NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. The term “Non-Fungible” roughly means something that is completely unique and nothing else can take its place, making it irreplaceable with something else.
Over the recent times NFTs have shaken up the art and gaming forums and practically broken the internet with the explosion of blockchain news. With the iconic Nyan Cat and meme Doge being sold for $580,000 and $4 million respectively, several entrepreneurs and celebrities, such as rapper Eminem, singer Grimes and Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, dipped their toes into the NFT market. Between the second and third quarter of 2021, NFT trading volume has seen a momentous spike 704%. From popular news channels like CNN to social media platforms such as TikTok and Twitter, NFTs are trending and practically every artist on the internet is now putting a thought into incorporating them. Radha Kapoor Khanna, a creative entrepreneur, believes that NFTs are here to completely transform the art and economy of the world.
What Is NFT?
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. The term “Non-Fungible” roughly means something that is completely unique and nothing else can take its place, making it irreplaceable with something else. At a very high level, a majority of NFTs are part of the Ethereum cryptocurrency blockchain. However, a cryptocurrency such as the bitcoin is fungible, which means if you trade a bitcoin with another cryptocurrency, and you will get exactly a thing amounting to the exact same value. NFT, on the other hand, is non-fungible, which means if you trader one with a another NFT, what you would have is something completely different. The first NFT came to the market in 2014, but it was over 2021, when it gained record popularity upon the art world discovering that this currency can completely revolutionise the field and tackle some of the problems that have been plaguing the market for decades.
NFT And Art
The year 2021 witnessed a sharp growth in the sales of NFT in the field of art, with over 11 million art sales through the course of the year. The highest recorded sales over a single month of the year was witnessed between October and November 2021 with more than 1.5 million NFT art sales in this period. This has raised a very important question of why exactly is NFT seeing such a massive growth of popularity in the art market? Radha Kapoor Khanna explains why NFTs have empowered artists and creators, thus, revolutionising the market of art.
Works of art often serve as investment for art lovers, collectors and investors, and with the variations in their appreciation, it creates a scope for profit. With the years there has been a steady increase in the demand for digital artworks, which has prompted art galleries and auction houses to take up NFT as a trading currency. Subsequently NFT marketplaces have come to existence, where artists can directly issue NFTS to sell their artworks. This has created a vibrant market for the trade of art, which has resulted in the sharp rise of NFT art sales. It also poses a great challenge to all art lobbies and offers every artist a fair chance to put their art out on the marketplace. It opens up opportunities for young artists, creators without art degrees and even for more known artists to monetise their older, unutilised artworks. With such open market and ample opportunities, it has also eliminated the need for middlemen, and commissions as artists can directly create and sell their art.
The NFT art market in India is not very far behind either. Since June over 5000 NFTs have been sold in the Indian market, with big names like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Rohit Sharma, Manish Malhotra and others joining in. Top creators, such as Shreya Daffney, Karan Kalra, Sneha Chakroborty, Siraj Hassan and many others have used NFT to unleash their creativity and voice. Shreya Daffney, one of the highest selling artists on WazirX, hails from Karnataka, which has a massive influence on her work. Multi-disciplinary visual engineer by profession, Karan Kalra, is a talented artist who across multiple media such as illustration, animation, painting, sculpture and more. Sneha Chakroborty, famed for her street art and wall murals, has also taken to WazirX to create stunning NFT art, inspired by nature and human nature. Chennai based artist, Siraj Hassan crafts complex and diverse pieces, which are available on OpenSea. Radha Kapoor Khanna remarks, “With the rise of NFT trading platforms and marketplaces such as WazirX, Vibranium, and Byteblock.art, Indian digital artists now finally have a space to showcase and sell their NFT. These platforms have come to existence not very long ago and yet have already hosted 1,600 creators, and many more are joining in with each day.” With such sharp growth, it is only expected that the NFT art boom will continue to revolutionise the Indian art market and pave way for talented artists to create brilliant art!
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