Artist Yves Klein was kind of like the inventor of the NFT. He would always convince people that his pieces were art even though they were often blank walls or paintings that had no paint on them. He was able to convince 9 people to buy what he called an immaterial zone (zone de sensibilité picturale immatérielle). The artwork only existed in conceptual terms and could only be paid for in gold. The person who bought the art had 2 options, they could either burn their receipt in a ceremony and the art would then die when the person died, or they could keep the receipt and pass it onto their offspring or sell it. He sold 9 different versions of the immaterial zone and 3 people burned their receipts. When he receipt burning happened, Klein would throw half of the gold into the River Seine in Paris. Klein also kept a ledger of where the art would go and how much it would sell for, so it was kind like a modern day blockchain.
