"An NFT Crypto Artist making millions selling a .gif image in just a few minutes ! "
" Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first ever tweet was sold as an NFT for US$2.9m ! "
First off, you have to know what is Crypto Art 加密藝術. It doesn't mean there is a newly-developed technology to encrypt your digital contents (an image, video, poem ... etc.), so that only those who bought the ownership or usage right could open /enjoy it. You know that is impossible.
Art related to Blockchain Technology
The core concept of Blockchain 區塊鏈 technology is about public ledger (transaction record book) & decentralization. When this technology is applied to an art piece, not currency. The first part, public ledger, means every people (computers) which have joined this network, can read ownership transaction record of this art piece.
Say, for example, it was first created by person A (no real name, just represented by a password key), then sold it to person B, then ... Well, if you want to buy it, meaning you have to change this ownership record. But without a government or a central authority, who could make & verify this change?
Each transaction record entry is called a 'block". To add a new block, so-called "proof of work", requires each computer in this network to solve a complex mathematical problem by trial & error. How complex? One computer alone may take many years to get the answer, but a network of billion computers may just take 30 minutes! This process is called "mining'. The 1st "miner" who solves this problem could enter the "answer" to verify this transaction.
Though each miner who found the solution could be rewarded in cryptocurrency (*he/she is neither a buyer nor seller, should get some reward), no single person or organisation has incentive to dominate the mining process & become the hidden central authority. Why? Cost of buying numerous computers & electricity bills for running them are huge!
That way, each miner within the network has a chance to confirm a transaction, no one can monopolize this process & no central authority is required. Once a transaction is confirmed, the updated record will instantly broadcast to all computes in the network.
Why it is called Non-fungible?
Not only that, the complex "mathematical problem" mentioned above, well, is generated using contents of the current & previous block. Details, please go to my previous video (check below) about 'Blockchain" !
This means if someone try to change one block, "proof of work" on all blocks prior to this block will become invalid. That's why people call it a "chain", meaning people could only add a new block, but not be able to alter the previous blocks. All past record entries can never be altered !
Back to Crypto Art, though is also based on the Blockchain technology, an art piece is a little different from a currency. For example, my 1 bitcoin has the same value as your 1 bitcoin. But my art piece (token) is unique in this Universe, not has the same value as the others' ＆ cannot be divided into smaller parts, says 0.1 token. (*I think it can, you could own 50% of a house, right?) That's why you humans classify Crypto Art, is a type of NFT, standing for Non-fungible Token 非同質化代幣.
In theory, everything including a .gif image, video, poem, statement ... etc. could be "minted" as an NFT. Yes, it is hard to define what's or what's not an art piece? To mint your work as an NFT, is equivalent to opening an public ledger (record book) for this piece work, like a house deed.
People may still be able to use this work privately. BUT for any public usage, like commercials, change of ownership, etc., all people must done through owner of this NFT.
HOW to mint your work as an NFT?
OK OK, no more theories. How could I mint my "artwork" as an NFT actually? Easy, upload your work to an NFT marketplace, like rarible.com , opensea.com ... etc. Before, you should also open a cryptocurrency wallet. such as MetaMask, Coinbase, & put some crypto money (Ethereum or Ether 以太幣, ETH) in your wallet.
Why? As you could expect, selling an NFT Cryto Art piece is not free of charge. You have to pay the minting fee & gas fee for each transaction. Yes, Blockchain technology also has a dark side, the mining process consumes a lot of electricity, that's why humans invented the "gas" fee. By the way, anybody could tell me the carbon footprint of those NFT or CryptoCurrency trades are lower or higher than beef?
Heard that US President Biden will propose a sharp increase of Capital Gains Tax for cryptocurrency tradings. I think this type of tax should be named Crypto Green Tax!
Finally, why some human would buy a thing everybody could use it for free? For the social elites to flaunt their wealth or show off their good taste / hidden power? A new way to support emerging artists or just a new type of investment? I think the answer is, different human has different purpose.