Trouble for the Crypto Art market. According to the latest data, it appears that sales of non-fungible tokens fell 31% in March, with $882 million in NFT sales. Let’s see what and why this happened.

Drop in non-fungible token sales: data on the Crypto Art market

As anticipated above, according to statistics, the number of sales of non-fungible tokens (NFT) in March was 31.42% lower than the previous month, down from $1.03 billion in sales in February to $882.89 million.

In addition, the number of NFT buyers and transactions also decreased, from 22% to 29%, over the past 30 days. Of these sales, $537.89 million were settled on the Ethereum blockchain (ETH), which dominated March sales with over 60%.

Solana-based NFT sales accounted for 10.57% of March sales, with $93.36 million settled. In terms of NFT sales, Solana was followed by Polygon ($36.16 million), Immutable X ($28.82 million) and Cardano ($10.08 million).

At this point, the question arises as to why the NFT market is proceeding slowly despite the partial recovery of cryptocurrency prices. It should be emphasized that the March data may not fully reflect reality, as it lacks data on non-fungible tokens on Bitcoin, which have recently entered the market.

To date, there are still no platforms to measure the buying and selling volumes of these non-fungible tokens. According to Galaxy Research, a company that conducts data analysis on blockchain, the Bitcoin NFT market could be worth 4.5 billion in 2025.

Crypto Art: which non-fungible token collections sold the most in March?

Regarding the Crypto Art market, we see that the best-selling NFT collection in March was Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which generated sales of $35.81 million, although this figure represents a 48.19% decrease from the previous month.

Cryptopunks was the second largest NFT collection in terms of sales, with $30.11 million, an 87.95% increase over February. According to cryptoslam.io statistics, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Cryptopunks NFT collections were followed by Otherdeed ($29.20 million), MG Land ($25.71 million) and HV-MTL ($18.59 million).

Among the top ten NFT collections, Degods recorded a 70.53% increase in sales in March compared to February, just below the 87.95% increase recorded by Cryptopunks during the same period.

Other noteworthy collections that recorded increased sales this month include Y00ts, Claynosaurz, and Whiko NFT. Finally, the most expensive NFT sales this month were Azimuth Points #236, sold for $704,000, followed by Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #5,116, sold for $689,000 and Fidenza #971, sold for $561,000.

BAYC #2,062 sold for $557,000 a few days ago, while Fidenza #395 sold for $547,000 just over a month ago. According to 30-day statistics, not a single NFT was sold for more than $1 million in March.

Not only that, according to Dappradar.com and Dune Analytics, Blur dominated sales with over 70%, while Opensea captured 19.9%.

What’s new coming in the NFT and Crypto Art market

Despite declining NFT sales, Yuga Labs had a rather exciting month of March. Indeed, we see two important new developments: the collaboration with Gucci and the launch of Twelvefold, the company’s first collection built on Bitcoin.

Specifically, Gucci announced its entry into the NFT market on Twitter, using an image showing the trademarks of the two brands on the bottle in the trailer for the Bored Ape metaverse, Otherside.

However, the unexpected and enigmatic announcement makes it impossible to predict how the collaboration will play out. Meanwhile, the Twelvefold auction, Yuga Labs’ first collection of non-fungible tokens on Bitcoin, consisting of 300 unique pieces, raised 735.7 BTC ($16.5 million).

These digital artworks can be bought on Magic Eden, a platform started on Solana that also released this month a section dedicated to inscriptions, NFTs on Bitcoin.

Furthermore, we see production studio Baobab Studios, winner of nine Emmy Awards, entering the NFT market with its new project, Momoguro. Created by director and multimedia animator Martin Allais and writer/director Nico Cassavecchia, Momoguro is a colorful fantasy world where creatures called “Momos” can merge together to form hybrid characters.

The collection generated more than 10,000 ETH in volume, though the floor price of the NFTs, after spurting upward in the days immediately following the minting, fell below the initial value (0.2 ETH) and is now around 0.1 ETH.

Finally, paintings by Lee Mullican, an artist who has exhibited his work in the halls of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), also landed on the Tezos blockchain in March.

Bruno Cerasi, a well-known Italian crypto art artist, released his new NFT work “SKIN AND BONES I” today on the SuperRare marketplace.

Crypto Art: Bruno Cerasi’s new NFT work is available today on SuperRare

Well known Italian crypto artist Bruno Cerasi today released the drop on SuperRare’s marketplace of his new work in the NFT format, “SKIN AND BONES I.”

GM FAM
Today is really a special day for me!

My Genesis Drop on @SuperRare is here!

I just wanna say thank you to the amazing @PauloRenftle for this collab

I really appreciate who helps me sharing this work https://t.co/uANLGchiW0

— Bruno Cerasi (@BrunoCerasiArt) March 23, 2023

The NFT artwork was created from a series of black and white shots taken in Taormina, Sicily and called “Fimmina,” by Paulo Renftle with a Hasselblad film camera. “Fimmina” is a word from the Sicilian dialect meaning “woman.”

Through a careful process of analysis and selection, Cerasi literally broke down the photographic image, transforming it into endless polygonal tiles of a digital mosaic.

Such tiles developed in black, white and grayscale, then became the plumage of a magpie, which flies through the Sicilian skies and is captured by what glitters.

In his description of his NFT work, Cerasi continues as follows:

“The magpie steals shiny objects, just as the beauty of a beautiful Sicilian woman is able to catch a glance, becoming a magpie herself.”

