Record-breaking digital artist Beeple says the NFT craze is just like the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s

• Beeple, whose digital NFT art sold for a record-breaking $69 million, said NFTs are like the early stages of the internet.
• He told 'The Street' that even if NFTs are in a bubble, he thinks they will survive.
• He said there was no reason why digital art should not have the same value as physical art.
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Record-breaking digital artist Beeple, who sold a piece of digital art for a record-breaking $69 million, thinks the non-fungible token (NFT) market will evolve in the same way the internet did during the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s.

He told The Street that during the dotcom bubble, people realised there were a lot of worthless internet pages being set up, which they then stopped using and that he believes it will be similar for NFTs.

"There was a bubble with the internet, it didn't kill the internet. People kept using the internet, it just kind of wiped out all the c***", he said.

NFTs are digital items such as videos, visual elements or audio that are based on blockchain technology. They are unique and not exchangeable, so they are often viewed as collectors items. Usually, anyone can still see the NFT online, but only one person can own it.

Beeple believes digital art can have the same value as traditional art and that it will continue to be highly priced after the NFT hype is over and lower value content has been weeded out.

"If it creates emotional connection with people, it will have value," he said. Creators and buyers can ensure that their work and investments will be worthwhile by keeping this in mind, Beeple said.

In March, a piece of Beeple's digital art sold for a record-breaking $69 million at a Christie's auction. The buyer later said investing in digital art was highly risky and he believed NFTs were in a bubble. Beeple himself has also echoed this and said a lot of crypto art will sink in price to the point where it becomes worthless.

Based on data collected by nonfungible.com, an NFT tracking and analysis hub, the value of art NFTs has been trending downwards for the past month. The number of sales, as well as the amount of money paid for them, have steadily been declining, as have the amount of unique sellers and buyers.