The Digital Art Craze: Everyone Is Jumping In

Big news in the world of digital avatars : Visa bought a CryptoPunk and paid with Ethereum.

Listen or watch all the new CoinDesk podcast episodes wherever you want.

ABOUT

This week on “Opinionated,” the hosts dive deep into the non-fungible token (NFT) boom with guest Andrew Steinwold, managing partner at Sfermion, an NFT fund. Andrew works with wealthy clients from around the world who want a piece of the digital art boom.

Our biggest question for Andrew was about last week’s biggest news: Visa bought a CryptoPunk.

By Andrew’s telling, paying $150,000 for a pixelated head is a relative bargain, especially as an advertising tool. It’s good for CryptoPunks, too: Its narrative firepower only grows stronger with a name brand such as Visa buying in.

But what of the wacky NFT world beyond? Do other digital art pieces carry the same gravitas? Could Danny, who blew $150 on an NFT of a duck, ever recoup his cash? Andrew dredges up the ugly truth: Not all projects are going to make it.

He’s more bullish on the burgeoning internet economy that NFTs could support, things like digital land rights, digital clothing, digital games. His bets – and his clients’ bets – are that NFTs can create a new rail in online commerce and ownership.

Andrew provides the gang with some insight into the current NFT boom and debates what makes something valuable, even if it doesn’t physically exist.

Mentioned in this episode:

Andrew’s podcast: Zima Red

Andrew’s NFT fund: Sfermion

HOSTS

Dan Ilett

Dan Ilett writes on tech, money and energy. He advises business on digital strategy and technology messaging for large deals. He is founder of Erbut - an advisory company - and Greenbang - a smart technology research company.

Anna Baydakova

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

Danny Nelson

Danny is CoinDesk's managing editor for Data & Tokens. He formerly ran investigations for the Tufts Daily. At CoinDesk, his beats include (but are not limited to): federal policy, regulation, securities law, exchanges, the Solana ecosystem, smart money doing dumb things, dumb money doing smart things and tungsten cubes. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL tokens, as well as the LinksDAO NFT.

Benjamin Schiller

Benjamin Schiller is CoinDesk's managing editor for features and opinion. Previously, he was editor-in-chief at BREAKER Magazine and a staff writer at Fast Company. He holds some ETH, BTC and LINK.

Danny Bradbury

Danny Bradbury has been a professional writer since 1989, and has worked freelance since 1994. He covers technology for publications such as the Guardian.

EPISODES