Artists and NFTs

Today we are featuring an interview with Sten Martin. He is an interesting fellow formerly of some very trendy tech startups. I first met him working on an NFT project for a friend of mine and I wanted him to talk about the NFT space. I’ve been studying web3 and the associated technology for some time and he is a true expert in this new technological frontier. So, today we’re going to explore the non-fungible token and what that means for artists (like me!). This is the first of two interviews on this subject.

1) Hi Sten, why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background in science and tech before we dive into NFTs!

I was first introduced to Bitcoin back in 2012 when I was still in graduate school. Over time, I began to attend meetups at a local restaurant that accepted Bitcoin as payment. It was here that I realized that building a future career in crypto was something that I would look to do. After I finished my post-doc, I went to work for SALT Lending, at the time was the first crypto lending company. After SALT, I went on to co-found Equa which was a digital rights management platform for company treasuries. While at Equa, I attended a few conferences between 2019-2021. It was clear at these conferences that NFT technology was advancing in the number of use cases and represented a future bright spot in blockchain.

2) How did you first get involved in the web3 space?

When I left Equa, I began thinking about Web3 and NFTs a lot, specifically how can I become involved and build a company. I decided that I wanted to create a company focused on monetizing onboarding companies, their shareholders, and customers to Web3.

3) Why don’t you tell us what is an NFT?

In its simplest form, an NFT is a certificated piece of data that is provably unique and that demonstrates provenance, and its history of ownership on an immutable public ledger. Owning an NFT allows you to prove ownership of what the NFT links to (image, video, music or even your house).

4) What makes an NFT valuable compared to a jpg?

First, I’d say that an NFT is only as valuable as the thing that it proves ownership of. In the same way a deed to a house is typically more valuable than a car title. Beyond that, a jpg is just an image, and an NFT is a digital asset built on a smart contract layer of the blockchain, and this difference is fundamental. Anyone can find a picture of an NFT they like on an exchange like OpenSea, right-click, save the image, and display it on their computer or print it out. The right-click fallacy does not allow the individual access to any rights that come with the NFT. For instance, many NFTs act as a token-gating mechanism that grants access to private events, exclusive content, and future token or NFT airdrops. Other rights include the ability to own the intellectual property of the artwork itself. Famous brands like Yuga Lab’s Bored Apes collection allow holders to use the image as they see fit. Many Bored Ape collectors use the PFP image as the foundation of their personal brand.

5) I know you talk a lot about the possibilities of web3, where do you see the opportunity for yourself?

Lots of companies or services out there currently help streamline the process of “minting” or creating NFT’s. Given my background as a scientist, education has always been important to me. In blockchain, you can never have to much effort devoted to educating people on how to interact with digital assets like Bitcoin or NFTs. Everyone I know that’s been around crypto as long as I have has lost access to assets or been hacked. However, the tools have improved and once you understand how to use them anyone can take a few simple steps to protect themselves. That is where I see the opportunity. I want to not only help onboard more users, but help them do so with peace of mind. Furthermore, I want to work with partners and clients to help build projects that can give back to their nonprofit of choice.

6) In this space we have a convergence between crypto, web3, and the blockchain, do you think web3 is the use case for the other two?

Crypto, Web3, NFTs and DeFi are all just tools and protocols built on blockchain technology. Web3 is an evolution of blockchain that can either include or exclude crypto. Some projects will inherently be built with web3 in mind. Others are purely accounting or financial instruments.

7) Where did you get the idea to start helping artists bring their art into the NFT space?

My idea began not with artists but with businesses. However, my vision is to align non-profits, businesses and artists on projects that create mutually beneficial outcomes.

8) What do you think is the biggest barrier to entry for artists getting involved in the web3 space?

Knowledge and user experience. People on the outside looking in see a bunch of scams, volatility and jpegs. What they don’t know is that there is just as many scams and just as much volatility in traditional markets. People also only interact with click bait news that highlights only the negative stories about blockchain. It is paramount to everyone already in our space to welcome people into our community and help provide access to the correct information but in a fair and balanced way.

9) Why do you think artists should consider using NFTs to release new work?

Artists can connect with a global audience to an extent that was never possible. When artists mint their artwork onto the blockchain, their artwork is exposed to the entire world. All it takes is one person of influence to see the work and support the artist for the collection to gain a national or global audience. When an artist displays their work on a website or in a local gallery, the reach is much smaller in scale. Other benefits include the ability to earn royalties on secondary market sales. Even if the artwork never explodes in value, every time an artist’s work sells, a portion of that transaction goes back to the creator. This allows the artist to have greater ownership over their brand. Additionally, the artist can create a stronger bond with their collectors by sharing exclusive utility like an airdrop of future artwork.

10) Why are NFT prices so volatile as opposed to comparable real-world assets?

I don’t think NFT prices are more volatile than assets like stocks or commodities. Some NFT collections fluctuate significantly on any given day, while others stay flat. The same can be said for other assets within a particular asset class. Bottom line is that this question means nothing unless we know what assets the NFTs represent ownership of. This is like asking wahy are database prices so volatile.

11)Can you share your current platform stack?

While I’m not a developer, I use many different tools. Without providing an exhaustive list, I will say that I use a variety of wallets (Ledger, Metamask, Keplr), NFT launch pads (Objkt, Fair.xyz, Premint), marketplaces (Opensea, Objkt, Foundation), dApps (Ethereum name service, 1inch, Uniswap, Webstudio), and communication tools (Twitter, Discord, Telegram).

Final Thoughts

A shout out to Sten Martin for coming along with us on this journey and talking about web3 so much and giving us a tremendous amount of access to this new world. I think this technology has the potential to change the conversation about how we experience digital art and how we sell art in the digital space. It is refreshing to speak to someone who really understands the landscape and knows the players. Make sure to follow Sten on Twitter!