which feature super cool, mind-bending graphics.
- Anti-forgery – While unfortunately many scammers have started trying to cash in on the NFT craze, and there are no doubt some problems with the NFT space, the central idea underpinning NFTs is that they are built on the blockchain, which is meant to offer advanced security.
- Easy authentication – Another compelling aspect of NFT art and NFTs in general is the ability to quickly and easily authenticate items, as the record of ownership is scrupulously kept on the blockchain. Even Nike has recently acquired a patent to verify the authenticity of shoes with an NFT system. (The name is CryptoKicks, which honestly is a pretty cool name.)
- Unique connections – Many collectors of digital art feel good about supporting the artists who put so much time and energy into their digital artwork. Plus, they have the occasion to develop a unique connection with the creator. Feel free to connect and follow my NFTs on Foundation and Rarible.
- Alternative investments – If you think cryptocurrency, blockchain, and NFTs are the future, then you might look at NFT art as an alternative investment to the usual fare like stocks and bonds. Plus, NFTs are not going anywhere as discussed in this article 10 Reasons Why NFTs Will Change the World.
Some people wonder—with good reason—why you might want to purchase NFT art when you can simply view and/or download the art file online.
This has long been a problem for digital artists who find their works stolen and plagiarized, and resold across the internet. If you are concerned about copyright and how it applies to NFTs, then this may help you out.
NFT art platforms help creators tokenize their artworks as unique assets, making the record of ownership forever available on the blockchain.
While many people might view it—proving that it has intrinsic worth—only you will have the official ownership of the asset.
Final thoughts
NFT art might not be for everyone, but it’s appealing to many collectors, particularly those who focus on the many positives of NFTs, such as democratized access, authenticity, scarcity, and the ability to forge a unique relationship with artists.
What about creating the art? Perhaps that’s what you want to do. If that’s the case, you really need to read these articles:
And of course, if you are interested in learning how to create digital art, then you will want to check out our YouTube channel, which has a ton of free tutorials. Either way, we wish you luck in your digital art NFT experience!