Beeple: Speculators have left the NFT market, but there is still a group of enthusiasts who understand the technology

According to a report by Decrypt, digital artist Beeple recently discussed the current situation and progress of the NFT market in an interview. He said that although the speculators in the NFT market have left, there is still a group of enthusiasts who "understand this technology". Beeple also used her own works as an example to illustrate some "new functions" that digital art can achieve that physical art cannot.

Beeple (real name Mike Winkelmann) auctioned off his NFT work 'Everyday: The First 5000 Days' for a record breaking $69.3 million in 2021. Since then, the NFT craze has significantly cooled down, with transaction volumes dropping by over 90%.

Looking back on that time, I feel crazy because NFTs have been disliked far more than they have been loved, "Beeple said in an interview with Tim Marlow, CEO of the Design Museum, at the Royal Academy of Art in London last week

Beeple added: "We lost a lot of people, but those people never came for art. I can see it at a glance." He said that when "Everydays" was auctioned, he knew that the market was 100% a foam.

Before that, I had been creating digital art for 20 years, and I saw people buying some garbage, "Beeple said." It's like 'this kind of thing can't hold its value, that's definitely garbage,' and it won't last at all. You'll realize that's right

Although Beeple recognizes that the NFT market "will return to reality" and speculators have "left", he points out that "enthusiasm around this thing is still very high". Beeple mentioned that the well-known NFT series CryptoPunks achieved millions of dollars in sales earlier this year, saying, 'It's unbelievable to me that this kind of thing has become so normalized,' and even such large sales are no longer considered news.

The differentiation of NFT market

Beeple also pointed out that there has been a "segmentation" in the NFT market, with some projects deviating from the true vision of this technology. Many NFT uses and related projects are not entirely within the realm of art, and there are situations where different usage scenarios are mixed. For example, the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT series focuses on collectibles, but the development team is trying to create social clubs and other related applications for it.

Beeple said that NFT technology is unrestricted, similar to web pages, "a web page can be many different things, and NFT is a way to prove virtual ownership of many different things.

I personally believe that in the future, every painting will have an NFT as an authentication certificate, "he said." This is just a better way than paper to prove ownership of these works, as well as their origin and exhibition records

Beeple added that in order to achieve widespread application of NFTs in physical art authentication, a universally recognized 'NFT standard' is needed.

Dynamic NFT Art

Beeple stated that although the NFT market has cooled down, there is still a group of passionate NFT enthusiasts who understand this technology and see it as a medium for expressing artistic ideas, which was previously unattainable.

Beeple mentioned that NFT technology enables him to create dynamic artworks, where changes in the artwork are recorded on a memory blockchain. Taking his physical work titled 'Human One' as an example, he altered the landscape traversed by the walkers in the work.

When this artwork was auctioned at Christie's, he was navigating through some surreal landscapes, but during the Costello exhibition, he was walking in a scene of the Ukrainian war, "Beeple explained." The war had not yet begun when the buyer purchased this artwork, so they could not have predicted that it would become an interpretation of war six months later

Beeple stated that museums face difficulties in accepting the idea of dynamic art pieces, "even if it's just 'Human One' that will change the concept," he said. "When I talk to museum people, they say, 'Wait, I don't know what it will present.' Beeple added that museums and collectors will eventually accept the 'new features' of dynamic digital art.

Artists will gain trust, continue to express new things through digital art, and change it in ways that constantly bring new beauty and challenge their owners, "he said." Time can be a part of it, in a way that physical art cannot fundamentally achieve, because it is a frozen state at a certain moment. This (digital art) can be more like a dialogue