- The Economist is selling the picture on the cover of its latest edition as an NFT
- The cover image, which combines crypto with Alice in Wonderland, will go up for auction next week
- Proceeds will go to The Economist’s in-house charity
The Economist has put the image on the cover of its latest edition, which integrates cryptocurrencies with the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland, up for sale as an NFT. Designed by visual artist Justin Metz, the cover image encapsulates the idea of ‘falling down the rabbit hole’ of cryptocurrencies and accompanies the magazine’s lead piece on decentralised finance, which examines the efforts of the multitude of cryptocurrency and DeFi companies that are the future of digital finance. The auction for the artwork will run on digital artwork platform Foundation across October 25 and 26.
You have fallen down the rabbit hole—but where’s Alice? Follow this thread to find her… 🐇 pic.twitter.com/zR19thndLq
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) October 21, 2021
TEEF Charity Will Benefit From Sale
The Economist gives two principal reasons why it is delving into the NFT world. The first is because 90% of the proceeds will go to The Economist Educational Foundation (TEEF), an independent charity that works with schools to empower young people to have high-quality discussions about current affairs. The Economist will retain a 10% stake in the NFT, allowing them to direct all future proceeds to TEEF.
NFT Auction is “Experiment”
The second reason why The Economist is getting involved in NFTs is “an experiment”, with the magazine doing what NFT critics the world over haven’t done and actually try out the technology:
We have always written about the potential of technology to change the world, be it self-driving cars or gene therapies. NFTs, and the crypto infrastructure they sit on, could transform finance. By minting and selling our own NFT, we are experiencing this first-hand.
The Economist goes on to explain that “an NFT is more akin to a licence to use an image in certain limited ways” rather than denoting ownership of copyright, which is one of the better explanations we have heard and shows that the message, finally, is getting through.
