The world is abuzz with talk of the intersection of art, technology and digital culture. Read how collector, curator, and early adopter Nicole McGraw came to co-found Jupiter NFT Group, what the hype is all about, and what we should know about creating an entirely new market for artists and collectors.
Jayaram Law
Your line of work sounds particularly innovative, fusing artwork, curation, funding, and storytelling. Tell us about your background and lead us into the NFT space you find yourself in now.
Nicole McGraw
I studied Art History and Studio Art at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. It has always been my passion. One day sitting in Art History class, I had an epiphany of how I was going to be able to make a career in the art world. It was an “AH HA” moment. I realized the path for me was to pick an emerging market, find the best talent in that market, and find artists that are innovative and doing something no one has done before. Those are the people who make history, and luckily, I get to work with these types of artists today! It is really fulfilling to be part of this innovative movement that will change a generation. The NFT space was a natural fit for my philosophy of finding an emerging market that is set to be a catalyst, shifting the way people see and do things.
JL
What do you find to be most fascinating about the NFT space right now?
NM
Building community around an artist and providing utility to the collectors of the NFTs. This is totally new to the art space. I also love how artists are finally getting royalties for their work. As it appreciates over time, they get to share in the upside. This is going to be life-changing for artists.
JL
Providing royalties to artists is certainly a gamechanger within what’s considered to be a very grey market, where artists can sometimes be the last to see profits from their work, especially when re-sold. Tell us more about “providing utility to collectors” and how a re-sale, or perhaps in this case “transfer,” of artwork translates to artists being paid for their work in perpetuity.
NM
Utility is defined by what perks you get for owning an NFT. For example, with Brendan Murphy’s Boonji Project you get access to the artist’s real life art, events, private studio tours, merchandise, and free NFTs that are airdropped to the owner. With regard to artist payments, built into each smart contract we choose a percentage that is paid in a royalty fee each time the art is traded on the secondary market.
JL
How and why did Jupiter NFT Group get started?
NM
We saw an opportunity to provide a white glove service to artists. All of our cofounders come from different backgrounds and have different talents, so it was a unique opportunity to put all the pieces of a puzzle together.
JL
What space is the organization filling and how does it work one-one-one with artists and collectors?
NM
Jupiter Group is the leader in art and tech integration right now: creating, distributing and monetizing NFTs. Our mission is to unlock new revenue streams for artists, in perpetuity, and we are committed to building a deeply enriched community and fan-based ecosystem by creating a platform specifically for the brand. We also develop the infrastructure and support the business model with dynamic and integrated marketing, technology and business strategies, enabling our artist clients to focus on their core talents while supplementing with white glove service.
JL
What is the most important thing collectors and investors should think about when it comes to collecting NFTs?
NM
I always lead with buy what you love. Then, I would say look at the utility of the NFT and the team/artist behind it.
JL
We mentioned that you work with one of the most successful NFT artists to date, Brendan Murphy, whose debut artwork, Boonji Project, became the largest NFT primary auction sale in history. Walk us through the challenges—legal, or otherwise—that needed to be considered to ensure the sale was as successful as possible. And what exactly is a gas war!?
NM
I would say the biggest challenge is the fraud and scammers in the NFT space. There is definitely a learning curve and barrier to entry in the space with the user experience. We had to try and educate our community on being careful not to click on DMs, getting redirected to fake sites or the wrong collection on Opensea.
There are so many nuances that go into a major NFT drop. One of the strategic decisions that we made with Boonji Project was to use a Dutch auction to alleviate gas wars. Gas wars occur when users are all trying to buy an item at the same time. The ETH (Ethereum cryptocurrency) miners can charge a higher gas fee to put your transaction through. This can cause the fee–”gas”– to get very expensive. We wanted to help the user by spreading out the price of the NFT where not everyone was fighting to get something at the same time.
JL
The NFT space is considered a “wild west” of sorts at the moment, but is certainly gaining traction within what’s considered the more traditional market, and with more mainstream collectors taking note. What do you think is next for NFTs and what should we be on the lookout for?
NM
The key to onboard more people is to create an easier user experience. Once credit cards are more easily accessible with larger purchase prices, the market will change. I think this will happen when the Coinbase NFT market (NFT peer-to-peer marketplace) opens in 2022.
JL
Is there a question we didn’t ask that you think would be interesting for our audience to consider?
NM
I feel the next big push will be taking your NFTs into the metaverse and using it as your online identity. You might own your own NFT and buy land or real estate for your avatar to live in the metaverse. You might even buy designer clothes for your NFTs. There really are no limitations. Web 3 is the future!
