From hailing taxis to calling an uber, advertising through print ads to influencer marketing, shopping in stores to online, technology has disrupted the way we move. Back in the day, there was simply no way to hold digital money. However, since technology is moving at a fast pace, we will continue to experience more disruptors.
What started out as the “Bitcoin Revolution” has now expanded to various projects in the form of different cryptocurrencies aiming to solve gaps in society. One of these are NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens.
The NFT Art Revolution: What are NFTs?
“There needs to be a unique story revolving around you and your work which should give investors reasons to check out your work and what they’re paying for,”
, a software developer and founder of BloomX, explains that the most important part of understanding NFT is the “T” which stands for “token.”
According to the dictionary, a “token” is defined as “a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact, quality…” Which basically means that NFTs are digital certificates of ownership.
“Similar to buying an expensive piece of property or car, there is a deed of ownership that comes with it— it’s proof you own something,” Buenaventura explains, “NFTs are like that but completely digitally recorded on the blockchain (a super safe online database that exists on multiple servers).”
NFTs started out as a solution to an age-old problem of digital artists… piracy. When one creates a digital art work, one could simply CTRL+C and CTRL+V to make their own. Digital art was then so easily copied that it becomes difficult to put a good price on it.
“Now, you can attach a digital certificate to one particular edition that proves that you own the art. In a world full of JPEGs, owning an NFT means that you own the original copy which will then allow you to resell it.” This means that once the value of these artworks appreciates, both artists and buyers earn money.
Since then, the NFT world has gained lots of attention from art investors. There are now collectors, speculators, and investors making short and long term bets. “They’re constantly looking for artists they want to support and patronize because they know they can get money down the road.”
NFT Art and Filipino Artists
In the traditional art world, Filipino artists have a hard time competing globally. If you aren’t a name brand like Ben Cab or Zobel de Ayala, you’ll have to have a day job to survive. The NFT movement democratizes this because buyers from all around the world get to invest in your art, no matter where you’re from.
“Despite being in the Philippine based in La Union, I get to collaborate with artists from Argentina… This is a new world that changes the dynamic of the art world. It takes away the power of those on top (artists with big names, artists from countries like New York, San Francisco, etc.) and redistributes it to anyone from different races. People underestimate this especially for Filipino artists. It’s a powerful thing.”
As a Filipino artist, you won’t have to think of the budget of a Philippine art patron. You can price them as an international art investor would. More importantly, “There are royalties. For example, if you buy an artwork from me at $100 and someone buys it from you for $500. You will make $450 and $50 will go to the artist. The artist gets a perpetual royalty each time that art work gets sold which then becomes a nice stream of residual income.” When people actively trade your work, you get a portion of that sale each time. Talk about a passive stream of income!
His golden advice to succeed in NFTs
Uniqueness and reach… Buenaventura explained: “I’ve analyzed the formula and sadly, it’s pretty generic but powerful when understood: it’s simply uniqueness and reach.”
The world today revolves around narratives. Since we live at a time where information is easily accessible and we’re exposed to several headlines, stories make money. Recently, we’ve seen how tweets push stock prices up 2,000% just as easily as they can tank crypto prices 30%-50%. “It’s all about narrative in this space, just like everything in the world,” Buenaventura expounds.
“There needs to be a unique story revolving around you and your work which should give investors reasons to check out your work and what they’re paying for,” Buenaventura says. “On the other hand, reach is a function of social media, self-promotion, visibility, and marketing…” One has to have both.
They say to be successful in today’s world… You need to learn how to sell and how to sell online. This advice applies to NFTs as well.
Buenaventura’s Art
Even before NFTs were born, Buenaventura had already been creating crypto art. Buenaventura shares that he was actually a Fine Arts graduate from University of the Philippines, Diliman (UPD) before he worked as a software developer.
“Back in 2017, I used to doodle some of my favorite comic book characters and then put the bitcoin price beside them. This was a fun way to show what the bitcoin price was then. I used to doodle just to post on Facebook and show people what the Bitcoin price was at that time. It made me miss drawing. At that point, I hadn’t drawn in 10 years.”
Currently, Buenaventura is the leading Filipino artist in the space. One of his works is minted at $500,000. His most recent work on Binance called T4N6 pronounced as TANG is priced at $6,000. T4N6 is his crypto goddess which he collaborated on for three months with his musician friend, Ian Magbanua, who produced a special score of the sound of a kulintang. When you press play, the cyber-goddess produces a musical score of the kulintang.
Check more about the story here: https://cryptoday.substack.com… now works on various ways to educate more Filipinos about cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, while expanding his business BloomX. He writes a daily newsletter to give unbiased views and perspectives revolving around cryptocurrencies through CrypToday. His main advocacy is to educate others about the power of technology, making intelligent investment decisions, etc.
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