Have you ever explored how NFT art is made and why it is so popular that sometimes, it sells for millions of dollars? You may have heard about the non-fungible token (NFT) art by its other names - digital fine art, blockchain art, or crypto art.
These digital collectibles have become very popular lately and have taken the world by storm. The popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has given rise to several websites in the blockchain space that are dedicated to creating and purchasing works of art that are registered on the blockchain. However, most people who invest in these NFTs may not fully understand how NFT art is made.
This is why, in this article, we explore the history of NFT art, the cases of famous NFTs that have been sold for millions, and how NextHash can help you understand how NFT art is made by creating your own NFTs.
The Rise of the NFT Industry
Before we talk about how NFT art is made and what are the most famous art NFTs on the market, let’s explore how these tokens became so popular.
NFT stands for non-fungible token. Every NFT is unique and cannot be hacked or altered in any way. What’s more, a single NFT cannot be exchanged with another single NFT, because even if they seem identical in every way, they are still different when it comes to their origin. This makes them almost impossible to counterfeit.
In general, NFTs are used to prove ownership or scarcity of a particular digital item. Although they are used in many different industries, they're most often associated with art because they can be used to confirm the authenticity of a piece of artwork, as well as its provenance.
NFT art has become so popular because it offers artists a way to sell their work without having to worry about copyright infringement or other legal issues like in traditional markets for physical artwork. This gives them more freedom when creating their pieces and allows them to make money off their creations if they choose. They also offer collectors a way to own unique works of art that can't be bought or sold in the physical world.
The History of NFTs in Art
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are the latest digital craze, but they're not a new technology. The history of NFTs in art is much longer than the recent explosion of sales. Digital artists have been creating these digital works of art and offering them to the public for years.
The first mention of NFTs is tied to the appearance of Coloured Coins, the earliest predecessors of what we know today as NFT tokens. These coins were simply small pieces of Bitcoin that were somehow "coloured" or enriched, with specific attributes encoded in the metadata using blockchain technology.
Since then, the NFT token market has started exploding, especially regarding art NFTs. NFT tokens gained popularity in 2017 (the first mentions of them appeared in 2012), thanks to the CryptoKitties game, allowing users to adopt and trade virtual cats. In the meantime, other projects using NFT have also appeared, such as Rare Pepes memes or CryptoPunks pixel portraits.
The Most Popular NFT Art Pieces that Sold for Millions of Dollars
The NFT art market has exploded in popularity and price over the last few months, with the likes of Kings of Leon, Grimes, and even a piece of NBA digital memorabilia having been sold for millions.
Here are some of the most popular NFT are pieces that sold for millions of dollars.
1. Pak’s “The Merge”
The most expensive art NFT ever sold to date is “The Merge” by a renowned NFT artist Pak. “The Merge” is a collaborative piece of digital art. This famous art NFT was sold in December 2021 on Nifty Gateway for a whopping $91.8 million.
2. Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days”.
The most popular NFT art pieces that have been sold for millions of dollars include Beeple's piece "Everydays: The First 5,000 Days". Beeple sold this piece for $69.3 million at Christie’s auction house in March 2021. Beeple is an American digital artist who has created a new piece every day for more than 13 years. He turned the first 5,000 days into a single artwork, featuring some of his best works in the form of an NFT called “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days.”
3. Justin Roiland’s “The Best I Could Do”
Another NFT collection that sold for millions of dollars ($1.65 million, or 1,300 ETH) was Justin Roiland’s “The Best I Could Do,” which is a collection of over a dozen works of art from the “Rick and Morty” animated series.
4. Larva Labs Studio’s “CryptoPunks”
The CryptoPunks was initially an Ethereum-based project created by Larva Labs Studio in 2017. CryptoPunks is essentially a collection of 10,000 characters generated by an algorithm designed to produce a total of 24 different types of characters with different traits - so, in simple words, photos of different-colored faces with mohawks and sunglasses. Each character is unique and cannot be replicated in any way. CryptoPunks were the first NFTs ever created, and they’re still collectible today.
The most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold is CryptoPunk #5822. It was sold in February 2022 for 8,000 ETH, equivalent to over $23.7 million.
Thinking about NFTs? NextHash is the Answer
The NFT artwork market has been exploding in recent weeks. The trend is propelled by a combination of NFT hype, the skyrocketing price of Ethereum, and the rise of decentralized applications on the Ethereum network that are making it easy to create, buy and sell NFT artwork without intermediaries.
If you’re wondering how NFT art is made, NextHash has a simple solution for you. Thanks to our Nexinter platform, NextHash can help you create and sell your own NFTs. We offer a simple cryptocurrency and NFT exchange, which also gives you an option to explore how NFT art is made.
NextHash strives to make blockchain technology more accessible to those who want to expand their business opportunities with this revolutionary technology. To learn how to create your own NFTs and sell them with NextHash, get in touch with our team.