NFT art is a digital artwork linked to a non-fungible token, which is a unique token recorded on a blockchain. The token shows who holds it and where it came from. In most cases the token does not contain the artwork, and buying it does not give you the copyright. The token usually holds a link to a file stored somewhere else. Your rights in the image depend on the licence the seller attaches, not on the token. The record sales below show how far prices went at the 2021 peak. The legal and technical sections explain what a buyer actually gets.
How an NFT represents an artwork
The token standard
On Ethereum, most art NFTs follow ERC-721, the "Non-Fungible Token Standard" (created 24 January 2018, status Final). The standard says each NFT "is identified by a unique uint256 ID inside the ERC-721 smart contract". Holders can be tracked one by one because no two tokens are interchangeable.
Where the image lives
ERC-721 has an optional function, tokenURI, which returns a URI that "may point to a JSON file" following its metadata schema. That file has three fields: name, description and image, where the image field is itself a URI. The chain usually stores a pointer to a description, and the description points to the image. If the server or storage network hosting those files goes offline, the token stays on the blockchain but the picture it refers to may not load.
Practical check before buying: open the token's metadata and see where the image URI points. A content-addressed storage network and a company's own web server carry different risks.
What buying NFT art gives you legally
The U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a joint study, Non-Fungible Tokens and Intellectual Property, on 12 March 2024. Its main points:
- Holding the token and holding the copyright are separate. The report notes that some marketplaces suggest a token purchase means owning or licensing the work, but "nothing about the token necessarily can affect a valid transfer of copyright".
- Transferring copyright needs a signed writing. Under the U.S. Copyright Act, copyright moves only with a written agreement, separate from the token transfer. The report says courts have not decided whether a smart contract can meet that requirement.
- No new law was recommended. The Offices said existing enforcement mechanisms "are currently sufficient". They said changes to IP law or registration practice "are not necessary or advisable at this time", and that "public education initiatives and product transparency play an important role".
In practice, read the licence terms attached to the collection. They decide whether you can display, print or sell merchandise of the work. The token alone does not.
Minting: turning a file into a token
Minting means calling a smart contract that creates a new token and records its first holder on the blockchain. The usual steps:
- Choose a blockchain. Each chain has its own token standards, compatible wallets and NFT marketplaces.
- Set up a self-custody wallet that supports that chain. It will hold the token and pay network fees.
- Prepare the file and its metadata (name, description, image link), and decide where the file will be stored.
- Mint through a marketplace's tool or your own contract. The transaction creates the token ID and links it to your metadata.
- List it for sale, with a fixed price or an auction, on an NFT marketplace that supports the chain.
A common misunderstanding is that minting makes the file itself permanent. What the blockchain records is the token and whatever the contract stores. The artwork stays only as permanent as the place it is hosted.
What will you actually hold after buying this NFT?
Answer three questions about a piece you are thinking of buying to see what the token gives you and what to check next.
Have you read the licence terms attached to the collection?
- Yes, I have read them → next question
- No, or there are none I can find → Read the licence first
Have you opened the token's metadata to see where its image URI points?
- Yes, I know where the image is hosted → next question
- No, not yet → Check where the image lives
Have you confirmed that the contract address belongs to the creator's official collection?
- Yes, it matches the official collection → You hold a token on the terms of its licence
- No, or I am not sure → Confirm the contract before buying
Holding the token and holding the copyright are separate. Under the U.S. Copyright Act, copyright moves only with a signed written agreement, separate from the token transfer. The licence decides whether you can display, print or sell merchandise of the work; the token alone does not.
The token usually holds a link to a metadata file, and that file links to the image. If the server or storage network hosting those files goes offline, the token stays on the blockchain but the picture may not load. A content-addressed storage network and a company's own web server carry different risks.
Copies of popular works are common. Check that the contract address belongs to the creator's official collection before you go further.
You hold a token recorded on a blockchain, with the rights the licence gives you. Without a signed transfer you hold a token, not the copyright. The artwork is only as permanent as the place it is hosted, and creator royalties are paid only where the marketplace honours them, because EIP-2981 says the royalty payment must be voluntary.
This covers only the buyer checks named in the article under U.S. copyright rules; it does not value the work, judge a specific licence or storage provider, or cover tax or laws outside the U.S.
Royalties are voluntary under the standard
Creator royalties on resales are often described as automatic. The standard most contracts use says otherwise. EIP-2981 (NFT Royalty Standard, created 15 September 2020, status Final) states that "the royalty payment must be voluntary". It also says that if a marketplace chooses not to implement it, "no funds will be paid for secondary sales". A contract can announce a royalty rate, but whether it gets paid depends on where the token is sold.
The record sales, checked
The previous version of this page gave wrong figures for two of these sales. The corrected record:
| Work | Artist | Date | Price | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merge | Pak | 2–4 December 2021 | about $91.8 million total | Nifty Gateway |
| Everydays: The First 5000 Days | Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) | closed 11 March 2021 | $69,346,250 | Christie's online auction |
| Crossroad | Beeple | resold 25 February 2021 | $6.6 million | Nifty Gateway secondary market |
| Forever Rose | Kevin Abosch with GIFTO | 14 February 2018 | about $1 million | private sale to 10 buyers |
Merge, Pak: about $91.8 million
Merge was not a single artwork bought by one buyer. About 28,984 buyers bought units called "mass" during a two-day sale, and those units were then combined into NFTs. Reports differ on the unit count (266,444 or 312,686). Nifty Gateway's claim that it was the largest art sale by a living creator was disputed, because the total came from thousands of separate purchases.
Everydays: The First 5000 Days, Beeple: $69,346,250
The collage of 5,000 daily images sold at Christie's in a sale that closed on 11 March 2021. Christie's said it was the first purely digital NFT artwork offered by a major auction house. The result made Beeple the third most expensive living artist at auction, after Jeff Koons and David Hockney. Of 33 active bidders, 91% were new to Christie's.
Crossroad, Beeple: $6.6 million
This short video was set up to change with the result of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. It was first sold in December 2020 for $582,000 and resold on 25 February 2021 for $6.6 million. The previous version of this article said it sold for $64–67 million, which was wrong.
Forever Rose, Kevin Abosch: about $1 million
Ten buyers split the cost, about $100,000 each, paid in crypto tokens. The work was issued as an ERC-20 token called ROSE, and each buyer received one tenth. Strictly speaking that makes it a divisible token rather than an ERC-721 NFT. It is an early example of crypto art rather than NFT art in the modern sense.
Where the market is now
The 2021 boom did not last at major auction houses. In September 2025, several outlets reported that Christie's had closed its standalone digital art department, citing The Art Newspaper. Digital works are now sold within its 20th- and 21st-century art sales, and its Christie's 3.0 blockchain platform is reported to still be running. This comes from secondary reporting and could not be checked against a Christie's statement. Market-wide sales figures for 2025–2026 from research vendors conflict with each other, so none are given here.
Before you buy or mint
- Find out where the image and metadata are hosted.
- Read the licence. Without a signed transfer you hold a token, not the copyright.
- Expect royalties to be paid only where the marketplace honours them.
- Check that the contract address belongs to the creator's official collection. Copies of popular works are common.
Limitations: auction prices and sale totals come from press coverage of 2018–2021 sales, and Christie's own pages could not be retrieved for this update.
