Collectors of digital art have an advantage over collectors of physical art: they never run out of wall space. They can go on building their collections and buying more art, bidding for anything that catches their eye and might rise in value.
That’s what Whale Shark has done. The collector, who prefers to remain anonymous, started
collecting NFT art two years ago, entering the space by spending between one and two million
dollars on digital artworks. As he’s continued buying and as market prices of digital art have risen, his collection has grown to become the most valuable selection of NFTs to date. It contains the largest number of NBA Top Shot cards, the largest amount of Cryptovoxel land holdings, as well as works by leading artists including Franky Aguilar and Brendan Dawes. The entire collection, now amounting to more than 15,000 assets, has been valued at between 20 and 90 million dollars, “depending on who you ask,” Whale Shark told the Nifty Show. “There’s a lot of different mechanisms in the space today.”
Whale Shark chooses assets based on two criteria. First, he collects what he loves in the space, the approach taken in general by art collectors. But he also looking for artists and their creations which look like they might deliver a high return on the investment.
That’s because Whale Shark hasn’t contented himself with simply building a giant digital art
collection. He’s also sharing its value. His Whale token is a social currency backed by the contents of the collection so that it functions as a kind of NFT index fund. It’s currently trading at about $33, a rise from around $4 in mid-January.
“The value is based on the community which is now the single-handedly largest general NFT
collector and creator community in the space,” says Whale Shark, “as well as the content and the brand equity.”
The aim of the collection and the token is twofold. The first, explains Whale Shark, is to help others build their wealth through NFTs. “The premise of Whale and the vision of Whale is basically to empower anyone and everyone to become a whale through the Whale token,” says the collector.
But Whale Shark also wants to turn the value of his collection over to charity. Of the 10 million
Whale tokens that will be minted, 10 percent will go to the project’s partners, and 40 percent will be distributed to the community. Whale Shark has already donated 10 percent to raise funds but he plans to vest the remaining 40 percent over his life to a charitable foundation that will help
disadvantaged women and children.
That’s another advantage that collectors of digital art have over collectors of physical art. Not only can everyone enjoy seeing their collection but those in the greatest need can also benefit from its value.