The open edition is the new ticket in the NFT market – here’s what you need to know about the format that is renewing collecting interest
In the midst of the ongoing crypto winter (will it eventually be an ice age?), a pocket of the Web3 world isn’t just thawing, it’s thriving. Meet Open Editions, a way to drop NFTs that have welcomed a fresh wave of artists and renewed enthusiasm among collectors.
Open editions are not new, but after leading crypto-art creators approached them in 2022, their popularity increased. Aided by the emergence of new NFT platforms designed to provide ease of use and creative flexibility, popular open editions by the likes of Jack Butcher, Marcel Deneuve and Terrell Jones pushed the trend further.
By the end of January, the overall NFT sales volume had grown by more than 40 percent by some estimates. There were whispers of a bull run quite loudly on some of the internet. Kevin Abosch, who launched his first open issues on February 11 to very warm reception, offered friendly advice: “Please don’t FOMO into it… Don’t spend more than you can afford to lose!”
Here we break down what an open source is, why they’re proving popular, and some of the landmark projects from recent years.
What is an open edition?
An NFT with no limit to the number of editions that can be minted. This contrasts with a limited edition, which puts a cap on how many NFTs can be minted. Limited editions can range from one-of-one to 10,000 or more editions.
Think of them as prints or photographs in the traditional art world, where editions or iterations allow for more collectors, while maintaining the value and uniqueness of each individual work.
However, open editions (or OE in crypto slang) are not an unlimited free-for-all. Creators usually control the time frame in which NFT can be minted (usually a 24 to 72 hour time frame). Once that time has passed, no more editions can be minted. The number of allowed mints per crypto wallet can also be limited.
Why are open editions popular?
Open issues are not new, Beeple dropped three ways back in 2020 and NFT platform Nifty Gateway embraced them to gain status and grow its audience. The current surge in popularity can be partly explained by a democratization push from the NFT sphere. This movement has two protagonists, platforms and major NFT artists.
New platforms, such as Zora and Manifold, have promoted open publishing and prioritized making it easy for novice NFT artists to publish work with little technical knowledge.
Big NFT names are drawn to the availability and affordability of open editions. An open edition NFT can be purchased for $10 or less, allowing community fans, often priced out of limited edition collections, to get their hands (the digital kind) on the job. By expanding the collector pool, artists can follow up by offering NFT holders benefits such as access to exclusive experiences, content or additional NFTs.
What do the critics say?
The flood of creators entering the NFT space has provoked some snobbish zeal from OG creators and collectors, especially when newer, low-demand artists are seen as trying to make a quick buck.
On the collecting side, some worry that artists who sell too many editions serve to drive down prices by undermining any sense of scarcity surrounding their work. Some argue that releasing a large number of low-priced limited editions is more beneficial than running an open edition collection.
What are some of the most notable open editions?
Beeple’s 2020 trio of open-issue NFTs (Bull Run, Infectedand Into the ether) dropped on the Nifty Gateway were priced at $969 each (he sold 601 of them), setting a precedent for big-name makers breaking from the conventional practice of limited editions.
In 2021, XCOPY, a leading crypto artist who creates glitchy and dystopian work, dropped a 90-minute open edition of three works (Traitors, Afterburn, and Guzzler) and raised more than $2 million. This was topped in 2022 in Max painwhich raised $23 million in 10 minutes.
In April 2022, Drift, an NFT photographer who scales buildings and then photographs his shoes from confusing heights, created an open edition in recognition of being released from prison a year earlier. First day out sold 10,351 issues at 0.2 ETH ($6.8 million at the time).
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