Cryptoart (est. 2013)

The original Cryptoart project and the first tokenized art print collection. A single, evolving collection that uses pairing mechanics to make physical art legible and liquid without breaking scarcity.

History

In 2013 we started to recruit and collaborate with a small group of highly skilled digital artists to meme complex imagery intended to inspire and educate. We used those images to publish and sell limited edition physical art pieces that merged crypto cold storage with fine art. We also worked with early crypto projects like Bitcoin Magazine (cover art #21), ChangeTip, The Texas Bitcoin Conference, and the Satoshi Roundtable.

From 2013 to 2020, we created a total of 6564 physical art pieces (with 2,431 remaining unissued) and sold them through cryptoart.com, at live events and conferences. These early pieces are referred to as Legacy Physicals.

Tokenizing a Physical Art Collection

In late 2025, we tokenized our collection to make physical art as portable as an NFT without sacrificing scarcity.

Until now, NFTs have largely fallen into three categories: purely digital works, one-time redeemables for physical art, or tools for provenance. None solved the problem of physical movement between collectors.

NFTs are a game changer for digital portability of ownership, but once tied to a physical artwork, that portability disappears. The NFT must trade with the object, constraining its purpose.

We approached this differently.

We use NFTs as pairables. NFTs can be continuously paired and unpaired with a physical artwork. A collector can redeem a pairable NFT to claim a physical piece, and later unredeem it by destroying that physical, ensuring no duplicates ever exist. The NFT’s current state is transparently reflected on-chain.

Physical shipment occurs between the collector and the issuer (Cryptoart.com), not between collectors or through intermediaries. Collectors remain free to trade Cryptoart manually.

This model preserves scarcity and enables true portability of provenance without reintroducing the friction, risk, and complexity of traditional secondary market sales.

Give us feedback.

We are in the "soft" reboot phase of tokenizing the original physical collection. Existing collectors can claim an NFT for their physical by submitting this form. Soon we will begin introducing new art into the collection.