Everything You Need to Know About Crypto Art

One of the hot topics that keeps resurfacing in the cryptocurrency world is crypto art. While it may not seem like it, this is a bit of a controversial topic—for several reasons, which we will go into detail in this article.

What is Crypto Art?

You might be wondering whether the term crypto art includes artwork that is made using cryptocurrency or art that simply depicts cryptocurrency, and the truth is, it is both. Crypto art is a very broad and blanket term, meaning it will have different meanings depending on who you talk to and what you are discussing. Below are explanations of both, to get you started.

Art Made With Crypto

Art made using cryptocurrency is often called by a different name, known as an NFT. NFT stands for non-fungible token, and it is used to describe any cryptocurrency whose value is not established. In the fiat world, one of the products which often has different prices is art, which has led to NFTs being known as the art of the crypto world.

But it’s important to establish that while art made using blockchain can almost always be called an NFT, the reverse isn’t always true. NFTs can be non-art items as well, such as the rights to a certain item, or an idea.

The cool thing about the NFT crypto art world is that it is often safer than the real art world. While we don’t promise you can become a successful NFT trader, each NFT you purchase will come with a certificate of authenticity—saving you from some of the dangers of fake or imitation art as you trade, which are common issues found in the art world.

That being said, the NFT market is flooded with NFTs, and honestly, it's not a good idea to get involved unless you know what you are doing. If you do or want to learn, the OpenSea or Solana NFT marketplace is a good place to start.

Related: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Basics Explained

Cryptocurrency in Art

Cryptocurrency has become a major part of life for many individuals. There are those who work in the industry as a full time job, and those who have invested enough in the early days to retire. Either way, cryptocurrency, because of its spot in society has begun to be depicted in works of art.

Cryptocurrency in art isn’t made by blockchain as NFTs are, but rather by digital designers or human painters who have decided to add crypto to their piece of artwork. The most frequently depicted cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which is obviously the most popular.

These artworks can be simple, as just depicting a cryptocurrency as a coin, to intricate, as some artists interweave societal emotions about crypto into their artwork. It is important to note that crypto in art isn’t specific to NFTs, but these pieces can also be sold or created in the same way as NFTs.

Artists in Cryptocurrency

Generally, when someone is asking about a crypto artist, they are referring to artists who make NFTs. The biggest cryptocurrency artists to date are as follows:

·      Snoop Dogg

·      Krista Kim

·      FEWOCiOUS

·      Kevin Abosch

·      Sarah Zucker

·      Beeple

Most of these artists have designed one, or several, NFT collections. Kevin Abosch is also a contemporary artist who uses cryptocurrency in art which is not NFT related.

Crypto Art Controversy

Recently, cryptocurrency art has become a topic of debate due to AI. AI, or artificial intelligence, can be used to create images, however, in order to do so, the AI program must be trained, and this is what is causing controversy.

For those who don’t know, AI programs, whether images or writing, are trained using writing and images that already exist. Not only that, but many of the programs continue to pull from already existing content to create their pieces, because AI are machines and not truly creative on their own.

As a result, several famous AI artworks have been found to have signatures of famous artists in them, some of the AI programs blatantly pulling aspects for the generated art from real art. Many artists not in the space have pulled their artwork offline in order to prevent the AI programs from getting ahold of their content and rehashing it.

While this struggle for artists began a few years ago, it recently got worse as Meta announced that anything on its platform would be used to train its AI program. This means that social media, which many artists use to sell their work, is no longer a safe space for artists. Many have announced pulling their artwork from all Meta platforms, and instead using a service like Patreon, which doesn’t use user content to train AI.

Although this is something new, it isn’t shocking, as the trend of AI in business and art is currently only getting grimmer. Now that AI can do most jobs for humans, many of them eliminating the errors caused by humans, it really only is a matter of time until AI is fully replacing humans.

We are definitely against AI replacing humans, and we especially worry about the NFT space. As we mentioned above, all NFTs come with a certificate of authenticity, but there is nothing to stop AI from pulling from existing NFTs to generate new ones.

Unfortunately, the US government doesn’t seem to care. We just hope they will eventually back off on regulating cryptocurrency and instead work on regulating AI, which will have a massive effect on the economy and society in the years to come as people everywhere lose their jobs to AI, and people lose the rights to their creative work.

If you are against AI, then it's time to reach out to the owners of these social platforms. If you are a user of Meta products (Instagram, Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp), your information and images are already being used to train AI unless you opt-out. We highly recommend opting out. If you are able, try to support other platforms that don’t use AI, and don’t purchase any AI-generating products—as then you are just encouraging it. Remember, in this world, you vote with your money and your time above all else.

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