👀 @ChristiesInc ‘s closing its talented digital art department is easy to read as “NFTs are dead.” But that misses the bigger story in my opinion. What’s happening is the same pattern we’ve seen whenever a new medium collides with old institutions. Photography, video, even Impressionism all went through the same arc of being dismissed, overhyped, segregated, and finally absorbed. NFTs just compressed the timeline. The boom of 2021 wasn’t cultural settlement, it was liquidity froth. Auction houses tried to bolt on digital art teams, but the economics never fit very well. Why charge 25% commissions to handle works that don’t need vaults, shipping, or insurance and have infinitely scalable digital sales distribution? But this is definitely not an obituary. It’s the graduation moment. Digital art doesn’t need its own department any more than photography does today. It belongs in the same conversation as contemporary painting and sculpture. We are entering an age where everything—from AI-generated media to Bitcoin inscriptions—is born digital. Provenance, authenticity, and permanence will be defined on-chain. Art is just the first arena where this shift becomes visible. So yes, the short-term headline is bearish. But the long-term arc is profound. We are building the cultural memory of the digital age. The works that matter will be the ones that stand up not just as speculation, but as art. They will be anchored in permanence, provenance, and meaning. Christie’s didn’t shut the door on digital art but they did confirm it’s no longer a novelty. 🔥