Banksy and NFTs: From the Street to the Blockchain | Article

The first Banksy work to appear as an NFT was a 2006 edition of Morons (White). Bought by blockchain company Injective Protocol in March 2021 for $95,000, the original artwork was burned and replaced by a digital facsimile in NFT form.

Much like the infamous Love Is In The Bin art stunt of October 2018, which saw Banksy shred a Girl With Balloon print just as the hammer went down to mark its sale, Injective Protocol’s NFT-based intervention added value and inflated prices. Later in the same year, the Morons (White) NFT realised $380,000 via NFT marketplace OpenSea – a 300% increase on the price of the original, physical print.

In December 2021, the iconic Banksy piece, Love Is In The Air, was bought for $12.9 million. The buyer of the piece was the newly founded NFT company, Particle. Led by ex-head of contemporary art at Christie’s, Loïc Gouzer, Particle subsequently fractionalised ownership of the Banksy work, turning it into 10,000 unique NFTs each priced at around $1,500 USD.

In August 2021, a link to NFT marketplace OpenSea appeared on a sub-link on Banksy’s official website. Redirecting to a ‘CryptoPunk’ NFT featuring three smoking chimneys, some thought the work genuine. Despite a lack of comment from Pest Control, Banksy’s only official authenticator, the NFT was purchased for the equivalent of $336,000 USD. Like many others, the buyer speculated that the work may have been a critique of the NFT market and its sizable carbon footprint. The reality? Banksy’s website had been hacked and this was a scam.

Although far from genuine, a tongue-in-cheek NFT sale from Banksy is exactly what we might have expected – after all, the artist is no stranger to mocking the world of contemporary art. For example, many have speculated that the artist’s 2010 film Exit Through The Gift Shop was a publicity stunt designed to make viewers question the fact that art has become a major commodity in recent years.