The Associated Press is Jumping on the NFT Bandwagon | 1.10.22

GM Ser,

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The Associated Press is Jumping on the NFT Bandwagon

With major news entities such as The New York Times and Quartz exploring their potential role in the quickly expanding NFT space, it isn’t any surprise that the Associated Press (AP) has also taken interest in what NFTs could do for them. 

AP has partnered with Xooa, an NFT marketplace platform, to sell its photojournalist’s artwork as NFTs through the Polygon blockchain. Buyers can expect to see “space, climate, war and other images.”

Unlike other art endeavors, the news agency has no plans to expand their NFT venture into the Metaverse – at least as of now. No virtual museum, no wall art for digital offices. Instead, they hope to offer their pieces at inclusive price points and buyers can purchase with either credit card or using Ethereum. 

For those wanting their digital hands on a Pulitzer, those pieces will also be auctioned off. However, they will be limited and with more scarcity than other pieces in the collection. 

AP’s plan with the funds that go towards the purchases will be utilized to further their journalistic pursuits. Those who wish to resell their AP NFTs can do so through the site's secondary marketplace. 

The project is set to open on January 31. 

NFT Thieves Are On The Horizon 

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Although, flattery is the least of many artist’s worries these days with the new found NFT craze. 

Artists like Aja Trier are having to fend off digital fraudsters and art thieves who are reselling or recreating their original artwork for NFT gains – which can lose artists hundreds to thousands of dollars. 

Hours can go into addressing these concerns, and often, to no avail. Oftentimes, the sellers are bots who don’t see an artist’s plea to take down the art. Sometimes, they do get taken down, luckily. But the fraudsters are coming in droves so that individual artists can’t take them down alone. 

OpenSea, the highest performing NFT selling platform, said in a statement to NBC News that they are “actively expanding our efforts across customer support, trust and safety, and site integrity.” Yet, they’re attempt to protect their original artists has seemingly fallen short. 

One of the most popular art selling platforms, Deviant Art, has started to scan blockchains in order to find NFT dupes online. They then notify the original artist of their defrauded art. According to the platform, they have notified thousands of artists since last September.