What Is Crypto Art and How Does It Affect the Art World?

French painter Henri Matisse famously said, “Creativity takes courage.” But how far should artists take creativity? Crypto art is the latest frontier to send enormous ripples across the art world, with some digital artworks being auctioned for hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. 

Prominent examples include one artwork by digital artist Beeple that sold at Christie’s for $69.3 million (40,000 ETH), and the source code for the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee that auctioned for $5.4 million (2,572 ETH). With NFT sales figures like that, it’s really no surprise that the total market capitalization of crypto art surpassed $2 billion in 2021, according to data from NonFungible.com. 

The emerging market for crypto art – or otherwise known as NFT art – has naturally generated substantial interest in the medium. But is it another passing blockchain fad, or is crypto art the future of the art industry? We take a look at what exactly crypto art is, how it differs from traditional art, how the technology works — and some notable examples.

What Is Crypto Art?

Crypto art is digital art that uses blockchain technology to verify ownership. Just as an original Matisse can have its authenticity verified, crypto art uses a non-fungible token (NFT) for verification. The work’s uniqueness is what makes it valuable, because unlike ordinary digital art that can be easily replicated, crypto art is one-of-a-kind.