Non-Fungible Tokens (NTFs) have taken the cryptocurrency market and art world by storm recently. Even auction house Christie's has sold an NFT by artist Beeple for $69 million. It is the first time Christie's has sold purely digital art and accepted payment in cryptocurrency form, making Beeple the third-most valuable living artist, just behind David Hockney and Jeff Koons.

Meanwhile, an offline exhibition of blockchain-based art has kicked off in Beijing. This is the world's first offline exhibition for virtual crypto-art. The works featured use blockchain technology, which means every piece of art is represented by a unique set of data, known as NFTs, and the public can track the trading of these art pieces.

Sun Bohan, the CEO of a Chinese crypto art center, thinks NFTs' biggest innovation lies in optimizing art trading, as it bypasses all the intermediaries, such as galleries. 

However, while the decentralized nature of NFTs and blockchain technology may not be able to completely overthrow the old ecosystem of the art market, traditional galleries are definitely facing a challenge to adapt to the market.

Sun believes 2021 is a breakthrough year for NFTs, especially in Europe and the United States. And the idea is very slowly gaining traction in China, with underlying infrastructure to be perfected.

The NFT market is already taking shape. The speculative market for NFTs has surged over the past 12 months and continues to grow. 

According to the NFT 2020 report by L'Atelier BNP Paribas and Nonfungible.com, the NFT market's value tripled in 2020, surpassing $250 million. As with Christie's recent preference for NFT-based artworks, many investors see it as the next hot spot for digital currency and asset trading.

Wang Qinwen, the producer of "Virtual Niche," attributes the market boom to the COIVD-19 pandemic, as it has pushed everything online. Though she agrees that the market will surely cool down after it peaks, she believes it underlines the expansion of blockchain technology.

For China, switching from a plain canvas to a crypto art masterpiece might take some time, but hosting the world's first offline crypto-art show is a start. There are hopes China's NFT market will consolidate and evolve as more people warm to the concept of virtual art.

(Cover image via CFP)