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We show how this assetization of digital artworks has kindled artists\u2019 financialized imagination and incentivized them to perform speculative labour \u2013 that is, to speculate on the potential capture of future financial proceeds from present-day underpaid or uncompensated activities, while mobilizing fictional expectations of imagined rentiership futures. We suggest that the commodification thesis, which has traditionally explained the future orientation of creative work as tied to commodity exchange, may be insufficient to account for artists\u2019 speculative, asset-based imaginations of the future under financialized capitalism. Therefore, it may be beneficial to complement it with an assetization lens.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/14614448251317693","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,8]],"date-time":"2025-02-08T06:31:16Z","timestamp":1738996276000},"page":"2036-2057","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Speculative labour: The financialized imagination of creative work and the assetization of digital art through non-fungible tokens (NFTs)"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"28","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6620-5429","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Alacovska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Copenhagen Business School, Denmark"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christian","family":"Fieseler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BI Norwegian Business School, Norway"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Victor","family":"Renza Avellaneda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BI Norwegian Business School, Norway"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/00380385221129145"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","unstructured":"Akers T (2023) NFT marketplace OpenSea ends its resale royalty policy sparking industry-wide backlash. 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