Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were jargon-heavy enough for Hafiz Karim, known as The Next Most Famous Artist, to shut off.
He sold more than 100 pieces of art totaling more than $100,000 in one day for the first time. He used to make S$1,000 a month selling tangible reproductions of his digital work, but that’s a long cry from the S$1,000 a month he currently makes. The most popular type of NFTs is art, music, or collectibles, which are all examples of unique digital tokens. Real-world assets like real estate can be represented digitally as well.
NFT in Singapore: Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology secures and verifies proof of ownership that cannot be copied.
After an online art group proclaimed it the “next great thing” for digital artists, he came upon the concept. It seems to be working out for him.
Mr. Hafiiz has sold over 200 NFTs for roughly $150,000 in the past year since he began selling his art in this manner. As a result of digital transactions, he no longer has to deal with printing and distribution, making the logistics easier than traditional sales. He also gets a percentage of the resale price of one of his works, which was previously unheard of in the art world.
Finding his tribes, on the other hand, has been the most rewarding experience. Because of these communities, I’ve been able to grow as an artist.
“Also, there’s the group of people that follow me… It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. There’s a lot of diversity in this little ecology,” he remarked.
NFT in Singapore: Stealing the Show
Singaporean creators like Mr. Hafiiz are increasingly moving into the NFT arena, and they’ve found it to be fruitful on many levels. In March of last year, artist Beeple sold an NFT for an eye-popping US$69 million, igniting a flurry of interest in crypto art. With NFT sales volumes soaring from US$95 million in 2020 to US$25 billion in 2021, the appetite for such assets has grown tremendously since then.
Luxury fashion firms, media, and even celebrities are getting in on the action by creating their own NFTs.
NFTs are becoming more popular in Japan because of the medium’s novelty and its apparent capacity to generate cash in a country where art is frequently viewed as a speculative endeavor.
NFTAsia, a Singapore-based online art community, now has more than 3,300 members, many of whom hail from other countries, according to NFTAsia co-founder Jonathan Liu.
NFT artists in Singapore are on the rise, although at a glacial pace due to the difficulty of getting started due to the complexity of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Those who surmounted these hurdles say that NFTs are revolutionizing the creative world by enabling the tokenization of any work.
According to Mr. Liu, this includes items like software code, which are “not normally linked with being art.”
According to the visual artist and instructor at LASALLE College of the Arts, “game designers, spatial architects, cinema 4D, and new technology software now have an audience.”
Mr. Hafiiz argued that the absence of gatekeepers to what constituted art “democratizes” creativity. Another advantage is that the piece’s legitimacy may be verified because it is linked to the maker. Post-sale royalties allow artists to gain a larger share of the value chain’s profits.
Typically, the investor receives a percentage of each sale of an NFT, which can range from 0% to 10%.
According to well-known local artist Farizwan Fajari, aka Speak Cryptic, this is a significant plus on top of tracking your work.
Because of this, you may earn a percentage of the sale through the gallery, but you may never see it again. When using NFTs, you know exactly where the work is, who owns it, and how much it’s being sold for on the secondary market. It was a monumental undertaking for him to decipher the jargon of NFTs when he first tried them out in March out of sheer curiosity. Even yet, he could sell his first NFT for $1,600 just one day after designing it.
However, it felt like something! (It wasn’t a lot). especially at that period in which job losses due to the pandemic were occurring and so on.”
NFT in Singapore: More than Computer Money
In the beginning, he had a hard time comprehending the idea because it sounded like “computer money.”
Because it appeared in my bank account, “I was like: ‘This is actual cash and something I can utilize to put back into my practice, and it could perhaps also put food on the table.'”
While “more traditional art jobs” like commissioned murals and installations and seminars used to make up the majority of his estimated monthly income, NFT sales now account for around a quarter of that total.
According to him, this is a possible source of income for some, but it is not for everyone. A few people (who I met long back) were juggling a day job and attempting to be an artist. Some of them, however, have already made the transition.
He added that artists may now do what they want with the help of NFTs, but he cautioned that there are still hazards involved in entering this new world. Others investigate how NFTs might aid social concerns as they become more widespread.
Several Speaker Tan Chuan-landscape Jin’s images were sold as NFTs, generating more than $54,000 for the National Gallery and about $50,000 for the NTUC U-Care Fund.
“It’s a worldwide marketplace when you shop online. To the extent that they consider it an issue they are willing to support, anyone can (donate), “he informed CNA. He claimed that the NFT’s royalties might provide the organization with an additional revenue stream if it is resold.
He adds, “I suppose if you’re trying to raise money for a good cause, and if that’s a part of the environment they might tap into, that’s not awful.”
