Damien Hirst Transforms His Art into ‘The Currency’ NFT Collection Using Real-World Burning

Damien Hirst has been burning his artworks as he ventures into non-fungible tokens. The artist has said that buyers that choose to buy an NFT representing his artwork would have the physical one burned.

Damien Hirst burns artwork as he launches an NFT collection

Hirst released his first NFT collection in 2021. The NFT collection is known as “The Currency.” The collection comprises 10,000 NFTs that depict 10,000 original art pieces. The collectors that have purchased these collections have had to choose between keeping the NFT or exchanging it for the physical piece.

The physical piece will be burned if a collector chooses to keep the NFT. The Newport Street Gallery in London reported that 5,149 people have chosen to remain with the physical artworks, while 4,851 have chosen to have NFTs.

Earlier this week, Hirst told his Instagram followers that he would burn the initial 1,000 artworks on Tuesday. It is reported that the NFTs traded for $2000 each. Hirst live-streamed the burning event, where he used tongs to burn each piece by putting them into fireplaces in the gallery.

The artworks in question were created in 2016. The pieces display colorful spots. The physical art pieces will be burned until the exhibition ends on October 30. The real-world burning of art is yet another show of how much NFTs have inspired the art sector.

NFTs are unique digital assets that can be traded like real-world assets, but they do not have a physical firm. NFTs function as certificates of ownership for virtual or physical assets. NFTs became increasingly popular in 2021 as cryptocurrency prices soared to all-time highs.

Besides being increasingly popular in the art sector, NFTs have also been integrated into some of the best crypto projects.

IMPT collectible NFTs

The Impact Project is among the crypto-based projects that have integrated NFTs. The Impact Project plans to use NFTs to lower carbon emissions, which is quite an interesting use case for these digital assets. The utility has seen the IMPT presale explode after raising $3.5 million.

The Impact Project will issue rewards to consumers in the form of NFT-based carbon credits. The credits can be traded through the Impact Project marketplace, which can also be taken out of circulation to show that the holders have not used carbon.

Tamadoge ultra-rare NFTs could trigger gains

Tamadoge is currently conducting an auction of its ultra-rare NFTs. The end of the auction will see the 100 best pets entering the market. These pets will be an integral part of the Tamaverse, an ecosystem comprising these NFTs, TAMA tokens, and a play-to-earn game.

Tamadoge is expected to be one of the best play to earn games. The project’s initial exchange offering (IEO) ended last month. The early investors in the presale made around 2000% gains after TAMA’s price exploded after the token’s listing on top exchanges.

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