In 1998 I traveled with my family to Hangzhou, a 7,000-year-old center of art located in the northeast of mainland China. My mother, an artist herself, walked away from the visit with a traditional painting of the region’s misty mountains, which included the chomps (or signatures) of the picture’s past owners. These red marks, which float in the black and white inked sky, increase the art’s value. I was reminded of the trip and this ancient practice while attending a conference on NFTs – a kind of cryptocurrency. Weirdly, this new trend reminded me of the ancient painting. NFTs, or...