Crypto art: The latest use of blockchain is grabbing lots of headlines

What on earth is crypto art?

‍Crypto art is an emerging, but still extremely niche, segment of the digital art market which allows buyers to "own" a distinct piece of media such as an image or video, that is authenticated by blockchain to be unique. Last month on SuperRare, which is one of a few marketplaces where you can buy and sell crypto art, 1900 pieces of digital artwork were sold — a record high for the platform.

The authentication process is technically done by something called a non-fungible token (NFT). An NFT authenticates that a certain piece of media or art is the original, authentic version — no matter how many times it is copied or replicated across the internet.

A number of digital artworks have already hit the headlines:

• World famous art house Christie's is auctioning off a huge collection from the digital artist known as Beeple.
• NBA Top Shots lets fans own and collect blockchain authenticated highlights of their favourite NBA moments.
• Music artist Grimes has just sold a collection of digital artwork for almost $6m.

We won't be buying any crypto art soon, but if someone would like to purchase a blockchain authenticated collection of all of our charts for $6m, please get in touch.