March 4, 2021. Blockchain firm Injective Protocol had just bought a 2006 edition of Banksy’s Morons (White) painting for $95,000. To everyone’s surprise, the company burnt the mesmerizing work to ashes, and they live-streamed it. The firm immediately created a digital representation of the world-famous artist’s work using blockchain technology and turned it into an NFT.

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are digital-only visual assets powered by blockchain technology. NFTs can be image files, videos, music, trading cards, or even tweets, and

they can be traded and sold between users. The NFT industry grew by 299% in 2020 and continues to skyrocket, states a report from the time.

Back to Banksy, while burning the artwork could sound like an outrageous thing to do, Injective Protocol’s stunt has paid off. The Morons NFT was sold for $380,000 a 300 percent increase from its price as a physical print. “We view this burning event as an expression of art itself. The physical piece will forever be memorialized in this NFT. We specifically chose a Banksy piece since he has previously shredded one of his own artworks at an auction,” explained Mirza Uddin, an Injective Protocol executive.

However, while the arguments between art lovers flare up, the online global art market is predicted to increase by 494 percent by 2024, thanks partly to people’s increasing interest in crypto art and NFTs. We feature some exciting stories from the online art industry in this issue.
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