Crypto Art: who is the NFT artist Bruno Cerasi? His project Faded22/

Bruno Cerasi, born in Bologna in 1983, lives and works in Roseto degli Abruzzi (TE). After scientific studies, he trained artistically at the Academy of Fine Arts in L’Aquila.

His artistic research underwent a profound change when he suffered a stroke in 2009 that took away part of his sight. From that moment, Cerasi began working with installations and spaces, abandoning painting and drawing and focusing on light and shadow so as to use them as the main elements of his art.

Cerasi has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions and fairs in Italy and abroad. His latest work Faded22/ is a collection of butterflies as NFTs that went on sale on the Foundation marketplace last year.

The Faded22/ project was born and based on his eyesight, which had been declining very slowly in recent times. Basically, every month, while Cerasi has his eyes examined, namely the monitoring of his visual field, the results were transformed through an algorithm into a digital butterfly. 

An original digital project that leads each butterfly to become an NFT, in a Faded22/ collection that precisely counts 12 of them as the months of a year.

The butterfly has been Cerasi’s symbol since 2013, when he chose it to represent the overflow of information that surrounds us and the paradox of being so distant from others.

The NFT artist was present at the first talk show in the metaverse

The Cryptonomist and The Nemesis have solidified a partnership with the launch of the first talk show in the metaverse featuring interviews with various NFT artists or popular industry figures.

Last October 2022, Cerasi participated in the interview describing his art and his entry into the world of crypto art and NFTs. Here is the video.

Crypto Art artist Matteo Mauro has announced the launch of his upcoming NFT “Four Season” collection. The chosen marketplace is Nifty Gateway and up for grabs will be a chance for one lucky collector to win SPRING.

Crypto Art: Matteo Mauro announces the launch of “Four Season,” the new NFT collection

Renowned Sicilian Crypto Art artist Matteo Mauro announced the launch of the new NFT collection “Four Season,” describing the first drop and the artwork up for grabs SPRING (Spring). 

The drop will be composed of 4 artworks in total:
1x 1/1
1x Ed of 4
1x Ed of 10
1x Ed of 30
(34 of these for sale – 11 of them to win).
–
Heads up: owning 1 NFT of this drop will give you 1/34 chance to win the 1/1 artwork

— Matteo Mauro (@mattmaurostudio) March 14, 2023

The “Four Season” NFT collection will be divided into 4 drops (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) that will take place on the Nifty Gateway marketplace.

In this first section, the artist points out that those who win an NFT from the first drop of the collection will be eligible for the raffle that features another SPRING artwork, in optimized 8K resolution.

The giveaway crypto artwork is Generative Art of Computational Engravings, and it represents Matteo Mauro’s memory of spring. Here is a brief description of the SPRING artwork that can be won:

“sunshine but rain, fresh skin, longer days, blue sky, blossoming colors, birds singing around jasmine days, green grass awakening, love rejuvenated.”

Crypto Art and the structure of the first drop from Matteo Mauro’s NFT collection

The “Four Season” series is a section of the art project entitled Micromegalic Inscriptions.

Specifically, the process implemented by Matteo Mauro Studio is an ongoing search for a peculiar and identifiable creative language that stops between the folds of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

“Four Season” consists of four curated drops, one for each season. The works in this series will conceal and depict annual seasonal variations through artist Matteo Mauro’s form, color, and evolving research into the evolution of printmaking technology in the digital realm. His drawing language insinuates and transforms;

The first drop for spring features four artworks:

• SPRING which is an optimized 8K PNG intended for a lucky collector, current price $35,000;
• AFTER SPRING BEFORE SUMMER, a 4K PNG with limited edition of 4; The NFT also includes framed physical artwork – current price $28,000;
• PREPARATORY GENERATIVE ENGRAVING (BONUS), a 4K NPC with limited edition of 10 copies.
• ALMOST SPRING, a 4K PNG with limited edition of 30 – Unreserved Classified Auction Includes an entry in the Ed of 10 raffle. Includes a 1/1 raffle entry;

The NFT work by Preparatory Generative Engraving provides for distribution as follows:

• 4x AIRDROPPED to collectors of SuperRare’s “Four Elements.”
• 4x AIRDROPPED to collectors of AFTER SPRING BEFORE SUMMER on Nifty Gateway;
• 2x RAFFLED to collectors of ALMOST SPRING.

This first drop with the four NFT works will take place on Nifty Gateway starting naturally from 21 March 2023, the day of Spring Equinox.

The $100,000 sales record for the NFT “Four Elements” collection

Last year, Matteo Mauro set his new $100,000 sales record for the NFT “Four Elements” collection. Specifically, that record did not take into account Earth, the last element that was then auctioned, after Air, Water and Fire.

Indeed, last April, the NFT works of Fire, Water and Air had sold for 12 ETH (The equivalent at the time of $35,000) each, on the SuperRare marketplace.

Matteo Mauro’s first art project Micromegalic Inscriptions was indeed a great success. Though it certainly was not the first one.

In February last year, Matteo Mauro together with artist Emanuele Dascanio reportedly sold Mætaverse’s work for $60,000 on the crypto art marketplace SuperRare.

NFTs are mostly known in the field of fine art where they ushered in the so-called crypto art movement, but non-fungible tokens can also be used in the music industry.

What are NFTs and why do they have high potential in crypto art

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, that is, something unique that cannot be replaced by another token because no two are the same.

