The NFT craze has shown signs of cooling off but four emerging Australian artists whose creations will be highlighted as part of the launch of crypto juggernaut Binance’s marketplace have expressed optimism for its long-term future.

“I’m excited personally. So far what I’ve seen in the NFT space is that artists are being able to call the power back and create for themselves again,” said Sydney-based artist Bianca Beers, who last month sold art in the form of a video snippet celebrating Greek basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo for 0.555 Ethereum (roughly A$4,000, at the time).

Beers told a Binance Australia panel discussion on Thursday that for designers like herself, her creative energy can get stifled by her conservative corporate clients.

“So the good things about NFTs is that you get a global audience and there’s the potential to sell really really well, for really well.”

When an artist’s works are in a gallery, they’re only presenting to the people in that location, but NFTs are shown to a global audience, she noted.

“We also don’t have someone taking 60 per cent of our money,” said Mathew “Sekure D” Fabris, a Melbourne-based sneaker artist.

Beers said that because the art is stored on the blockchain, she can also watch to see when it gets resold, and gets a percentage of the resale price — “which is just like, dope ass.”

“It just kind of flips the game on its head,” said Lil Bubble, a crypto meme artist based in Sydney’s Blue Mountains.

“I was so used to running my personal projects at a loss – like you spend money to create that stuff and then all of a sudden something comes along where you can actually get paid for it, it’s just like my whole life just started to pay off in the blink of an eye. So it’s kind of cool!”

Sydney-based photographer and designer Demas Rusli agreed, saying that NFTs can give artists a chance to commercialise works they’ve been creating for a decade or more.

Fabris said “hell yeah” he thought NFTs were a worthwhile investment.

“I mean it’s a digital artifact. People go to museums to see notes that have been written on a napkin by someone famous. When you buy an NFT you have to consider the person, the time, the content, the potential for their career, their engagement level, how relevant they are.

“There’s more than just the file that you’re buying — you’re buying the story, the journey, the person. So yeah, I think absolutely that’s worthwhile and something that will be archived and memorized forever.”

Beers said that NFTs will only grow in value over time.

“It’s just like anything — things only have value because we as a society say it does. Like money, currency is just a symbol, it’s not anything until we all band together and say, ‘oh, yeah, this is valuable’.

“And it’s likewise with anything, with cryptocurrency, with fashion designers like Fendi or Louis Vuitton — the only reason they’re such massive names is because we all decide that yeah, this is a massive name.”

Beers said that NFTs have mostly been dominated by 3D art, but as the community grows it will include more different forms of artwork, such as 2D artists like herself. Music NFTs and art by niche creators such as charcoal artists will also grow, she predicted.