PETALING JAYA: Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are taking the art world by storm, are seeing sensational growth in Malaysia too, say local players.
Among the well-known Malaysians who have ventured into the scene are contemporary artist Red Hong Yi and Taiwan-based singer-songwriter Namewee.
It was reported that Sabahan Red Hong Yi sold her Doge to the Moon NFT for RM325,000 in an online auction while Namewee, from Muar, Johor, made RM3.5mil from the NFTs of his photos and songs.
A growing number of people have become multi-millionaires ever since the digital craze disrupted the art world, according to reports.
Renowned digital artist Pak has sold the most expensive NFT to date at US$91.8mil (RM385mil) for an artwork titled The Merge.
Larva Labs studio sold its priciest cryptopunk artwork for US$23.7mil (RM99.3mil) while Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club has generated more than US$1bil (RM4.1bil) in total sales.
Even ordinary folks have cashed in on the NFT hype.
An Indonesian student raked in US$1mil (RM4.1mil) from selling his selfies and a 12-year-old made US$391,000 (RM1.63mil) from selling pixelated artworks of whale NFTs.
Existing on the blockchain as digital assets that range from images, music and videos to in-game items, NFTs are bought with cryptocurrencies and have a unique digital signature on the blockchain that cannot be replicated.
According to a report by AFP citing blockchain data platform Chainalysis, US$40.9bil (RM171bil) was spent on NFTs last year, a huge jump for the industry which only made US$1bil in 2020.
Local NFT marketplace Pentas co-founder Marish Molah described the growth for the NFT industry in Malaysia as “phenomenal”.
Marish said Pentas had chalked up transactions of some RM5mil since it started operations five months ago.
“It has been exponential since we went live on Aug 21 last year. Pentas recorded a transaction volume of more than 2,000 BNB, equivalent to more than RM5mil, and it is increasing every minute,” he said.
He noted that its international marketplace platform recorded mostly traffic from North America, which accounted for nearly 20% of its traffic volume.
“Malaysia still brings in the highest traffic for the time being,” he added.
He said the most expensive NFT sold on Pentas, for 22 BNB (RM56,000), is the Rusuk Emas NFT developed by artist Sue Anna Joe.
Marish explained that getting involved in the NFT scene doesn’t necessarily mean that one must sell art, as anyone can get involved in it as a collector, or supporter. It also caters to preserve memories online, similar to social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
“In other words, whatever you upload online, it’s yours and preserved in the blockchain forever,” he added.
Meanwhile, plagiarism is an issue plaguing the NFT industry, as artists have regularly complained on Twitter that their works were found “stolen” and sold on platforms.
Artists have said that their works, published on online art platforms such as DeviantArt or social media, were found to be minted as digital assets on a blockchain and sold on NFT platforms.
According to Marish, there were several attempts to sell stolen content on their platform, but he gave assurance that Pentas had deployed a flagging mechanism where users could submit a report.
“This will lead to immediate action by the community operation team,” he said.
Last month, NFT platform OpenSea apologised for implementing a limit on its free minting tool, saying that the feature encouraged plagiarism instead.
“Over 80% of the items created with this tool were plagiarised works, fake collections and spam,” it said.
OpenSea has said in a statement that it regularly delisted and banned accounts selling “stolen” NFTs and was developing new image recognition tools to identify stolen content. The tools will be partially launched in the first half of this year.