Collective of TikTok influencers are selling digital artworks of minted videos at £143,610 EACH

A social media collective is expecting to earn as much as £718,050 by selling digital artwork online. 

In recent months, an online marketplace using cryptocurrency to purchase digital artwork has been taking the internet by storm – with top investors snapping up high-end pieces for millions. 

Taking advantage of the burgeoning crypto art scene, The Wave House – a group of social media influencers who all live in one house in the British countryside – have minted their TikTok videos and commissioned digital art to sell at auction, and they expect each one to net £143,610.  

They all carry what is known as a non-fungible token (NFT), a unique digital token encrypted with the artist’s signature, which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece. 

Speaking exclusively to Femail, digital artist Ryan Otto Issac, who created the digital art for the Wave House, said the online art world has been desperate for ‘authenticity’ and exclusivity for years, and believes that digital pieces can rival high-end art works in terms of value and prestige. 

The latest version of The Wave House hosts both British and American TikTok influencers. Pictured L-R; Jimbo H; Ehiz Ufuah; Reagan Yorke; Eloise Fouladgar and Zack Fairhurst

The collective post bizarre TikTok videos and revealed each member's identity with videos taking off large masks covering their entire faces

Pictured, Eloise, 22, from London

The collective post bizarre TikTok videos and revealed each member’s identity with videos taking off large masks covering their entire faces. Pictured, Eloise, 22, from London

The Wave House have minted their TikTok videos and had separate crypto art pieces created to sell at auction. Pictured, crypto art pieces created by digital artist Ryan Otto Issac expected to fetch up to £143,610 at auction this week

The Wave House have minted their TikTok videos and had separate crypto art pieces created to sell at auction. Pictured, crypto art pieces created by digital artist Ryan Otto Issac expected to fetch up to £143,610 at auction this week 

‘NFTs allow original digital art to have the same level of authenticity as physical artworks, certifying the real owner of a digital piece,’ he said. 

‘Tracking an artwork’s provenance through the history kept on the blockchain allows a real ledger of ownership, right back to the original artist, making it impossible to forge ownership of a digital artwork.’  

The Wave House is a group of social media influencers in their early twenties who have moved into a £5million mansion in the British countryside, where they live together and create videos for the platform. 

Upon joining, the influencers belong to management agency, Yoke, who cover the costs of the house and treat the mansion as an ‘office’ for their influencers to create content in.

Mansions where content creators live together gained popularity thanks to the The Hype House, a collective of TikTok personalities based in Los Angeles, California.

The Wave House group has been replaced with new influencers who are set to outdo their predecessors' extraordinary ratings last year. Pictured, the new set of influencers with masks

The Wave House group has been replaced with new influencers who are set to outdo their predecessors’ extraordinary ratings last year. Pictured, the new set of influencers with masks

The first set of members to move into the £5million mansion in the British countryside were (L-R) Millie T, 20, from London; Spencer Elmer, 20, from London; Jimbo H, 21, from London; Eloise; Carmie Sellitto, 22, from London and Kate Elisabeth, 20, from London

The first set of members to move into the £5million mansion in the British countryside were (L-R) Millie T, 20, from London; Spencer Elmer, 20, from London; Jimbo H, 21, from London; Eloise; Carmie Sellitto, 22, from London and Kate Elisabeth, 20, from London

The US collective was formed in December 2019 and is made up of rising or established Gen Z influencers, including Addison Rae, 19, who is a friend of Kourtney Kardashian. 

The members of the house revealed their identities in a series of bizarre videos in which they individually removed spiked masks covering their entire faces.

WHAT IS A NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN (NFT) 

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital token encrypted with an artist’s signature which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece. 

Where do you buy them?

At the moment, NFTs are most commonly sold in so-called ‘drops’, timed online sales by blockchain-backed marketplaces like Nifty Gateway, Opensea and Rarible.

Why would I want to own one?

There’s an array of reasons why someone may want to buy a NFT. For some, the reason may be emotional value, because NFTs are seen as collectors items. For others, they are seen as an investment opportunity similar to cryptocurrencies, because the value could increase. 

What are the Wave House’s NFTs? 

To make the ‘Anonymous Icons’ works, 10 artworks will be printed physically and set alight. Ten digital photographs will be taken throughout the burning process to capture every stage of each physical artwork’s cremation and these images will carry the digital signature of the Wave House creators.

Once each of the ‘Anonymous Icons’ prints have been destroyed, only the digital series of 100 images will remain, which will be transformed into NFTs and put on sale again via NFT Rarible.  

One particularly popular video was the identity reveal of Eloise Fouladgar, 22, which featured her wearing a skin-tight silver sparkly mini-dress in a bath full of milk and rose petals, as other masked members of the group poured milk into the tub.

The video has gathered nearly 60million views and is among the pieces which have been trademarked and will be sold at auction.

The week-long auction launched yesterday at 9pm on NFT marketplace Rarible and included a mixture of Wave House content and crypto art titled ‘Anonymous Icons’ created by digital artist Ryan. 

To make the ‘Anonymous Icons’ works, 10 artworks will be printed physically and set alight. 

Ten digital photographs will be taken throughout the burning process to capture every stage of each physical artwork’s cremation and these images will carry the digital signature of the Wave House creators.

‘The digital art market has needed authenticity and scarcity for years,’ Ryan said. 

‘NFTs provide artists and collectors with a mechanism to “own” digital art. Now all that’s needed is a way to display it.

‘People want to own original art. NFT technology means that for the first time digital art can be original and authentic, but if you want to turn a physical work into a digital piece of art you need to destroy the physical.’   

Jidé Maduako, CEO of Yoke Network, said that the group’s NFTs will rival unique pieces of art in the real world, adding that the trend has been around for years but has gathered popularity thanks to wealthy investors. 

‘An NFT is a unique, digitally scarce piece of content. In the real world, it would be a unique piece of art – this is a one-of-a-kind that’s online, and will live online in the future.

‘NFTs have been around for years, but the recent boom has been sparked by increased investment in the crypto space. 

‘People have started to make a lot of money out of it in different categories like crypto currencies and block chain products, and now they’re turning to NFTs.’ 

He went on to claim that with more recognisable artists jumping on the trend, early investment in an NFT will be like owning a Picasso.

‘The boom is also down to the fact that some big artists have launched their own NFTs, so there’s more confidence in the space,’ he said.

‘For investors, there’s still an opportunity to get in early – imagine if you’d invested in Picasso a century ago – and the best work should keep increasing in value as more investment floods in.

‘The boom is also down to the fact that some big artists have launched their own NFTs, so there’s more confidence in the space.’ 

Each piece from the ‘Anonymous Icons’ collection will be auctioned off from a starting price of 72p, with 10 per cent of the sale proceeds donated to the cyberbullying charity, The Cybersmile Foundation.