Review by Booklist Review
Small, New York Times reporter on the dynamics of power and privilege and art, chronicles the rise and fall of the nonfungible token (NFT) as it relates to digital art and money. NFTs solve problems with the online economy by providing creators with access to resale royalties. While this may seem good, Small showcases an unexpected side of the story. This book starts with the origins of the crypto economy in 2008 and the roots of NFTs back to photographic negatives. Readers learn how the duo Bored Apes and CryptoKitties generated art valued at $69.3 million and how that was a catalyst for a new landscape in the art world. Sales like these continued, like when EtherRock was bought by a Bitcoin billionaire for $600,000 and only a few hours later was valued at $1.05 million. The book features additional examples and also includes insights based on personal interviews with artists, academics, and entrepreneurs. While weaving in art history to help readers better understand, Small also explores shady elements including money laundering, scandals, and more. Readers will be drawn into a world where art meets cryptocurrency.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"The contemporary art market has served as an economic laboratory for the rich to develop a shadow banking system of alternative assets and hedged liquidity," according to this trenchant debut investigation. New York Times reporter Small argues that non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are "financial tools branded as digital art" and traces the rise and fall of the NFT market through vivid profiles of artists swept up in it. For instance, Small describes how crypto entrepreneur Erick Calderon battled a skeptical art establishment to create an online NFT marketplace where he sold algorithmically generated pieces by himself and others. However, the 2022 crypto crash imperiled his business by provoking traders to illicitly circumvent the royalty system on secondary NFT sales, rendering moot the main incentive for artists to work in the medium. Stories about notable collectors are just as colorful, as when Small describes how Mexican businessman Martin Mobarak burned a Frida Kahlo drawing worth $10 million to drive up the price of an NFT he created from it. Small assembles their finely observed character portraits into a troubling analysis of how the financialization of the art market has reduced culture to commercial tokens whose value depends on their ability to provide a return on investment. This masterful exposé enthralls. Agent: Howard Yoon, WME. (May)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital or physical objects that, via blockchain technology, allow digital artworks to record transactions that indicate ownership. New York Times investigative reporter Small's first book is a detailed history of NFTs and the relationship between the art and finance worlds. NFTs are a complicated subject that Small explains well, without oversimplifying. Their narrative starts with the moment when NFTs were adopted by people who wanted to create, through cryptocurrency, the ability to trade directly without using intermediaries like banks or social media platforms. Some crypto users who were not wedded to utopian ideologies used NFTs as financial investment vehicles, leading to the creation of a highly volatile and speculative market for digital art. Even the traditional art market got involved, with Christie's auction house selling an NFT for $69.3 million in 2021. Small is not dismissive of digital art--which they consider a legitimate and effective medium--but argues that the sector is rife with corruption and intellectual dishonesty. Their criticisms also reach the traditional art market, perhaps the largest unregulated market in the world and a key vector of finance and investment. VERDICT A fascinating tale about NFTs, the art market, and investment for curious readers who have a solid understanding of how crypto and finance work.--Shmuel Ben-Gad
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An in-depth exposé of the recent multibillion-dollar surge and explosive crash in the speculative realms of digital art and crypto finance. New York Times reporter Small dissects the recent history of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and their significant effect on the investment art community, initiated by the sale of a digital artwork compilation at Christie's in 2021 for $69.3 million. "It was an outrageous sum for digital art--the kind of world record that raises conspiracy theories about the motives of its buyers and sellers," writes the author. "Suddenly the art market was on the fulcrum of decentralized finance, splitting its weight between the invading crypto billionaires and the ancien régime of traditional art collectors. But auctioneers tipped the balance in favor of the new money, scrambling to find a historical precedent for their new cash cow." In this sprawling narrative maze, Small profiles a diverse range of digital artists as well as other influential and often shadowy players across the finance, entertainment, tech, and gaming industries. They also expand the context with forays into pivotal movements in art history, a summary of the 2008 financial crisis and the rise of the crypto economy. Throughout, Small sharply critiques the erosion of art collecting's prestige by sellers and investors driven by insatiable greed. "The NFT explosion," writes the author, "had begun with a deadly symmetry exposing culture's worst tendencies: toward trustlessness, toward scarcity, toward desperation and sycophancy…criminals took advantage of the zeitgeist and errant entrepreneurs played at expertise." In their meticulously documented exploration, Small reveals insights hinting at a compelling core story. However, the intricate details and tech-speak will overwhelm many general readers. In the hands of a more seasoned storyteller such as Michael Lewis, the material would resonate with a wider audience. A well-researched but overly dense account of the impact of NFTs on the art market. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
