Artist Farizwan Fajari, who goes by the moniker Speak Cryptic, on the most important things you need to know about art on the blockchain
For a few months in early 2021, the art world went blockchain crazy. People were trying to wrap their heads around the news of digital artist Beeple selling his collage, Everydays, at a Christie’s auction for US$69.3 million as a non-fungible token (NFT).
Not many people outside of tech had heard about NFTs before then. Then quickly after news of the purchase broke, there was a flurry of content by media organisations explaining the mechanics of these one-of-a-kind digital collectible items. We know because we were one of them.
A few months later, the buzz around NFTs seems to have died down for now. But at least one Singaporean artist thinks they're here to stay.
Farizwan Fajari, who is best known as Speak Cryptic, has sold two of his artworks as NFTs and is working on more. He also recently bought his first NFT, from an Indonesian artist. We speak to Farizwan to learn more about this segment of digital art, and why the market for it is still booming.
Read more: NFT: Why Digital Art is Here to Stay
Be prepared to put in the time to study first
“The learning curve for me was honestly a little steep, and I spent a few weeks doing some hardcore research before deciding to mint. But I like to jump into a situation with both feet in order to really be able to learn, which was what I did with NFTs.
When it came down to creating my first NFT, it didn’t actually take much. My first NFT was minted—the process of turning digital art into a part of the Ethereum blockchain as a public ledger—on this platform called Cargo, and they had an option called “Magic Minting”. It allows you to sell your NFT without needing to pay the gas fees upfront (gas fees are what you pay to get your NFT onto the blockchain).
It was pretty low risk, which was important to me because we are still in the middle of a pandemic after all, and every cent goes a long way. A kind soul acquired my NFT a couple of days after it went up for sale, so I was super lucky.”
See also: Artist Red Hong Yi On Why NFTs Are The Future Of Art
