Digital art in focus as Dubai makes crypto bid

• AFP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Art Dubai, the Middle East’s largest annual contemporary art fair, has featured for the first time digital works, as the wealthy Gulf emirate seeks to position itself as a crypto assets hub.

This year, in its 15th edition, the four-day fair is hosting more than 100 local and foreign art dealers, with an entire wing of 17 galleries and platforms dedicated to showcasing and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

NFT sales platforms use the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies and transform anything from illustrations to memes into virtual collectors’ items that cannot be duplicated.

NFTs, which burst into the mainstream last year and are now traded at major auction houses, have drawn a lot of attention in the United Arab…