In other words, an NFT is digital content that represents real-world objects such as artwork, music, games, and collections of any kind.

Those who buy a non-fungible token are not only buying the work itself, but more importantly, the ability to prove a right to the work: in fact, the NFT performs the function of being a certificate of authenticity and ownership of an artwork or otherwise a digital file.

The characteristics of NFTs related to the world of music, not just crypto art

Although there are still plenty of people who associate non-fungible tokens exclusively with digital images, there are many other categories applicable to this rapidly growing field. One of these is undoubtedly the music industry.

Since these are non-fungible tokens, in order to invest and buy these assets it is recommended to own a crypto wallet, which can be opened for free, in a few simple steps, such as Binance, Bitkeep or MetaMask.

Even in the music world we have begun to observe a gradual approach by musicians, producers and famous DJs to this new technological frontier.

Just as with art, it works the same way for music as far as NFTs are concerned. That is, the registration on the blockchain of each individual NFT goes through two main stages.

At the time of creation and initial registration on the blockchain, the creator of the NFT is included in the distributed ledger, and from that moment on, his or her ownership as the creator of that particular NFT will be incontrovertible.

At a later date, the distributed blockchain ledger will contain all the ownership transitions of that NFT work subsumed by the various trades. In this way, this secure technology, as it is distributed and encrypted, finds perfect application in music.

The best NFT platforms in music

Among the best platforms for music NFTs, we find Crypto.com. Specifically, this is a unique platform for cryptocurrencies and NFTs, featuring the lowest fees on the web and numerous NFT auctions.

Then, we have Huobi Global and Bitget, which contain many categories of NFTs.

Huobi, in particular, is a rapidly expanding platform, while Bitget recently has been listing many NFT projects.

There is also Coinbase, with very user-friendly design, a P2P marketplace, and high growth potential.

Last but not least is OpenSea, the pioneer of NFTs with very high popularity and ideal for collectors and enthusiasts.

Expert opinion on music NFTs and the royalty discussion

The music market and industry have always been particularly sensitive to technological innovations, think of mediums such as cassette tapes, later transformed into CD-ROMs and then finally leaving the physical aspect behind and becoming a fully digital good.

The discussion regarding “royalties” received by artists also arises as a pillar of this decentralized revolution. Even though, to date, music NFTs do not involve the distribution of royalties, there are platforms that are already moving in this direction.

We can confirm that the perspective taken by the music industry is strongly attracted to NFTs and blockchain technology, and we might expect that in a few months we will start to talk more and more about “MusicFi” as has happened in other areas such as crypto art and GameFi.

Major musicians and bands that have launched music NFTs

Two idols of the crypto community, Snoop Dogg and Eminem, have been avid fans of NFTs for years. Proud owners of several Bored Ape Yacht Clubs and Mutant Ape Yacht Clubs, the two rappers saw NFT music as a way to improve the recording industry and overhaul the relationship between fan and artist.

Thus, the two rap legends released a new music video in collaboration with Yuga Labs, where they impersonate their Ape.

Snoop Dogg also has several NFT music projects under his belt, and has put 25 thousand albums on sale in the form of non-fungible tokens for $5 thousand.

These NFTs, called Stash Box, contain his new album B.O.D.R. with 3 bonus tracks for fans.

Shawn Mendes, the pop singer who became famous with his hit Stitches, has also jumped into the crypto world with Genies, an NFT platform that creates 3D characters that can be used in various metaverses. He released on OpenSea a collection of NFTs inspired by his best-selling album, Wonder, and also some digital wearables to show off on their virtual avatars.

Mike Shinoda, vocalist for Linkin Park, has also joined the trend of musical NFTs. The lead singer of the legendary band held an NFT auction of a music clip from his single Zora. He also sold NFTs with exclusive artwork from another of his singles, Happy Endings.

On the Italian scene, Marco Castoldi, aka Morgan, obtained $21,000 for the song “Premessa della premessa,” which was put up for sale on the OpenSea platform. Muse, one of the most beloved bands of all time, also experimented with their first album in the NFT format, in collaboration with CryptoKitties.

Finally, there are Kings of Leon, whose tokenized album and related NFTs generated sales of at least $1.45 million in the first five days.

However, a representative for the band estimates revenues to be more than $2 million: of that amount, $600,000 will go to the Crew Nation Fund to support live music bands affected by the pandemic.

How NFTs could change the music world

In the age of streaming, several self-distribution services such as Spotify and YouTube allow anyone to distribute their music independently. Labels have lost their production and distribution monopolies, but they continue to be experts in marketing and financing music.

As this is the case, there are still many artists who choose to sign contracts with companies and give up large sums of money. But how can NFTs and Web3 change the music industry and solve its problems?

In the traditional music industry, record companies control the ability to determine the success of artists and the distribution of royalties, but as Web3 infrastructure and technologies improve, power could shift from intermediaries to musicians and fans.

Compared to traditional digital music distribution, NFTs offer unlimited possibilities. Music streaming sites only give users the right to listen to acquired recordings, but do not offer ownership.

Unlike music streaming services, NFTs grant buyers exclusive or shared ownership of the reserved NFT file. By definition, NFT music is exclusive and irreplaceable and is rapidly becoming a highly sought-after collector’s item.

NFT files can be auctioned off by musicians or sold directly to fans who pay with Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. This gives a lot of power back to artists, who now have another method to market their art or other digital retail without relying on middlemen or third parties.

