Renowned Japanese contemporary artist, Takashi Murakami, has hinted at a potential departure from the world of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) after making his foray into the market in late 2021.
Murakami, known for his illustrious career spanning back to the late 1980s, has ventured into the NFT space with two collections to date: the Clone X collection in collaboration with RTFKT in December 2021 and the Murakami Flowers collection in May 2022.
In an interview with The Guardian at the Asian Art Museum during his solo art exhibition titled Unfamiliar People, Murakami mused, “Maybe I’m done releasing NFTs.”
The Murakami Flowers collection presented challenges for the artist, with its launch delayed to fine-tune it. Eventually, it rolled out in May 2022 amidst a crypto and NFT market downturn.
Although the launch faced stagnant floor prices and sales, Murakami Flowers has generated substantial secondary trading volume, accumulating 26,713 Ether or $42.52 million and a notable NFT floor price of 0.36 ETH ($573), according to OpenSea data.
In another development, NFT artist Danny Casale, also known as Coolman Coffeedan, secured a favorable outcome in a multimillion-dollar contract dispute with DigiArt, Web3 art curators.
Casale had partnered with DigiArt in May 2021, allowing the firm to promote his NFTs in exchange for a 50-50 revenue split and exclusive rights to market and sell his nonfungible tokens until the contract’s expiration in May 2022.
However, DigiArt filed a lawsuit against Casale in March 2023, alleging contract breaches. This was in response to Casale independently launching an NFT project called Coolman’s Universe on December 21, 2021, featuring 10,000 cartoon avatar NFTs, which generated 26,399 ETH ($42 million) in secondary sales.
The court ruling favored Casale, as it revealed various issues with the contract, including blanks and ambiguities, ultimately leading to its dismissal.
Additionally, the highly anticipated NFT-linked animated series, Krapopolis, from Dan Harmon, co-creator of Rick and Morty, is slated to premiere on Fox in September. The show, set in ancient Greece, follows a quirky family navigating the challenges of running one of the world’s first cities.
Finally, NFTs have offered rural artists a unique opportunity to expand their global reach, as exemplified by artist Ben Fowler from rural Victoria, Australia. Fowler’s artwork reached a global audience through NFTs, enabling him to thrive without relocating to major cities. This demonstrates how NFTs empower artists, regardless of their location, to harness their worth.
In a bid to simplify its codebase, Bitcoin Ordinals’s creator, Casey Rodarmor, has proposed changes to the protocol’s numbering system.
Meanwhile, Proof of Play, led by Farmville co-creator Amitt Mahajan, raised $33 million to develop Web3 games, with Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear serving on the board. This announcement signifies further innovation in the world of Web3 gaming.
These diverse developments showcase the multifaceted and evolving landscape of NFTs and the broader crypto ecosystem.
