A leading art-tech agency is merging the worlds of art and cryptocurrencies with new works from established artists and street artists to “capture the growing revolution.”
Renowned art dealer Stephen Howes established art-tech agency Thomas Crown Art with business partner, influential tech expert and business analyst Ian Mcloed.
Bitcoin, now in its 10th anniversary, has been “truly transformative” said Howes.
“It is responsible for possibly the largest shake-up to the financial system in 100 years.
“It began what history will teach us will be as influential a revolution as the internet was in the mid to late 1990s.”
Howes recognised that whilst Bitcoin is the world’s largest and most influential cryptocurrency, other major digital tokens, including Ethereum and XRP are shaking up the world too.
“The future of money is, undeniably, digital and decentralised. Whoever thinks that we will still be using mainly traditional, not digital, money in the next decade is kidding themselves.”
He continues: “Artists have always been inspired by revolutions and by ideas that disrupt convention. Indeed, we have much of our knowledge of the past thanks to art in its many different forms.”
Howes believes that unlikely pairing of art and cryptocurrency is more obvious than it first appears.
“This is because cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the underlying infrastructure on which cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are based, directly and positively impact artists, collectors and galleries alike,” he explains.
“It allows for the provenance data to be recorded on an immutable, decentralised ledger and enables the artworks themselves to be tokenized for them to be traded.”
He believes that as the cryptocurrency goes into its second decade, its effect on art will only increase.
“This will undoubtedly be further reflected in the world of art.”
Howes’ business partner Mcloed has previously touted alternative cryptocurrency Ethereum as more useful than Bitcoin, saying it is backed with superior blockchain technology.