Earlier this month I released a collection on DRiP simply entitled “LIMBO”.
“I don't know where to go from here. Nothing is like it used to be. People don't want art anymore. They want coins, leader boards and gamification. Everything is so fragmented, yet all the same. Where do we go from here? An artist at a crossroads, with no clear path in front or behind...”
Four years ago, like many others I dove headfirst into the shimmering promise of Cryptoart. In 2021, it felt more than a movement—it was a revolution. A place where artists could reclaim autonomy, where provenance was coded into the very fabric of creation, and where community felt like kinship. (Something highly sought after during Covid.) I minted, I wrote, I curated. I believed.
But belief, like markets, is volatile.
The NFT space, once a vibrant tapestry of experimentation and expression, has thinned into something else. The conversations have shifted—from art to assets, from creators to coins. What once felt like a renaissance now echoes with speculation. The soul of Cryptoart, that fragile and rebellious spirit, has been drowned out by the noise of tokenomics.
This isn’t bitterness. It’s clarity.
I’ve watched brilliant artists leave, their voices swallowed by algorithmic hype. I’ve seen collectors morph into traders, and platforms pivot toward profit, whilst others have closed their doors. The decentralization we championed has centralized around influence and liquidity. And while the tech remains fascinating, the culture has changed—and I no longer see myself in it.
So I’m stepping away.
Not from art. Never from art. But from the blockchain as a canvas. My creative work will continue, just not in the language of minting and metadata. I want to return to the tactile, the narrative, the human. To write without worrying about floor prices. To create without chasing drops.
I still see great promise in Web3 & blockchain technology, and will continue to publish articles on Paragraph. I just don’t see promise in the current state of on-chain art.
NFTs gave me much—visibility, community, and a sense of artistic purpose. But seasons change. And ultimately I feel this one has run its course.
To those still building, I salute you. To those quietly leaving, I see you. And to the chain—I thank you, and I let you go.
Dan | BloqDigital is a lighting designer and digital artist based in the UK, who writes about Art, Technology, Web3 and Culture.
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