I'm always learning so much from this community of creatives, and increasingly learning even more from the unique perspective of the collectors who support artists here. Today I'm speaking with @Cryptonio123 about how he thinks about NFTs and Cryptoart. All pieces displayed below I personally selected from his growing collection which contains many of my favorite creatives. Let's begin.

Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me today. As an opening question, I wonder what first attracted you to collecting NFTs / Cryptoart, and what keeps you motivated to propel this space forward?

Sure. Thanks for having me Dave. I came across the space one day from watching a Beeple interview on CNBC (yes I'm a finance dude haha). I was always interested in art and visited museums frequently but never had the chance to collect due to physical space constraint.

When I saw the success of Beeple and given my view on decentralization via blockchain, it made sense for me to take a look at the space. After surfing through the major platforms, I fell in love with the talent pool and wanted to participate as a collector. I always wanted to be a pioneer of something. I wouldn't say I pioneered the NFT art space but I would think in 5-10 years, I will be happy with the contribution I've made to the community via collecting and writing my blog. That motivates me to continue to be active in the space and build relationships with artists and other collectors.

Below, E11EVEN by Oveck

Well said, that makes a lot of sense. Anyone as active as you are this early is certainly earning their place as a trailblazer in this space. It's been really interesting seeing this world unfold over the past year.

We've seen a huge boom, and a bit of a cooling off as of late, which I think was expected after the rush of February and March. What are your hopes for how things settle into a more long term and sustainable model for artists and collectors alike?

That's a great question. We are all learning as the space evolves but first and foremost, I do think the amount of supply needs to come down. There are currently 5-6 platforms doing a drop everyday and some of them are open editions. I don't think that is sustainable. I'm speaking strictly about NFT art. Low effort NFTs from celebrities are additional supplies on top, which takes ETH away from NFT artists who deserve it more in most cases.

On the demand side, I do think it will grow over time so not too worried there. Overall, I'm optimistic but the supply/demand will have to fix itself, which will take some time. To be fair, even in the traditional art world, supply always outpaces demand so perhaps this is just the nature of the art world but I still think NFT art world is more oversupplied than the traditional art world.

Secondly, I also hope the quality of NFTs would go up over time. NFT art tends to be easier to replicate and produce than traditional art so I'm seeing a lot of low effort NFTs that are selling for much higher prices than they should be vs. other works where artists put their sweat, blood, and tears into their work. Again, there are such low effort artworks that sell for a lot in the real world as well but personally, I would like to see less low effort NFT artists getting the spotlight.

Below, first CRYPT-84 Surrogate by BakaArts, second, XCOPY vs YuraMiron effect

Well said, honestly I'm completely aligned with that read of the space right now. I feel like there's also this desire to "legitimize" the space by letting celebrities come in and drop, because that comes with press and the idea of "mass adoption" but there has definitely been an abuse of that tactic and the market has suffered. I truly feel that the sustaining force of this movement is community centric artists and collectors, that keep the value circulating in these ecosystems. Hopefully we see the platforms do their part to keep this space healthy and growing towards its initial promise.

There has been significant criticism from entrenched industries, the traditional art world, and a lot of it seems to come from a place of misunderstanding. What are your thoughts about how NFTs can augment the traditional art world, instead of being viewed as an attack on traditional art?

The traditional art world is one of the most antiquated and opaque industries right now. If we can take out as many middlemen and inefficiencies as possible with NFTs, both the artists and the collectors will be much better off financially. In my mind, this is a part of natural evolution and how new technology springs forward as the incumbents are disrupted away.

In other words, NFTs as a tool will reshape how art collection is done currently by bringing to the table more transparency and efficiency. All that said, when a person hears the word NFT right now, they think of memes. They don't understand that NFT is a tool and a technology. So perhaps education to the general public is the first step.

Below, Teenage Dreams by Retric Dreams

Yeah, the same thing happened with social media and legacy publishing like magazines. At first they scoff, then they end up playing catch up. But technologists and artists move so much faster than institutions, so in these moments of transitions we can gain a lot of ground.

I’d love to hear more about your blog, why you started it and your plans for that space in the future.

Of course. I realized my stream of thoughts about the space continues to evolve over time. Rather than letting those thoughts go to waste, I thought it made sense for me to keep track of them in a blog format so that I stay in touch with the community but also organize my thoughts in writing. I decided to do it in a Web 3.0 domain by Unstoppable Domains to be consistent with NFT's spirit of decentralization. With Web 3.0, my content will never be censored by anyone and I have full ownership of my domain.

Below, first, Acid Trip by Peter Tarka. Second, Akasha by parrot_ism and Lovevisuals.

What advice would you have for artists entering the space? Things to watch out for or common mistakes you see from people entering this ecosystem?

I have a few.

1) Don't be profit driven. It's pretty obvious when you are.

2) Develop a unique style that distinguishes you from others. This is a tough one and as a collector, the difficulty of this task is something I can't fathom but what I've observed is being unique is the key to success in this space. If you are unique, collectors will find you so no marketing is needed.

3) Manage your supply and be patient. I see artists panicking when their pieces don't sell. Sometimes, it's only been 3 days. Sometimes, it's been 1 month. I wouldn't sweat until at least 1 year since minting.

4) Create value for collectors. Physical pieces, access to private discord, etc. I'm not creative enough to think of other examples but collectors are more likely to stay if they see value creation.

5) Communicate your goal to the collectors. Collectors like ambitious artists with aspirations. If you have a line of sight to reaching your goal, collectors are more likely to support you.

Honestly, fantastic and actionable advice. I'm taking it to heart and I'm sure our readers will too. Cryptonio123, thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. You have such a valuable perspective and I'm thrilled to have connected with you here. To the reader, for all things Cryptonio123, follow him on Twitter and see his online ecosystem right here.