A Cultural Shift Towards Digital Sees The Tattoo Industry Moving Into The NFT Space
For thousands of years, tattoos have been an international phenomenon that has endured cultural changes and technological advancements. To stay relevant in an increasingly digital world, art is now making inroads into the nonfungible token (NFT) space as it continues to evolve.
Keith McCurdy, better known as Bang Bang in the tattoo community, is one of the artists attempting to combine the tattoo culture’s ethos with disruptive technologies. He’s applying a novel rewriteable tattoo ink that changes appearance depending on the amount of light.
According to Bang Bang, researchers at the University of Colorado have worked on a tattoo ink made of photochromic microcapsules for the past five years. This technology, known as “tech tattoos,” leaves a colour-changing mark activated by U.V. light, changing the tattooed image as it does so. He views technology as bridging the NFTs’ undeniable uniqueness with the tattoo culture’s desire for individuality. He sold the first rewritable tattoo as a 1/1 NFT in June for 100 ether (ETH), equivalent to almost $100,000 at the time.
“Our digital identity will become very important in the future. It may already be more important than our physical identity today. Individualization in a digital world and defining one’s identity is what we do best, and in that exists endless parallels and opportunities,” McCurdy said.Â
Also Read,
Crypto Copy Trading – What Is It And How Does It Work?
Indelible is a company working to connect the tattoo community to Web3. It allows owners to utilize their intellectual property rights by creating new tattoos and adding I to pre-existing profile pic (PFP) NFTs. According to Mike Amoia, the company’s founder,
“NFT holders are always looking to monetize or do different things with their I.P., And we feel it’s an exciting way to monetize or even have fun with your I.P. by putting famous tattoo art on it.”
The startup was founded eight months ago with the notion that tattoo artists should be able to market their services outside of their studios and have access to many ways to earn money. “We thought it was a fascinating use of tattoo culture, and we wanted to do it the opposite way, which would involve tattooing actual people with actual characters. We desired to ink Web3.”
Two years ago, Amoia, an angel investor, decided to fund his startup to explore the untapped potential of fusing tattoos and NFTs. He stated that tattoo artists Mike Rubendall, Matt Skinny, and Bj Betts would sign the project’s first collection of PFP characters.
Since we are all assisting one another, Amoia believes that all communities should support initiatives like this. The more successful my project is, the more it benefits all the others because more people will be aware of what it is.
NFTs are digital objects with features like uniqueness and non-interchangeability that can have their authenticity verified on a blockchain. They fall under several categories, but blockchain-based video games, music, and art are where they are most frequently seen. NFTs have dominated the art market during the pandemic, with digital tokens fetching tens of millions of dollars at prestigious auction houses.
Verified Market Research (VMR) projects that the NFT market will reach a value of $231 billion by 2030. The industry is anticipated to expand by a 33.7% compound annual rate over the following eight years. Among the many industries where NFTs are in high demand are the arts, entertainment, and sports.
Also Read,
