The rise of the nonfungible token (NFT) has been a sight to behold, with the market seemingly garnering an increased amount of mainstream traction with each passing day. To put things into perspective as to how big this space has actually become, conservative estimates suggest that the amount of money that has entered into this fast-evolving sector currently totals above $500 million. Another way to gauge the impact that NFTs have had on the global economy is by looking at the diverse range of artists, celebrities, musicians — basically just about anyone, at this point — that have adopted this …

While the short-term market outlook for many NFT projects look uncertain, and multiple new releases struggle to gain traction, one gardening-themed drop may have set some records by selling 8,888 nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in just under an hour. Nonfungible token studio Zenft released a line of 8,888 unique bonzai NFT plants that quickly sold out on Tuesday, with the studio selling each digital tree for 0.08 Ether (ETH), or roughly $220 at the time of publication. The bonsais have augmented reality/virtual reality functionality, and their 3D design is a step up from previous pixelated, 2D projects. The studio celebrated the …

It’s all about the economy, cryptocurrencies, art and future projections. To talk about all this, Cointelegraph en Español reached out to artist Alberto Echegaray, the director of Trustlink and former representative of Argentina in the Financial Action Task Force. Cointelegraph: Let’s start off by talking about your artwork, the Moneyball. Alberto Echegaray: Moneyball began developing in 2012. It is a piece that touches on something that is taboo in art: money. And it is still taboo, although it is something that is changing now with NFTs. What Moneyball wants to show is how most, or basically all, fiat currencies have …

One ultra-rare CryptoPunk is set for some extra stage time at a hotly anticipated upcoming auction. In a Tweet today, luxury auction house Sotheby’s announced that the sale of CryptoPunk #7530 — also known as “Covid Alien” — will be offered during a “special, standalone” auction. The Punk was previously announced as part of the “Natively Digital” event, which highlights the history of NFTs and cryptoart, with a selection of pieces that include what many consider to be the first-ever NFT: Kevin McCoy’s “Quantum,” an animation minted in 2014 on the Namecoin blockchain. We're excited to announce that the Alien …

According to some estimates, coronavirus-related strains may soon force upward of one in every eight physical museums to permanently close, but despite the struggles, one metaverse-native museum is raising funds to transition to a community-governed model. The Museum of Crypto Art announced today the launch of the MOCA token, a Polygon-based governance and utility asset. The token will be used to vote on pieces added to the museum’s Genesis Collection and future exhibits, allow for community curation of museum assets, and establish a runway for the museum via a $1.5-million raise. Of the total MOCA supply, 5% will be airdropped …

It seems like everything’s a NFT these days, and your DNA could be next. In a press release today, AkoinNFT — the nonfungible token platform from musician and budding blockchain entrepreneur Akon — announced the planned auction of a NFT that will contain a “high-res artistic representation” of the genetic data of Professor George Church, a renowned biology researcher and the first human to have their genome sequenced. AkoinNFT will be using the Parcel development platform from Oasis Labs to store the metadata, and buyers will also have the option to receive a “30x whole genome sequencing” of their own …

A physical showroom for nonfungible tokens is set to open in Riga, Latvia, where NFTs of street art from around the globe will be put on display. The gallery is being launched by Kiwie 1001, an NFT project born from the Latvian street art collective of the same name. Submissions are open to anyone who wishes to enter, and pieces can be submitted via the project’s Discord channel. Winning pieces will be voted on by the Kiwie 1001 community and will be presented in the Riga gallery when it opens in June. Street art and NFTs might seem like a …

A new peer-to-peer marketplace for NFT artwork is creating a digital art bazaar intended to make it easier for independent and amateur artists to showcase and sell their art while offering galleries and collectors an inexpensive venue. The market for nonfungible tokens exploded in the first few months of 2021, with NFTs going from a niche in the crypto industry to a mainstream medium for works that have been sold at the world’s premier auction houses, garnered prices in the millions and even tens of millions of dollars, and attracted creators ranging from celebrities like recording artist Grimes and NFL …

Major auction house Sotheby’s has completed its cryptocurrency-enabled auction offering Banksy’s iconic protest artwork “Love is in the Air.” According to the auction results, Sotheby’s sold the physical artwork on Wednesday for $12.9 million, significantly up from the originally estimated $3 million to $5 million. The physical artwork was offered at a Contemporary Art Evening Auction that also featured “Versus Medici” by Jean-Michel Basquiat selling for nearly $51 million. Sotheby’s announced on Twitter that the auction involved a 14-minute bidding battle among four entities. The auction house emphasized that the sale marks the first time cryptocurrency was accepted as a …

Despite the cooling of the recent NFT frenzy, prized nonfungible tokens with historical significance are still fetching multi-million-dollar prices. On Wednesday, famed New York-based auction house Christie’s tweeted that an auction for nine tokens from pioneering NFT CryptoPunks had cleared for nearly $17 million combined. Despite the tokens fetching millions, some Twitter users speculated that the winning bidder scored a bargain. I thought they'd go for more myself also. — VeryBadAcid (@acid_very) May 12, 2021 CryptoPunks were launched by LarvaLabs in 2017 and were limited to 10,000 tokens in total. The NFTs depict randomly generated pixelated portraits, with unique features …

A crypto payments firm has announced that it is venturing into the world of nonfungible tokens. The ETN-Network, which launched AnyTask Platform, a crypto-powered freelancing site, says NFTs can serve as a powerful marketing and fundraising tool — and has launched a limited-edition trading card of Electroman to illustrate this. The character was created by the Brazilian artist Neto Robatto on AnyTask.com. He charged just $70 to sketch, illustrate, colourize and animate the NFT — and ETN-Network says this powerfully shows how anyone can inexpensively create their very own crypto collectibles with the help of the site’s talented freelancers. AnyTask.com …

Art has been serving as the ultimate source of inspiration to many people throughout all of history. In the era of cryptocurrencies and the digitized world, trends change faster than ever. For years, numerous artists have tried stepping into rapidly advancing playgrounds and grabbing their slice of pie, but now their time has truly come. The NFT fever has quickly taken over the industry, turning digital artists and popular meme creators into rich celebrities. It’s hard to estimate when this euphoria will run out of steam, but before the hype train stops, we’ll surely see more market records and thrilling …