Moreover, with the advent of the metaverse era, concerns are also coming to the music business. Indeed, artists, music labels, managers, and event organizers are all trying to find new ways to connect with fans and adapt to the new environment and technologies.

Specifically, key consumer-driven industries such as gaming, retail, music, and entertainment are on the verge of explosive growth and change.

One of the first virtual concerts on Roblox saw Lil Nas X play for 33 million people over the course of two days and four shows. The Fortnite Rift Tour, led by Ariana Grande, on the other hand, was enjoyed by 27.7 million people.

Al Generative Art is a type of art, in most cases visual, that is based on cooperation between a human being and an autonomous system. An “autonomous system” is defined as an Artificial Intelligence software, algorithm or model capable of performing complex operations without the need for programmer intervention.

From the bizarre juxtapositions of images created by Dall-E Mini to the NFT market, images generated by AI algorithms are increasingly entering the mainstream imagination. In fact, two important projects on the subject that deserve to be analyzed are: Midjourney and DALL-E 2.

Of course, the news has also made its way to Twitter. Commenting on it, among others, is Charles Hoskinson, who wrote:

AI generated art. I was able to make this picture in just a few minutes. I can’t imagine how remarkable this technology will be in 3 years pic.twitter.com/jOToCZj7ki

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) February 1, 2023

Al Generative Art: early experiments and features

Having understood what Generative Art is, it is important to emphasize one of its founding principles: randomness. Which is a fundamental property of Generative Art.

In fact, depending on the type of software, the autonomous system is able to process results that are always different and unique each time the generate command is executed, or it can return a variable number of results in response to user input.

The first experiments in Generative Art date back to the 1960s with the experiments of Harold Cohen and his AARON program. Cohen first used stand-alone software to generate abstract artworks inspired by Pop Art silkscreens. Cohen’s works are now on display at the Tate Gallery in London.

Another attribute of Generative Art, but one that is less and less a prerogative, is the repetition of patterns or abstract elements provided by the programmer and implemented within the software code.

In addition, the development of increasingly complex neural networks operating on text-image association has enabled the development of generative models capable of creating increasingly realistic and accurate images. The best known example of this category of Generative Art is Dall-E.

Dall-E is a multimodal neural network based on the GPT-3 deep learning model from OpenAI, the same company that also recently developed ChatGPT, the chatbot launched in November 2022 and optimized with “supervised” and reinforcement learning techniques.

Returning to Dall-E, we see that this system is capable of generating images from a textual description, called a “prompt,” based on a dataset of text-image pairs.

The first version of Dall-E, which was presented to the public in January 2021 and remained the prerogative of a small number of professionals in the field, represented a real revolution in terms of this type of generative model, surpassing the innovations of GPT-3 itself.

Also of significance is the fact that the accuracy of the results processed by Dall-E proved to be the perfect scope for another OpenAI solution: CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pre-training).

An image classification and ranking neural network trained on the basis of text-image associations, such as captions found on the Internet. Thanks to CLIP’s intervention, which reduces the number of results proposed to the user per prompt to 32, Dall-E was found to return satisfactory images in most cases.

Midjourney: design, human infrastructure, and artificial intelligence

As anticipated, Midjourney is an important project that is part of the emerging Al Generative Art concept. Specifically, Midjourney is an independent research laboratory that explores new means of thinking and expands the imaginative powers of the human species.

Using it is simple: first an account must be created on Discord, a platform that hosts various communities, where Midjourney is one of them. Within the application are the various chatrooms in which one can actively participate or not in discussions.

It is important to point out that to try using Artificial Intelligence for the first time one must go to the “newbies” channels, where 25 free renders are available.

One render corresponds to the generation of four different variants generated from the same textual input.

Thus, the 25 renders refer to 25 processing jobs performed by the Midjourney bot. Consequently, generating the image requires interacting with the Midjourney bot via a text message called a “prompt,” in which there will be keywords describing the image the user has in mind.

You can add as many details as you want, the important thing is to divide the keywords with a comma. Once the rendering is finished, the computer returns four different images based on the descriptions to choose from.

In addition, once the program has finished rendering, you can communicate your preferences based on the images and, if you wish, have four more versions generated again.

DALL-E 2: the new AI system for artworks

In addition to Midjourney, DALL-E 2 is also the new AI system that can create realistic images and artworks from a natural language description. Not only that, DALL-E 2 can also combine concepts, attributes and styles.

The strength of the new AI system also lies in being able to expand images beyond what is in the original canvas, creating new expansive compositions. In addition, it can make realistic changes to existing images from a natural language caption and can add and remove elements taking into account shadows, reflections and textures.

DALL-E 2’s capabilities also include taking an image and creating several variations of it inspired by the original. DALL-E 2 has learned the relationship between images and the text used to describe them.

It uses a process called “diffusion,” which starts with a pattern of random dots and gradually alters that pattern toward an image when it recognizes specific aspects of that image.

So, after OpenAI introduced DALL-E in January 2021, now the newest system, DALL-E 2, generates more realistic and accurate images with four times the resolution.

DALL-E 2 started as a research project and is now available as a beta version. Security mitigations that the system has developed and continues to improve include: limiting the system’s ability to generate violent, hate, or adult images, and learning-based phased deployment.

Founded by Art Basel‘s parent company MCH Group and the LUMA Foundation, Arcual is a new blockchain that puts artists at the center of the ecosystem.

