Are NFTs the future of the art market?

Red Eight Gallery has partnered with Rare.Market to offer our clients the unique opportunity to get involved in the booming digital art market. For the very first time collectors and investors are now able to buy a piece of physical art and also receive exclusive digital ownership of that work as a non-fungible token (NFT). In this article we’ll explore the surging popularity of NFTs and find how investors can benefit from this exciting new market.

The origins of NFTs goes back to 2012 when the tech world first came up with the idea of issuing actual assets like real estate on a secure blockchain. It wasn’t until 2017, though, that the world’s first platform for digital art on the Ethereum blockchain was launched. Called Cryptopunks, this marketplace initially gave away 10,000 cartoon characters to anyone with an Ethereum wallet. This proved so popular that a secondary market soon sprung up with the digital artworks changing hands for increasing prices.

Next came the infamous Cryptokitties, breedable virtual cats which went viral and raised an impressive $12.5 million in investment. This marked a watershed movement for NFTs, paving the way for the explosion in interest from both artists and investors that we’ve seen over the past couple of years. 

The current record-holder is the American artist Mike Winkelmann who works under the name Beeple. In March 2021 his “EVERYDAY: THE FIRST 5000” was sold at Christie’s for $69,346,250, claiming the title of the most expensive digital image ever sold. “Christie’s had never offered a new media artwork of this scale or importance before,” commented Noah Davis, a specialist in Post-War & Contemporary Art at Christie’s in New York.

Despite the big headlines, the NFT art market isn’t just restricted to investors with multi-million dollar budgets. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in the digital art world by purchasing works by emerging artists at very accessible prices. Most of the world is still waking up to the potential of the NFT art market, making this the perfect time to buy into an up-and-coming alternative asset.

According to the 2020 Art Market Report by Art Basel and UBS the traditional art market was worth US$50.1 billion last year. Between the start of the year and April 2021 the NFT art market has swelled from just $52 million to $490 million. While NFTs are still just a small sector of the overall art market, this incredible growth over such a short period indicates that the category will become increasingly important in the coming years.

Red Eight’s partnership with Rare.Market is unique in that collectors receive both the physical artwork and an NFT giving them digital ownership of that exact piece. This approach gives investors the extra security of having both physical and digital ownership. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about how this works, please get in touch with us at info@redeightgallery.com and our friendly art experts will be able to answer all your questions.