The start of 2021 is marked by the meteoric rise of NFTs (non-fungilbe tokens), unique digital objects sold at auction for sometimes crazy sums.

Tweets, videos of sporting achievements or even virtual works of art are the new darling of collectors.

Objects visible to everyone online but the original of which is certified thanks to the blockchain.

DECRYPTION

If you ever found yourself with a little over two million euros to spend, you could treat yourself to a villa on the heights of Saint-Tropez, or a sports car, your choice Bugatti or Lamborghini.

But you could also buy… a tweet!

2.5 million dollars (2.1 million euros) is the amount of the highest bid currently on the site Valuables to acquire the very first tweet of Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter.

A delusional sum for a few words written on a social network ("I create my Twitter account") but a symbol of the meteoric rise of NFTs, "non fungible tokens", digital objects sold as works of art.

just setting up my twttr

- jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

"Non-fungible tokens" or "non-fungible tokens" are a kind of virtual stamp affixed to digital objects using blockchain, the technology that supports crypto-currencies like bitcoin.

It functions as an unalterable traceability certificate which guarantees that the purchased object is indeed the original, unique and irreplaceable, and not one of the many copies distributed on the web.

This market, born in 2017, has experienced an unprecedented boom in recent weeks.

According to Atelier BNP Paribas, a subsidiary of the bank specializing in new technologies, the amount of NFT transactions reached 250 million dollars in 2020, against 63 million in 2019.

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Virtual work of art sold for $ 6.6 million

While the auction of Jack Dorsey's tweet has caused quite a stir, this market is driven primarily by digital artwork.

Photomontages, graphics or videos made by 2.0 artists.

According to the specialist site Cryptoart, sales of digital works of art reached $ 90 million in February… nine times more than in January!

With a record set a few days ago: $ 6.6 million for a video by artist Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, in which we see people walking in front of the inert and tagged body of a giant Donald Trump.

CROSSROAD


By @beeple



The # 1/1 from beeple's first NG drop has just resold on the secondary market for $ 6.6 million.



History has just been made.



Congrats to beeple and of course to @pablorfraile for the sale.

pic.twitter.com/mTYG4VABSw

- Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) February 25, 2021

In the process, the Canadian singer Grimes raised six million dollars by selling several hundred creations, visuals representing babies in imaginary worlds.

These images, like the Beeple video and Jack Dorsey's tweet, are still visible to everyone on the Internet.

You can download them or take screenshots of them.

But the originals, certified by the blockchain, now have a lifetime owner.

They are speculators but also collectors who envision a future in which these objects which mark the history of the Internet would one day find their place in a virtual museum.

Opportunities for sport and music?

In fact, there are sales at exorbitant amounts but also products for less fortunate collectors.

Several sectors are launching an assault on the NFTs, in particular sport.

In the United States, the NBA has teamed up with Dapper Labs to create Top Shot, a collection of high-action basketball player videos, visible for free on Youtube but sold in parallel as a collectible.

In France, the start-up Sorare, created in 2018, has seen its turnover multiplied by 30 in six months and has just raised 40 million euros.

Supported among others by Antoine Griezmann and Gérard Piqué, it offers footballers cards to collect and use in virtual leagues. 

Same infatuation in the music world.

According to

Le Figaro

, Several artists have put on sale songs or clips in the form of NFT in recent weeks (Grimes, again her, Shawn Mendes or Mike Shinoda, the singer of Linkin Park).

On Friday, the group Kings of Leon released their latest album, 

When you see yourself

, sold in stores, streamable and in a special NFT version at 50 euros, with visuals and collector goodies.

With a significant advantage: in this form, there are hardly any intermediaries and the group receives a larger share of the income from the sale.