The goal, as explained in the press release issued today, is to offer artists greater transparency and participation, addressing the unique needs of the art world, including artists, but also those of galleries, institutions, and of course, collectors. 

The problems of the traditional art world

As is well known, the traditional art world is not very inclusive or transparent. Galleries typically decide prices almost autonomously and retain high percentages that can go over 50%.

Indeed, Arcual was born out of a long-standing frustration related to the fact that, in the art world, artists often do not benefit from the growth of their market.

With blockchain and NFTs, these problems disappear. Artists can sell directly to collectors, and platforms retain low percentages (about 10% maximum).

Hence, the traditional art world now wants to enter the crypto world and leverage it to be part of the industry and not be sidelined.

Companies such as Art Basel, a leader in the art-driven events industry, have therefore decided to reclaim the market and help galleries and even institutional collectors who also want to enter it.

Art Basel: the birth of Arcual

This led to the creation of Arcual, which wants to create a space to share information and partnerships in the art world in a transparent way.

Arcual will thus provide smart contracts to manage artist and gallery royalties, customized payment terms, sales agreements, verified provenance, and digital certificates of authenticity through NFTs.

As a target, Arcual wants to help galleries eager to embrace a new way of doing business in the art world. 

By leveraging blockchain technology, Arcual therefore aims to remedy these imbalances in the art market by promoting greater fairness and transparency to support galleries in doing what they do best: nurturing and developing their artists.

Bernadine Bröcker Wieder, CEO of Arcual, said: 

“Arcual is well-positioned to solve longstanding challenges and create new opportunities across the entire art community – and we are the first blockchain ecosystem to be purpose-built with these use cases at its core. We want Arcual to be a trusted space for information, partnerships, and transactions, from which new forms of collaboration will be possible. We are excited to bring to life a longawaited solution for the art world.”

Art Basel in the NFT World

As early as September 2021, the event of the year for the art world had decided to exhibit NFT as well. Notably, a booth called “Crypto Kiosk” by Galerie Nagel Draxler had been set up in Basel, which attracted the attention of collectors and recorded sales of more than $100,000.

In its “Crypto Kiosk,” with walls and floors covered entirely by the distinctive inscription “NFTism,” physical works by artists such as Luke Willis Thompson, DotPigeon, Sarah Friend, Olive Allen, and Kevin Abosch were on display for the purpose of offering them for sale on the OpenSea platform.

The world of NFTs meets the world of art, creating digital works of inestimable economic value. The recent phenomenon is also referred to as “crypto art,” which basically refers to the art form based on the world of cryptocurrencies as well as cryptographic art.

In other words, digital or digitized works that are published on a blockchain. Technically, an NFT artwork is content in digital format, uploaded to an exchange platform, the sale of which is then recorded on a blockchain.

While not always, it often happens that NFT artworks can also be images as JPEG files, as in the case of Beeple’s digital artwork, the most expensive to date. Hence, nothing groundbreaking. 

Well then, what is so special about NFT artworks? These digital works are unique and valuable for two main reasons. First, the fact that crypto art runs on the blockchain system. 

This means that each transaction is immutable and therefore unhackable, as is the case with non-art crypto. This is because it does not rely on a single physical device but on the computers of millions of users.

The second reason is that crypto artworks, in order to be sold, are converted to NFTs. Therefore, precisely because of the inherent and characteristic property of NFTs, works become non-divisible virtual objects that can only have a unique relationship to the work they represent.

These factors make each form of NFT art unique, unrepeatable and personal. Consequently, of very high value. 

Achille Lauro and NFT art 

Last July, it was singer Achille Lauro who was the protagonist of crypto art. 

Indeed, during his concert in Milan, the artist created live NFT artworks entirely for charity. 

The project was conceived by the artist’s company De Marinis Group, together with students from the BigRock school and in collaboration with PwC Italy. Specifically, “sound-reactive” artworks visible on the stage led walls were generated through neural networks.

BigRock school students, by listening to Lauro’s five songs, came up with creative concepts that generate digital paintings. These will then be auctioned off as NFT art this fall in support of the “Comitato Maria Letizia Verga” Association.

Crypto.com and NFT collectible art

Crypto.com was founded as a cryptocurrency exchange in 2016, but in a short time, it has expanded the range of financial products offered to investors to be present throughout the ecosystem. 

Crypto.com has rapidly grown and become increasingly prominent, placing itself in direct competition with Binance, Coinbase, and many others. 

Notably, most recently the Crypto.com exchange has also opened up to NFTs by forming a dedicated sales platform. Crypto.com NFT is accessible from the exchange’s main site, and its principle of operation is similar to OpenSea and Nifty Gateway.

Available brands include the Serie A League, Aston Martin F1, the IIHF World Ice Hockey League, as well as artistic non-fungible tokens specially made by creatives for Crypto.com NFT.

Team Azuki and NFT art 

Azuki is a brand for the metaverse built together with the Community. A collection of 10,000 avatars that provide subscription access to The Garden, a corner of the Internet where art, community and culture come together to create magic.

Specifically, the 10,000 characters are anime depicted in various states of mind and adorned with accessories such as headgear and weapons. Not long ago, a particularly rare item from the collection sold for 420 ETH, more than one million US dollars at the time of sale. The cheapest azuki today are worth 11.2 ETH (about $14,000).

The NFT art collection of Azuki is very much in vogue. So much so that Arthur Cheong, founder of web3 investment firm DeFiance Capital, uses a rare Azuki as his Twitter profile picture, and Hong Kong real estate tycoon billionaire Adrian Cheng also recently purchased 101 NFT Azuki.

