Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are the hottest way for your already-rich faves to get even richer. The latest movers and shakers to hit the virtual auction are world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk and electronic music legend Richard James, better known as Aphex Twin.
As we’ve previously covered, NFTs are one-of-a-kind artworks that exist on a cryptocurrency blockchain. While exact replicas of an NFT may be widely distributed on the internet, the NFT itself is a limited edition virtual property that can be bought, held, or sold. l. We saw this a few weeks ago when Kings of Leon released NFT packages that featured their new album When You See Yourself. Anyone with an internet connection can listen to that record for free, but only a few affluent fans own it on the blockchain. Economists call this “artificial scarcity, and in this context it exists somewhere between art collection and financial speculation. It also works; Kings of Leon used their NFTs to generate $2 million.
Like Kings of Leon, Tesla-founder Musk is also releasing a piece of music. He already uploaded the track to Twitter, which seemed to be called “NFT”. As he explained, “I’m selling this song about NFTs as an NFT.” It’s a fairly boilerplate bit of techno, with the words “NFT” repeating over a derivative house beat. What few lyrics exist almost mock the purchaser of such a product. ““NFT for your vanity / Computers never sleep / It’s verified / It’s guaranteed.” Currently, the highest bid is for $1.1 million.
As for Aphex Twin, the iconic producer and DJ has chosen to express himself with a visual graphic artwork. The dynamic image looks like blue lines that slowly sketch out a face, and it sold for 72.00 ETH, which as of this writing is worth about $128,232.00. “We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get,” he wrote on social media. You can look at it for free at at the Foundation app website, and you can stream Musk’s “NFT” below.
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Others to mint NFTs in recent weeks include Musk’s partner Grimes, who raked in $6 Million, and Azealia Banks, who sold an audio-only sex tape for $18,000.
I’m selling this song about NFTs as an NFT pic.twitter.com/B4EZLlesPx
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2021
We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get .
— Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) March 14, 2021
