Victor Jaramillo Co-Chairs Panel on Cryptocurrency and NFTs at ABA Annual U.S. and Europe Tax Practice Trends Conference

In crypto, 2021 definitely was the year of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): Mike Winkelmann, a digital artist known as Beeple, kicked off the year by selling a 5,000-image collage in the form of an NFT at the auction house Christie’s in March 2021 for USD 69 million. Other artists who have released NFTs in 2021 include the rapper Snoop Dogg, the skateboarder Tony Hawk, the actress Lindsay Lohan, the British painter Damien Hirst, the Canadian musician Grimes and the rock band Kings of Leon. TIME magazine sold three covers as NFTs in March 2021; then Fortune did the same in August 2021 and The Economist followed in October 2021. Apart from artworks, lots of collectibles were issued as NFTs including notably CryptoPunks (highest sales price in 2021: USD 10.3m) and the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which has morphed into a larger social phenomenon. Consumer brands have similarly moved into this space: Coca Cola sold NFTs in August 2021 and donated the proceeds to charity. Dolce & Gabbana sold a collection of fashion NFTs for USD 5.7m in September 2021.Obviously, the metaverse is also connected with NFTs: PWC Hong Kong for example acquired virtual land in “The Sandbox” in December 2021 to later offer consulting services there. You get it. NFTs are hot. This panel will look at what questions NFTs raise for tax lawyers.