Blur.io: new NFT marketplace 

Blur.io is a new NFT marketplace that recently launched on the market. 

The marketplace’s target audience is geared toward professional NFT collectors, thus also those who want to collect NFT artwork. 

Their goal is to build an NFT trading platform to match the current market, which only last April, exceeded a volume of $3.5B (in the Ethereum market alone) and provide useful tools for traders, such as a real crypto exchange.

Blur aims to be an entirely different marketplace, where tools such as charts and analytics will be integrated into the platform.

The Frida Kahlo case: the work burned to become NFT art 

It happened last June, Martin Mobarak, an entrepreneur and art alchemist, burned Frida Kahlo’s Fantasmones Siniestros drawing to make it a digital work. 

From the ashes, here are 10 thousand non-fungible tokens each worth 3 Ethereum (about 4,000 euros).

Although the entrepreneur stated that a portion of the sales of these NFTs would go to charity, understandably, Mobarak’s gesture generated quite a bit of controversy. Is it really right to burn a valuable work like Frida Kahlo’s to make it NFT art? 

The web and even some of Mobarak’s colleagues questioned this, wondering whether it was fair that the development of the NFT market even in the field of art could justify the mystification of art itself, understood in the traditional sense. 

OneFootball: sports and NFT 

The agreement took place between OneFootball, the platform dedicated to the world of soccer, and Serie A, the most important professional soccer league in Italy. An agreement that will include not only media coverage, but also an excursus into the world of NFT. 

This is not the first time that the world of NFTs has approached the world of sports. In fact, other major collaborations had already taken place with the NBA, NHL and many other sports franchises.

The collection was anticipated on 1 August, while the first collectible tokens should go on sale on the 29. 

Another way to link NFTs to the world of collectibles and, consequently, art. 

On the one hand something interesting for soccer fans, and on the other, for all those who are looking for truly exclusive NFTs that can have the pull of important and world-renowned franchises.

CryptoPunks: NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain 

CryptoPunks is a collection of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. The project was launched in June 2017 by Larva Labs, a team composed of Canadian software developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson.

The crypto art blockchain project was the inspiration for the ERC-721 standard for NFT and, more broadly, for the modern crypto art movement. The latter has since become part of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance. 

CryptoPunks are commonly credited for starting the NFT craze of 2021, along with other early projects including CryptoKitties, Bored Ape Yacht Club and the aforementioned Beeple sale. 

Specifically, there are 10,000 CryptoPunk tokens in the V1 and V2 contracts. Due to their rarity and exclusivity, they sell at higher prices on the open market.

inBeetweeners: bear-shaped NFT art 

inBetweeners is an exclusive NFT collection consisting of 10,777 unique objects hand-drawn by Gianpiero, a young artist, stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Each inBetweeners is unique and based on a combination of more than 175 random attributes.

inBetweeners spreads positivity in real life and in the metaverse. The mission is simple: make the world a more loving place. The shape chosen to convey this message is that of the bear, an animal that quintessentially represents gentleness.

Gianpiero’s collection has been no small success, to the point that the inBetweeners project includes the crew of Justin Bieber, who has already been collaborating with Gianpiero for several years. And not only that: the project has been propelled by several national celebrities like Tony Effe and international ones like Tom Holland.

The new BOOKDROP OPEN EDITION NFT of “CRYPTO ART – Begins” is coming to Nifty Gateway, the book that tells the story and evolution of Crypto Art through the works of 50 of the movement’s most representative artists.

The BOOKDROP OPEN EDITION NFT of “CRYPTO ART – Begins” will be available from Monday, October 17th at 6:30 PM ET (00:30 AM Italian time on October 18th) on Nifty Gateway, giving collectors the opportunity to receive the physical book 1 year in advance.

“CRYPTO ART – Begins” is the first Phygital book born from an idea and project of The NFT Magazine, monthly magazine to be read and collected on Ethereum, which has the aim also to support young and talented Crypto Artists.

That’s why, on the occasion of the second drop on Nifty Gateway of the BOOKDROP OPEN EDITION NFT, together with the Readers Gallery of The NFT Magazine, a public CALL for young and visionary Crypto Artists who believe in the future of Web3 and Digital Art was launched and just ended.

Over 60 thousand votes from around the world to select 100 finalists who will be featured on The NFT Magazine’s SPECIAL NFT COVER for this drop only.

By collecting the BOOKDROP OPEN EDITION NFT of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, collectors will have the right to receive – 1 year before the release in bookstores – the physical Bookstore edition directly at their doorstep, as well as receiving another random NFT created by one of the 100 young Crypto Artists selected through the public call.

The book “CRYPTO ART – Begins”

“CRYPTO ART – Begins” is an innovative book, which finds its way onto the shelves of the best bookstores, bookshops and museums around the world, as well as in the Metaverse, with a virtual reality exhibition of all the artists involved accessible thanks to an NFT, which every reader will find inside the book and can redeem for free.

The book tells the story of the exciting Crypto Art movement through the history and works of 50 crypto artists – including HACKATAO, Refik Anadol, Kevin Abosch, Osinachi, Federico Clapis, Giant Swan, DADA.Art – who have contributed to the birth and are part with their NFTs – Non Fungible Tokens – of the present and future of this new world.

