"On March 11, 2021, Christie's made history as the first major auction house to sell art in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). Digital artist Beeple managed to offload his massive mosaic, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, for a whopping $69 million, generating hundreds of astonished headlines and getting those three letters, NFT, in front of untold scads of early-adopter eyeballs. It was the sale heard 'round the world, a starter pistol kicking off the NFT gold rush."
"Cut to last month, when Christie's quietly closed its digital art department. It was as if the moment when NFTs briefly became the molten core of culture, tech, and commerce had never happened at all-as if the vague memory of surly apes with unconscionable price tags had just been a fever dream. There may be a lesson, however, in examining how quickly the hype cooled on NFTs-especially considering what the market has evolved into in the years since."
"For those who may have forgotten-or never bothered to learn-NFTs are unique digital certificates stored on a blockchain, proving ownership or authenticity for an array of items, including art. Unlike the typical crypto asset, where each Bitcoin or Ethereum is identical and equal, these tokens are not interchangeable. Hence, they are-say it with me- non-fungible. Though the first-ever NFT-a short, looping generative animation called-was created in 2014, the technology only started making waves a few years later, with the arrival of CryptoKitties."
Christie's sold Beeple's Everydays: The First 5000 Days as an NFT for $69 million on March 11, 2021, triggering massive media attention and an NFT boom. Months later Christie's quietly closed its digital art department, signaling a cooling of NFT hype. NFTs are unique digital certificates stored on blockchains that prove ownership for items including art. Early NFT momentum grew with CryptoKitties on Ethereum, which combined collectibility and breeding mechanics to gamify digital ownership. The rapid rise and subsequent decline of interest in NFTs reflect market volatility and shifts in cultural and commercial attention.
Read at Fast Company
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