A brief history of NFTs

NFTs began quietly, born from the idea that something entirely digital could still be unique, owned and collected.

Early experiments on the blockchain opened a door for digital artists, but it was not until 2021 that the world suddenly looked through it.

Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days sold at Christie’s for $69.3 million, placing a digital artwork, and the technology behind it, firmly in the centre of the art world.

What followed was extraordinary.

Artists, collectors and communities rushed into a new digital frontier. CryptoPunks became icons. Bored Apes turned digital images into identities and communities. Marketplaces grew almost overnight. For a brief moment, it seemed the boundaries between art, technology, ownership and the internet had completely dissolved.

Then the frenzy faded.

But the story did not end there.

The speculation has come and gone, yet the ideas remain, digital ownership, provenance, collecting and the ability for artists to create and sell work directly on the internet.

NFT history is still being written. The movement is still evolving, and there is still a place for artists, collectors, creators and curious minds willing to step into this new digital frontier and see where it leads.

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