How is Sugar Glider Digital approaching the merger of blockchain and digital art?

New and exciting avenues for monetisation, utility, and investment have been created through the convergence of blockchain technology, NFTs, and digital art.

However, on the road to progress Sugar Glider Digital understands that all that glitters may not be gold. 

With the added value of blockchain and NFT art, there are real concerns about environmental sustainability and marketplace instability that many artists and creators are justifiably cautious too. 

Staying patient and informed, and understanding the full context of blockchain’s impact on digital art is likely the best approach for the industry.

What is blockchain? 

Blockchain is an immutable digital ledger that lives on a shared network of computers instead of a single centralised system. 

Connecting new information together as “blocks” with cryptographic security, blockchain facilitates an ever growing record of transactions, and tracks digital assets like NFTs which live on a network. 

What does that mean for the art world? 

In simple terms, blockchain technology is an evolution in efficiency, security, authentication, creatorship, and monetisation for the acquisition and sale of digital art. 

Blockchain networks deliver immediate, automatically processed, and mutually verifiable information to network members, allowing for a greater level of confidence and convenience across all transactions in the digital art marketplace. 

Web3 a new form of the world wide web that incorporates ideas like de-centralisation, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics (tokenomics).

Digital tokens like NFT Art expand the control creators can have over licensing, revenue and legacy preservation. 

This is because blockchain features like smart contracts guarantee automatic royalties at the point of sale and have an instantly viewable catalog through the digital provenance that is built into Non-fungible tokens. 

With the transition into Web3 or Web3.0 predicted by many in the near future, the digital art industry is also a testing ground of sorts for digital token-based economics.

The prospect of joining a volatile and emerging marketplace that is yet to be well-regulated like this one has left some creators, art enthusiasts, and businesses hesitant. 

Is blockchain’s environmental sustainability an issue? 

The carbon footprint of blockchain technology and an NFT marketplace has been highlighted by skeptics of the technology with the amount of energy dedicated to securing, minting art, and validating transactions across networks. 

Blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum1.0 use a Proof-of-Work system that powers the mutual authentication of transactions and the minting of new assets like NFTs with incredibly powerful computing power. 

On a large scale, this has a sizeable energy cost.

Ethereum’s Merge is an event SGD is closely following, on September 19th the blockchain currency is projected to officially transition from a PoW to a PoS network, reducing their energy consumption by ~99.95%

A newer more sustainable alternative, Proof-of-Stake, is used by other notable networks like Ethereum2.0 and Solana. This validates new and existing information through passive lending or staking of coins, expending much less energy in the process.

How can we make the NFT Art marketplace more approachable for artists?

Lazy minting, as a process of making NFT art for sale off-chain and only minting NFTs at the point of sale, has made the digital art transactions much more energy efficient.  

But perhaps a more compelling effect is the avoidance of gas fees and the lower barriers to entry for artists. 

Blockchain and digital art markets have been unpredictable, to say the least, and with the recent Crypto Crash creators and potential buyers are justifiably apprehensive.

Illustration by Nicole Chan, sourced from: https://thirst.sg/crypto-crash-a-word-of-caution-and-comfort-for-investors/

As consumers have focused on the collectability of digital art rather than attributes of aesthetics or artistic stories, the perceived value and price of pieces have followed the way of speculation and belief. 

Belief, however impressive, can also be vulnerable to negativity.

Our mission for digital art is sustainability and stability. Minting artworks with the objective of secure authenticity and creatorship to support our artists and the aesthetic value of their work. 

Returning to perceived value that is based more on artistic standards rather than fear or uncertainty. 

Sugar Glider Digital’s renting and licensing platform for digital art

Sugar Glider Digital is approaching the fruits of blockchain technology with measured optimism. 

With our NFT rental platform, SGD is bringing fine digital art to our clients with the added flexibility of cheaper month-to-month payments without the commitment of heavy cash flow. 

SGD takes payments and commissions in fiat as well as cryptocurrencies letting creators and clients choose their exposure to the market.  

We want our users to join the most stable environment ever so we’re waiting until the time is right to start.

The digital art market deserves it. 

At Sugar Glider Digital we are learning, observing, and making patient and informed decisions in the world of blockchain-based digital art.

Words by Cam Thach