For the first time, the volume “CRYPTO ART – Begins” focuses on the artists, the works, the collectors, the curatorship, what has happened and what will happen.

For this reason Andrea Concas – Founder of The NFT Magazine – theorizes and defines the “Crypto Art System” with which we go beyond technological solutions, identifying its protagonists, together with the dynamics behind this revolution between community, digital platforms and artists. 

For The NFT Magazine, curator Eleonora Brizi – a pioneer of the movement well before the media boom – talks to 50 artists to discover their works through interviews that reveal the visions, aspirations, complexities and limits of a world that is yet to be discovered.

But when does the history of Crypto Art begin? Is it already possible to talk about the past of Crypto Art to understand what is happening today?

Inside the book “CRYPTO ART – Begins” there is a special contribution written by Martin L. Ostachowski, Artist and Historian of Crypto Art, with which to retrace the salient stages of an artistic movement still in the making.

So why collect Crypto Art? This question was asked to fifty passionate collectors who believe in and support the movement, and are an active part of the Crypto Art Community. In the pages of “CRYPTO ART – Begins” you can find the answers of collectors from all over the world: here are 50 great reasons to start collecting Crypto Art!

The #BOOKDROP1

From 06:30 PM ET on OCTOBER 17 (00:30 on October 18 Italian time), collectors will be able to buy the NFT BOOKSTORE EDITION of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, at the price of 199$.

Overall, there will be 5 drops of 15-days each that feature the NFT of 20 young international Crypto Artists out of the 100 highly talented ones chosen by the Community. 

With the purchase of the NFT you can:

• Receive the Bookstore physical edition of the book before distribution in bookstores, with no additional shipping costs
• Access to events, shows and private initiatives with artists, partners and curators 
• Access to physical events, in the Metaverse and inside the Readers Club, the reserved area for the holders of The NFT Magazine
• Benefit on upcoming issues of The NFT Magazine

How it works

The Drop will take place on Nifty Gateway, one of the world’s leading Crypto Art platforms.

After the closing of the drop, Collectors will immediately know which random NFT they got from one of the 20 featured Crypto Artists, and will redeem the physical BOOKSTORE EDITION hardcover version by filling out a form with shipping details.

CRYPTO ART, we are only at the beginning…

www.thenftmag.io/cryptoartbegins/

Artists involved

ANGIE TAYLOR – ANNE SPALTER – BARD IONSON – BRENDAN DAWES – DADA.ART – DANGIUZ – DAVID YOUNG – DOTPIGEON – ESPEN KLUGE – FABIO GIAMPIETRO – FEDERICO CLAPIS – GEORGE BOYA – GIANT SWAN – GIOVANNI MOTTA – GISEL FLOREZ – GORDON BERGER – GUS GRILLASCA – HACKATAO – HELENA SARIN – ILAN KATIN – JESSE DRAXLER – JIVINCI – KEVIN ABOSCH – LAPIN MIGNON – LAWRENCE LEE – LULU XXX – MARTIN L. OSTACHOWSKI – MATTIA CUTTINI – MBSJQ – MOXARRA – NANU BERKS – NORMAN HARMAN – OPERATOR – OSINACHI – PASCAL BOYART – PINDAR VAN ARMAN – RARE PEPE – REFIK ANADOL – REINHARD SCHMID – RHEA MYERS – ROBNESS – SARAH MEYOHAS – SKEENEE – SKYGOLPE – SOFIA CRESPO – SPARROW – STELLABELLE – THE VERSEVERSE – TRAVIS LEROY SOUTHWORTH – TREVOR JONES

The NFT Magazine

The book “Crypto Art – Begins” was born from the vision and experience of The NFT Magazine, the first monthly magazine to read and collect about Ethereum.

The NFT Magazine is distributed as a limited edition exclusively in NFT form where each issue has a collectible NFT cover in collaboration with top international crypto artists.

Today all issues are sold out and celebrated with covers the works of artists such as HACKATAO, COLDIE, REFIK ANADOL, DANGIUZ, ANTONI TUDISCO, SEERLIGHT, TOOMUCHLAG, SKYGOLPE, GIOVANNI MOTTA, OSINACHI and VEXX.

With The NFT Magazine you can discover the biggest players in the Crypto world, market trends, rankings and expert advice.

All the collectors of the covers of The NFT Magazine can access the “Readers Club”, to participate in the design of the next issues by choosing the topics to be covered, rankings, interviews and artists of the covers, thus becoming protagonists of the next issues.

The founders of The NFT Magazine – Art Rights and The Cryptonomist, with their partners – are passionate about Crypto and Art, as they have been working in the Art-Tech, Fintech and Blockchain industries since 2016.

Today we have the largest Community in Italy and among the largest in Europe for CryptoArt, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, with partner magazines exceeding 1.5 million page views per month.

Partners

One of the biggest NFT drops ever is arriving on Nifty Gateway to mark the Web3 entry of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, the book that is innovating the publishing world by combining the printed part, NFTs and Metaverse and telling the story and evolution of Crypto Art through the works of 50 of the movement’s most representative artists.

A limited number of SPECIAL EDITIONS of “CRYPTO ART – Begins” will be available for collection as NFTs and those who win them will have access to many benefits including unique physical copies and numerous experiences between reality and digital.

The book is the brainchild and project of The NFT Magazine, the first monthly magazine that can be read and collected on Ethereum. It is edited by Eleonora Brizi and published by Rizzoli Illustrati for Mondadori Electa and Rizzoli New York. 

