Truthless Trust

Crypto-acolytes promise nothing short of utopia ­– but how do the realities of the NFT art market stand up to this enthusiasm? In his book on blockchain art, Surfing with Satoshi, Domenico Quaranta takes these optimistic claims to task, all without losing sight of the promising potential that remains amidst the contradiction. With nascent realities at stake, critique absent of the attempt to pose better alternatives betrays a lack of imagination. So, in addition to giving voice to the many structural issues with cryptoart markets, Quaranta also searches for the redeeming and generative spirit in the space ­– as in “

 ”, an exhibition he curated on the NFT platform Feral File, which lends its artwork to illustrate this extract from the book.