Much of our world today is moving digital, especially with the Pandemic and now art is moving with this trend.  

NFTs or non-fungible tokens can be anything digital and many people are using them to collect digital art. NFTs are defined by Merriam-Webster as: 

“a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership (as of a specific digital asset and specific rights relating to it)” 

In simple terms NFTs are a way to identify a unique piece and digital ownership of that art work.  

If someone buys an NFT there is nothing stopping others from copying the picture and sharing it with others because it is still digital. However, the original buyer of the NFT still has ownership.  

One way to understand it is by this; many people have seen prints of art work. For example, many people have seen copies of Starry Night by Van Gogh. However only one person or one museum owns it. This is the same principle as NFTs except instead of a physical copy you receive a digital copy.  

Recently NFTs have become a big part of the art world. According to Time magazine “NFTs are having their big-bang moment: collectors and speculators have spent more than $200 million on an array of NFT-based artwork, memes and GIFs in the past month alone.” 

Although many people are excited about the new world of NFTs there are some that are skeptical of it, and even criticize accessibility.  

According to Time Magazine, “The barriers to entry—it costs money and requires tech savvy to sell an NFT—could prevent some creators from joining in on the action.” 

This may be the future but until it is more accessible to the common artist there will be a lack of talent and creativity in the art world.