Why NFTs Are the Next Big Step for the Digital Economy
The name of the painting was “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days.”
Created by Mike Winkelmann, a 41-year-old graphic designer from Charleston, S.C., “Everydays” is a piece of digital artwork that has found itself near the same financial, if not artistic, level as painting masterpieces by Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. (Most of Picasso’s “Top 10” paintings have sold for around $70 million, although his “Femme’s d’Alger: Version O” piece went for $179.4 million in 2015.)
On March 11, 2021, “Everydays” was sold for $69 million at Christie’s, the legendary auction house. Before NFTs existed, Winkelmann – more informally known as “Beeple” – had never sold a painting for more than $100.
The painting quickly became part of the lore surrounding non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. This new type of asset, sold on blockchains, has opened new doorways in the investment world. Barging through that door are celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton, and major global entertainment brands like the National Basketball Association and Marvel Comics.
As NFTs emerge onto the global stage, these digital collectibles have already grown way beyond paintings. Now, NFT technology has seeped into music, video, toys, and into collectible mainstream with all the cache of early 20th century baseball cards or 1980s-era Cabbage Patch Kids.
Even billionaire Mark Cuban, of Shark Tank fame, has gotten into the…
