What Is ‘Art Blocks’ and Why Are Their NFTs Selling for $Millions Worth ETH?
Art Blocks generates original artwork on the Ethereum blockchain, and buyers are huge amounts of money for them as the latest NFT boom continues.
Their website describes the project:
“Art Blocks is a first of its kind platform focused on genuinely programmable on demand generative content that is stored immutably on the Ethereum Blockchain. You pick a style that you like, pay for the work, and a randomly generated version of the content is created by an algorithm and sent to your Ethereum account. The resulting piece might be a static image, 3D model, or an interactive experience. Each output is different and there are endless possibilities for the types of content that can be created on the platform.”
Majority of the attention around the latest NFT market boom has centered on profile picture collections such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, which have collectively accounted for hundreds of millions of dollars of transaction volume in recent weeks.
But there’s another surging NFT collection called Art Blocks.
It’s not a brand new project, but its impact in the NFT market has quickly accelerated: Art Blocks has spawned $403 million worth of trading volume so far in August, per CryptoSlam, which is more than 80% of its total since launching in November 2020.
A single Art Blocks NFT recently sold for $3.3 million worth of ETH, which is a new record for the collection. It’s one of 16 single pieces in the vast collection that have now sold for $1 million or more each.
Just brokered the first 4-digit @artblocks_io sale at 1,000ETH ($3.3M)
I present to you @tylerxhobbs Fidenza 313, ? "The Tulip" ?. A remarkably beautiful and memorable onchain artifact now owned by legend @punk6529. Unmistakably one of the top 5 Fidenzas
An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.
Although they’ve been around since 2014, NFTs are gaining notoriety now because they are becoming an increasingly popular way to buy and sell digital artwork. A staggering $174 million has been spent on NFTs since November 2017.
NFTs are also generally one of a kind, or at least one of a very limited run, and have unique identifying codes. “Essentially, NFTs create digital scarcity,” says Arry Yu, chair of the Washington Technology Industry Association Cascadia Blockchain Council and managing director of Yellow Umbrella Ventures.
This stands in stark contrast to most digital creations, which are almost always infinite in supply. Hypothetically, cutting off the supply should raise the value of a given asset, assuming it’s in demand.
Art Blocks Sales
Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenza line, which spans 999 separate NFT pieces, has rapidly become one of the highlights of the collection, accounting for four of the top five highest-priced Art Blocks secondary market NFT sales to date. The lowest-priced Fidenza piece currently listed on secondary market OpenSea is listed above $550,000 worth of ETH.
Hobbs commented:
“Fidenza is by far my most versatile algorithm to date. Although the program stays focused on structured curves and blocks, the varieties of scale, organization, texture, and color usage it can employ create a wide array of generative possibilities.”
The Fidenza project dropped in June at a mint price of 0.17 ETH each, about $400 at the time, and sold out in 28 minutes. The pieces have quickly accelerated in value since.
Here’s a good example from OpenSea: Fidenza #284 was sold for 7.5 ETH ($23,400) on July 13, sold again on July 19 for nearly 18 ETH ($56,200), and then sold again on July 24 for 20 ETH (about $62,500). It’s now listed at 215 ETH ($672,500).
Whether it sells for that much remains to be seen, but this would not be the first time. Along with the $3.3 million sale on Monday, another Fidenza sold yesterday for 777 ETH ($2.4 million) from Kevin Rose, partner at VC firm True Ventures and co-founder of Digg. Rose is one of the most prominent Fidenza owners and fans. Rose discussed the collection and interviewed Hobbs on his Modern Finance podcast.
Wow… just shocked. When I set this price (yesterday) I didn't really expect it to sell this quickly. Thank you @tylerxhobbs for your fantastic work. I will certainly reinvest this in new and upcoming artists / donate a portion to charity. ?? https://t.co/rbaJQ73D48
There are also other Art Blocks collections that have surpassed the $1 million mark with single NFT sales. Dmitri Cherniak’s Ringers project has seen six sales just above the million dollar mark.
Kjetil Golid’s Archetype project has seen a pair of seven-figure sales too, and Art Blocks founder and CEO Erick Calderon’s original Chromie Squiggle drop is responsible for the second-highest single Art Blocks sale at nearly $2.44 million worth of ETH.
Calderon commented:
“[It’s] incredibly validating, exhilarating, but also terrifying. It’s all overwhelming, but we have an incredible team and are pouring our hearts into this. As a result, we are enjoying the success.”
August NFT Sales Likely to Reach $900 Million
In August alone NFT sales are almost at $900 million. According to data from the tracking portal Nonfungible, $896 million has been spent on NFTs over the past 30 days. The number is very likely to exceed $900 million by the end of the month marking a new record for the burgeoning industry.
The number is more than triple the previous best month for NFT sales in May when $255 million were sold. August has seen sales skyrocket and it has been largely down to CryptoPunks and Axie Infinity.