The drop

Collectors will have 24 HOURS starting at 6:30 PM ET on 19 SEPTEMBER (00:30 AM CET time on 20 September) to grab one of the NFTs of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, priced at $999.

Included with the purchase of the NFT are:

• A special physical edition of the book with a custom cover created by one of the 50 artists, with the option to receive it directly to your home one year before it is released in bookstores; 
• Access to events, shows and private initiatives with artists, partners and curators.  

How does it work?

The Drop will take place on Nifty Gateway, one of the world’s leading Crypto Art platforms. 

Only at the end of the Drop, after purchasing one of the NFTs of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, collectors will find out which of the 50 artists they will have in their collection. 

After that, they will have 1 YEAR to decide whether to make the REDEEM of the limited edition physical copy of the book with a custom hardcover made by one of the 50 artists featured in the book.

To receive the physical copy of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, collectors will need to burn their NFT of the artwork on the cover that was delivered at the time of purchase with a black frame, and then receive an identical one with a white frame indicating that they have collected it. 

ARTISTS FEATURED IN THE BOOK “CRYPTO ART BEGINS”

ANGIE TAYLOR – ANNE SPALTER – BARD IONSON – BRENDAN DAWES – DADA. ART – DANGIUZ – DAVID YOUNG – DOT PIGEON – ESPEN KLUGE – FABIO GIAMPIETRO – FEDERICO CLAPIS – GEORGE BOYA – GIANT SWAN – GIOVANNI MOTTA – GISEL FLOREZ – GORDON BERGER – GUS GRILLASCA – HACKATAO – HELENA SARIN – ILAN KATIN – JESSE DRAXLER – JIVINCI – KEVIN ABOSCH – LAPIN MIGNON – LAWRENCE LEE – LULUXXX – MARTIN L. OSTACHOWSKI – MATTIA CUTTINI – MBSJQ – MOXARRA – NANU BERKS – NORRIE HARMAN – OPERATOR – OSINACHI – PASCAL BOYART – PINDAR VAN ARMAN – RARE PEPE – REFIK ANADOL – REINHARD SCHMID – RHEA MYERS – ROBNESS – SARAH MEYOHAS – SKEENEE – SKYGOLPE – SOFIA CRESPO – SPARROW – STELLABELLE – THE VERSEVERSE – TRAVIS LEROY SOUTHWORTH – TREVOR JONES 

One of the biggest NFT drops ever is arriving on Nifty Gateway to mark the Web3 entry of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, the book that is innovating the publishing world by combining the printed part, NFTs and Metaverse and telling the story and evolution of Crypto Art through the works of 50 of the movement’s most representative artists.

A limited number of SPECIAL EDITIONS of “CRYPTO ART – Begins” will be available for collection as NFTs and those who win them will have access to many benefits including unique physical copies and numerous experiences between reality and digital.

The book is the brainchild and project of The NFT Magazine, the first monthly magazine that can be read and collected on Ethereum. It is edited by Eleonora Brizi and published by Rizzoli Illustrati for Mondadori Electa and Rizzoli New York. 

The drop

Collectors will have 24 HOURS starting at 6:30 PM ET on 19 SEPTEMBER (00:30 AM CET time on 20 September) to grab one of the NFTs of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, priced at $999.

Included with the purchase of the NFT are:

• A special physical edition of the book with a custom cover created by one of the 50 artists, with the option to receive it directly to your home one year before it is released in bookstores; 
• Access to events, shows and private initiatives with artists, partners and curators.  

How does it work?

The Drop will take place on Nifty Gateway, one of the world’s leading Crypto Art platforms. 

Only at the end of the Drop, after purchasing one of the NFTs of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, collectors will find out which of the 50 artists they will have in their collection. 

After that, they will have 1 YEAR to decide whether to make the REDEEM of the limited edition physical copy of the book with a custom hardcover made by one of the 50 artists featured in the book.

To receive the physical copy of “CRYPTO ART – Begins”, collectors will need to burn their NFT of the artwork on the cover that was delivered at the time of purchase with a black frame, and then receive an identical one with a white frame indicating that they have collected it. 

ARTISTS FEATURED IN THE BOOK “CRYPTO ART BEGINS”

ANGIE TAYLOR – ANNE SPALTER – BARD IONSON – BRENDAN DAWES – DADA. ART – DANGIUZ – DAVID YOUNG – DOT PIGEON – ESPEN KLUGE – FABIO GIAMPIETRO – FEDERICO CLAPIS – GEORGE BOYA – GIANT SWAN – GIOVANNI MOTTA – GISEL FLOREZ – GORDON BERGER – GUS GRILLASCA – HACKATAO – HELENA SARIN – ILAN KATIN – JESSE DRAXLER – JIVINCI – KEVIN ABOSCH – LAPIN MIGNON – LAWRENCE LEE – LULUXXX – MARTIN L. OSTACHOWSKI – MATTIA CUTTINI – MBSJQ – MOXARRA – NANU BERKS – NORRIE HARMAN – OPERATOR – OSINACHI – PASCAL BOYART – PINDAR VAN ARMAN – RARE PEPE – REFIK ANADOL – REINHARD SCHMID – RHEA MYERS – ROBNESS – SARAH MEYOHAS – SKEENEE – SKYGOLPE – SOFIA CRESPO – SPARROW – STELLABELLE – THE VERSEVERSE – TRAVIS LEROY SOUTHWORTH – TREVOR JONES