Digital Art and NFT Report (January)
For this month’s digital art report, we are compiling the top industry news and overall sentiment within the digital art market.
Before we dive into this month’s top stories, we’re excited to announce that we attended Art Dubai 2024 last week, exhibiting the works of Ivona Tau and Marcel Schwittlick. Thank you to everyone who visited our booth and to frmd.io for providing the perfect digital canvas.
January Art Market: Sentiment & Trends
A quick analysis of the digital art market
According to a report by Art Basel, young buyers in Asia, including millennials and Gen Zers, have significantly increased their median art spending from 2022 to 2023. Therefore, carrying on from last year, we see major auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s report a surge in activity from young Asian collectors in the first couple of weeks of 2024. This trend has prompted art platforms to strengthen their online presence for younger buyers.
Furthermore, Art Dubai — the premier art event in the Middle East — has announced the dates and topics of its flagship event: Extreme Weather and Extreme Change. With this upcoming event, many in the industry will continue to look towards Dubai as it strives to become a global cultural destination.
Pivoting to the NFT market and looking towards the top blue-chip collections, although the market saw some positive uptake at the beginning of January, the market has again fallen into the reds.
In the past 30 days, Azuki has seen a 4.62% increase in sales, whereas both Pudgy Penguins and MutantApeYachtClub have decreased by 34.03% and 14.6%, respectively.
Top Digital Art and NFT News in January
Learn more about the most important initiatives of the last month
The Shifters Collection sold out for $45 Million in just 90 days. The current buzz in the art world is a unique collection that sold out just 90 days after its launch. The collection blends history and futuristic concepts along with modern technology. Read more here.
The “Genesis Cat” sells for over $250K, approximately 6.31 BTC at the time, at a Sotheby’s auction. Sotheby’s reported that the “Genesis Cat” of their Bitcoin Ordinals collection, created by digital artist FAR, attracted 50+ bids, with the winning offer reaching 6.31 BTC, equivalent to approximately $254,000. Read more here.
At the same abovementioned Bitcoin Ordinals Sotheby’s auction, a poem by Ana Maria Caballero sold for 0.28 Bitcoin or $11.4K. The inscriptions are called “Natively Digital” and were designed as a deep dive into the world of the NFT-like Ordinals on Bitcoin and contained notable early inscriptions. Read more here.
A new perfume by Rook called “Scent of the Metaverse” went on sale in the London department store Harvey Nichols. The scent was co-created by 30 people who purchased an NFT. They brainstormed what the smell of the metaverse would be and came up with this limited-edition bottle. Each bottle is also linked with an NF, giving buyers access to a DAO of like-minded people. Read more here.
We just kicked off our monthly Digital Art and NFT Report and hope you enjoy it! We constantly work behind the scenes to highlight exciting NFT and digital art projects.