Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) has been the talk of the town recently with several high profile creators and businesses leveraging on the new technology to launch their artwork to great success. Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" was sold for US$69million, Mark Cuban is betting big on NFTs, 3LAU auctioned a collection of NFTs representing his best-selling album for US$11.6million.

One may wonder, what's the rage with NFTs? To put it simply, NFTs use blockchain technology to authenticate and designate an official copy of a piece of digital media that allow artists, musicians, influencers and others to commercialize digital goods, or in other words, digital collectables. This presents a new technology layer for creators to deliver digital content to their audience that was once impossible on the internet. The rise of the digital economy has brought distribution cost down drastically but at the same time, digital content on the internet can be replicated at zero cost, which is detrimental to creators as it becomes really difficult to monetize their content on the internet. With NFTs, this changes that game, as Blockchain technology has enabled digital scarcity for the first time since the invention of the internet, and thus empowering creators to commercialize their artwork digitally. 

NFTs have largely been built on the Ethereum Blockchain (due to smart contract availability in the earlier days), and more recently on other layer 1 protocols (due to high transaction fees), but NFTs on Bitcoin will be the next big thing, and possibly the industry standard going forward. I wrote more about it here. 

This opens up huge possibilities in the art space for creators to work with blockchain technology to further revolutionise art as we transit towards a digital economy. Building on the Bitcoin Network via Stacks protocol enables creators to leverage on Bitcoin Network's security to distribute their work, while unlocking new use cases through the interplay between NFTs <> the Bitcoin Network <> Stacks Protocol (Proof-of-Transfer).

1. Non-fungible Tokens -  Representation of ownership of a unique digital asset

2. Bitcoin Network - The most secured blockchain in the industry

3. Stacks Protocol - Introducing programmability & scalability to the Bitcoin Network via Clarity smart contract

4. Proof-of-Transfer - Locking a cryptocurrency to secure the protocol and receives a payout in another cryptocurrency

The combination of the above distinct characteristics unlocks new possibilities to the art industries that were once impossible to achieve. 

This is all the more evident last week when Risidio announced their collaboration with a British contemporary artist, Chemical X. Together, they developed ‘This is Number One’, one of the first NFT platforms in the world to use Bitcoin to mint multi-media art. 

Risidio put new technologies into the hands of creative individuals, and the outcomes that arise from this will be limitless. We're witnessing the disruption of an industry right before our eyes, and I'm excited to be able to participate in it. With the launch of This is #1 NFTs marketplace, Risidio collaborated with several renowned artists to launch their first NFT on Bitcoin. The following are their release schedules:

List of Collaborations:

This is Number One by @Chemical_X_Lab - 18th May
This is number one. The creation. The start. The dawning. The outset. The genesis. The birth. The awakening. The inauguration. The opening. The launch. The origin. The first drop.

Channel #1 by @orbitalband - 19th May
There was a time, back when TV was the only domestic provider of moving images on a screen. Viewers were regularly hypnotised by short bursts of graphic animations and earworm sonics, indicating which broadcaster was claiming the screen for themselves. These interludes of brand identities seeped into the subconscious as they slowly morphed over the years and intervening technological innovations from conventional to digital animation processes. As 3D animations took over from the analogue and our souls became diluted a little more. Let’s go back to Number 1.

Now Is Not Enough (For) by @DaveStewart - 20th May
“Try to be in the now”, what is now? When is now? Where is now? Time is just an artificial division in eternity. It isn’t about chronology, rather it represents a position in space. The journey we have all taken and the journey we will take, conscious or not. The cycle. ‘Now’ is a unique location in space, unique to that moment, and then it’s gone, replaced by an infinite succession of nows. Passengers in the passage of time. This is 'number one' in our consciousness, but perhaps we have taken a different journey, an infinite number of times.

So Why Try Harder by @FatboySlim - 21st May
Fatboy Slim and Chemical X are both lovers of the original Smiley, designed by Harvey Ross Ball and donated to the world for free, then appropriated by Franklin Loufrani for financial gain. Here, we tell the story of a Smiley that wasn’t quite within copyright so he was free to spill the beans about The Smiley Company through his powerful and controversial lyrics. Listen to them carefully as they hold a very important secret…

Mine by @Caradelevingne - 22nd May
My first word was ‘mine’. To me, that means something that is most mine, my vagina. I own it. It’s mine and no one else’s. I choose what I do with it. And no one can take that away from me.

I will be participating in the auction for several reasons, 1) to support art & innovation, 2) to understand how it actually works and get accustomed to art, delivered on a different medium, 3) be part of the community, 4) last but not least, all proceeds from the auction go to a charity of the artist's choice! If you'd like to get involved too, check out This is Number One.