NFTs Debut at CES 2022

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have had an exhilarating ride in 2021.

NFTs will have a robust presence at CES 2022. In the months since the explosive $69 million Christie’s auction of the NFT "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" by Beeple (also known as Mike Winkelmann), the crypto world has seen:

● Zero Contact, an Anthony Hopkins movie, and the first NFT feature film to be released on Vuele. This viewing and distribution platform is for feature-length films and digital collectible entertainment content like NFTs. The sci-fi production will be auctioned as an NFT release (generating a few hundred thousand dollars) and then go into traditional theatrical and digital release.

● The National Football League (NFL), NFL Players Association and blockchain producer Dapper Labs, will create exclusive NFT highlight “Moments,” digital video clips of “the best plays of the season.”

● The Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, a set of 101 NFTs featuring images of cartoon apes, sold for $24.4 million in an online sale.

Highlighting NFTs at CES

At CES 2022, NFTs will be part of the new digital assets exhibit and conference at C Space. Karen Chupka, EVP, CES, says that the conference sessions will “demystify the NFT market, explain how tech has disrupted the art market and highlight the latest creator currencies.”

Phil Pyo, Netgear’s vice president of product marketing, voices NFT enthusiasm shared by many exhibitors. “NFTs are here to stay,” says Pyo, who also leads Netgear’s “Meural Canvas” project, which includes NFT crypto-art display. “NFTs are natively digital,” he adds, and intended to be “viewed and enjoyed digitally, including the evolving use of motion video and audio.”

Netgear’s core products for the NFT category are large digital frames in sizes up to 27-inches. It has bundled NFT graphics from Async, an NFT creator/distributor, offering about 100 images to view on the Meural Canvas II. Netgear sells a subscription option enabling customers to display images from a library of 30,000 art works, Pyo says. Async offers a programmable NFT feed for Meural customers.

Chris Snook, CEO of Arizona-based SDK Co, says his company’s technology integration services focus on how “NFTs are becoming a large part of our ‘culture’ business.” The SDK Co exhibit at C Space will include NFTs it has developed for Authentic Brands Group LLC, a brand management company that creates storytelling and immersive experiences for more than 30 brands in entertainment, sports and lifestyle. These include Elvis, Marilyn and Shaq plus fashion, luxe and active outdoor offerings.

“NFTs enable the containerization of everything, physical or digital,” says Snook. He envisions extensive NFT opportunities for “tradeable collectibles,” which could involve lending an NFT to a local museum or library. Snook adds, the NFT frenzy comes amidst a “chaotic period of pervasive computing.” He believes NFTs will unlock “trillions of dollars” in the B2B blockchain community. His goal at CES is to introduce studios, entertainment companies, networks, blockchain and other tech companies to explore the NFT opportunities.

Becoming More Mainstream

Isabelle Kitze, co-founder of Atomic Form, a New York software and hardware NFT art market solutions company, foresees “wider institutional acceptance for NFTs of all kinds” in the coming year. “We'll see other industries begin to embrace tokenization in gaming, fashion, collectibles and much more.” Kitze expects on-going crypto education will encourage artists and creators to see the benefits of NFT accessibility.

At CES 2022, the company will exhibit its 27-inch 4K LCD “Atomic Form Wave” that displays NFTs in a customizable way that lets customers “have full control over how their crypto art is displayed,” Kitze explains. Its Atomic Form Photon enables users to display their NFTs on any screen.

Clearly, the lucrative wave for NFTs is just beginning.

At CES 2022, NFTs will be part of the new digital assets exhibit and conference at C Space.