The First Piece of NFT Artwork Ever Created

Regardless of what many might imagine, NFT artwork didn’t begin with the Bored Ape Yacht Club. It additionally didn’t begin with CryptoPunks. So what was the primary NFT, and who created it? Finally, this singular honor goes to Quantum, a generative piece of artwork that was created by digital artists Jennifer and Kevin McCoy. After its creation, Quantum was subsequently become an NFT by Kevin in 2014.

And the explanation he minted this specific piece of artwork? It’s actually relatively easy. He did it for possession.

The start of NFTs

After he and his spouse created Quantum, McCoy wished to develop a approach to promote the piece in its digital type. The issue? He didn’t have a approach of creating the provenance of a digital piece of artwork.

For the uninitiated, “provenance” is the documentation that authenticates the creator, possession historical past, and appraisal worth of a specific piece of artwork. Sadly, provenance paperwork for digital artwork didn’t exist on the time. In different phrases, there was no approach to confirm the creator and possession historical past of digital works. After mulling over his choices, McCoy joined forces with tech entrepreneur Anil Dash to resolve the issue. Ultimately, the duo began to discover blockchain expertise to see if it would present a viable path ahead.

Again within the early 2010s, blockchain expertise was nonetheless a very area of interest subject. Bitcoin was solely valued at $630 (its worth on the time of writing is simply over $16,500), Ethereum had just launched, and coin creators frequently overpromised, underdelivered, and got sued into oblivion. However McCoy and Sprint weren’t dissuaded, and the choice paid off — to place it flippantly.

As is broadly now identified, blockchain expertise comprises a number of properties which can be conducive to purchasing and promoting digital artwork. With it, people have a trustless approach of identifying the creator and tracking the ownership history of any merchandise on a blockchain. This served McCoy and Sprint’s functions completely, and McCoy registered Quantum on blockchain. “I had an thought to make use of blockchain expertise to create indelible provenance and possession of digital photos of this sort. Quantum was the primary ever to be recorded on this approach,” McCoy later stated.

Shortly after that first minting, McCoy and Sprint demonstrated how “monetized graphics” like this may very well be used to determine provenance and promote digital artwork. Their demonstration occurred during a live presentation for the Seven on Seven conferences. In the course of the presentation, McCoy offered a digital picture to Sprint for $four utilizing blockchain. And with that, McCoy and Sprint unwittingly set the inspiration for what would develop into a multi-billion-dollar market lower than a decade later.

Quantum rediscovery and controversy

Sadly, Quantum was forgotten following its 2014 mint. This was largely resulting from its unique dwelling on Namecoin, a pre-Ethereum Bitcoin offshoot. Particularly, Quantum lived on Namecoin Block 174923, and that’s the place it stayed for years — till the 2021 NFT bull market.

When NFTs began to realize mainstream consideration and promote for hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in 2021, McCoy realized he is perhaps sitting on a golden egg. So he began to advertise Quantum, turning to media shops like Axios to debate his work and its function in NFT historical past. Thanks largely to this publicity push, Quantum finally went up for auction at Sotheby’s. And in June of 2021, it offered for multiple million {dollars} at public sale. The successful bidder was sillytuna, an nameless NFT collector.

However there have been issues.

Shortly after its million-dollar sale, consultants famous {that a} particular quirk about Namecoin known as into query who precisely owned Quantum on the time of the sale. As defined by Ledger Insights, Namecoin requires customers to resume no matter is minted on the Namecoin blockchain each 250 days to retain possession of the digital merchandise. Notably, McCoy by no means renewed Quantum. This allowed a totally separate entity — veteran collector EarlyNFT — to scoop up the possession rights to Quantum earlier than the Sotheby’s public sale.

In an ironic twist, EarlyNFT secured these rights only a day after the piece about Quantum was printed on Axios. Ultimately, EarlyNFT contested the validity of Sotheby’s public sale by means of a lawsuit.

Who gained? As of writing, the Sotheby’s sale nonetheless stands, and sillytuna nonetheless owns the piece. Nonetheless, that would change, as the complete authorized proceedings are nonetheless pending.

It’s unlucky that this unearthed piece of NFT historical past drummed up a fair proportion of controversy to associate with it. Nonetheless, the NFT neighborhood is best off realizing the story of Quantum — of its highs and its lows. First movers typically set a precedent for people who observe. And given the extreme highs and stomach-turning lows we’ve already seen within the NFT house, it appears Quantum did simply that.