iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
NFT-linked digital art did not begin in 2021, and buying an NFT does not automatically mean buying copyright to the artwork. But the $69,346,250 sale of Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days at Christie’s on 11 March 2021 brought blockchain-based collecting to a much wider audience and made digital art a conspicuous presence at a major auction house.
What NFTs changed in digital art history
An NFT is a distinct token recorded on a blockchain. In art collecting, it can provide a record associated with a digital work, but the token, the artwork itself, and the rights a buyer receives are separate things. The relationship varies by project and its terms.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
On NFTs (Varia) | $16.50 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Digital Art (World of Art) | $24.95 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
How to Collect Art | $23.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Art of Boutis | $21.17 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Beeple: Everydays, the First 5000 Days | $21.35 | Buy on Amazon |
NFT-linked art developed through earlier experiments and projects. The evidence supports a chronology of milestones, not a definitive claim that one person or work was the first NFT artwork. In 2021, high-profile auctions made the practice visible beyond its earlier communities. That visibility was a cultural and institutional turning point, not the beginning of digital art itself.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Milestones in the rise of NFT-linked art
Before 2021: experiments and blockchain-native imagery
NFT development extended across art and collectibles before the 2021 attention surge. CryptoPunks became one of the early, widely recognized NFT projects, consisting of blockchain-native collectible imagery. Christie’s later auctioned a group of nine CryptoPunks in May 2021, placing the project in a traditional auction-house setting. That milestone shows institutional recognition; it does not establish CryptoPunks as the first NFT art.
#1 Best Overall
Because the early history includes multiple projects and experiments, a single uncontested “first NFT artwork” is not established by these milestones.
11 March 2021: Beeple’s record-setting Christie’s sale
Christie’s closed its online sale of Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $69,346,250 on 11 March 2021. The work assembled 5,000 digital images Beeple had created daily. The sale brought together a large digital artwork, NFT collecting, and a major traditional auction house in a headline-making event. It is a defining public milestone, rather than proof that every NFT artwork has comparable cultural or market significance.
Rank #2
May and December 2021: auction-house experiments continue
Christie’s May 2021 consignment of nine CryptoPunks offered another institutional setting for blockchain-native imagery. On 1 December 2021, Christie’s launched its first on-chain NFT auction in collaboration with OpenSea. The latter marked an experiment with a blockchain-based sale process, not merely another traditional auction of an NFT-related work.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
2024: U.S. intellectual-property guidance
On 12 March 2024, the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released a joint report examining intellectual-property issues raised by NFTs. The offices concluded that existing statutory enforcement mechanisms were sufficient to address infringement concerns related to NFT applications and did not recommend changes to IP law or agency registration and recordation practices at that time. This is a dated conclusion about U.S. law, not a universal rule for every country or project.
Rank #3
Does buying an NFT mean you own the art?
Not necessarily. A token record does not by itself establish that its buyer owns the artwork’s copyright or has unrestricted permission to reproduce, adapt, display, or commercially use it. Those rights depend on the specific license, contract, and applicable law.
In the United States, copyright can attach when an original work is fixed in a tangible form of expression, including digital form. Buying a token and acquiring copyright are therefore distinct questions. Before treating an NFT purchase as permission to use the associated artwork, read the project’s terms and identify what they expressly grant. The 2024 joint report did not create a special new NFT copyright regime.
Rank #4
What the historical numbers do—and don’t—tell you
The Beeple result is a specific auction outcome: Christie’s reported $69,346,250 for one work on 11 March 2021. It is not evidence of what NFT art is worth now or how a buyer might fare financially.
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minutePC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11A 2021 study in Scientific Reports analyzed a historical dataset covering 6 million trades involving 4.7 million NFTs between 23 June 2017 and 27 April 2021. Those figures describe the study’s sample and period; they are neither current market totals nor counts of art-only NFTs. The auction milestone and the study data answer different questions, and neither should be treated as a present-day market snapshot.
Best Value
Why the 2021 moment matters
The significance of the NFT-art surge is clearest when viewed as a change in visibility and institutional participation. Earlier experiments and collectible projects supplied context; Beeple’s Christie’s sale put a large digital artwork before a broad auction audience; CryptoPunks entered a major auction-house setting; and Christie’s later tried an on-chain sale process with OpenSea. These events document an important chapter in digital collecting, without making all NFT projects equivalent or settling what rights any particular token conveys.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
