GENEVA (AP) — Pablo, meet Crypto.

Heirs of Pablo Picasso, the famed 20th-century Spanish artist, are vaulting into 21st-century commerce by selling 1,010 digital art pieces of one of his ceramic works that have never before been seen publicly — riding a fad for "crypto" assets that have taken the art and financial worlds by storm.

For an exclusive interview before the formal launch this week, Picasso's granddaughter, Marina Picasso, and her son Florian Picasso opened up their Geneva apartment, which is swimming in works from their illustrious ancestor.

They offered a glimpse, however tantalizingly slim, of the piece behind what's being billed as an unprecedented fusion of old-school fine art and digital assets.

Marina said the piece dates to October 1958, the Associated Press reported.

An auction hosted by Sotheby's will be held in March.

Nonprofits are finding new virtual ways to fundraise during the COVID-19 pandemic — including through the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

NFTs, or one-of-a-kind digital assets, can be bought and sold like any other piece of property.

Macy's and the Make-A-Wish Foundation recently teamed up to sell NFTs of classic balloons from past Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades. One of those NFTs sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

All of the proceeds from the NFT sales go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In addition, 10% of the NFTs' resale value will automatically be donated to the foundation if they are resold.

"There is an insight that sometimes people like to have something in exchange for giving with philanthropy," said Janell Holas, the VP of brand and marketing with Make-A-Wish America. "Oftentimes, there's something that can be a badge of honor for giving, so NFTs are a wonderful way for people to give back to organizations that they care about while also having something that's really a token of their support, as well as a sense of pride, a way that they can really show that they've given back."

Holas says Make-A-Wish relies on partners like Macy's, who have expertise in emerging fields like NFTs, to address potential risks.

One such risk is the ambiguity around how NFTs could be regulated in the future.

"I would argue that it's important to have these conversations and to try to, at the very least. integrate the option of crypto-based donations and NFTs into ongoing operations going forward because of the way in which transactions are happening has already changed, and the overall marketplace is just catching onto that right now," said Sean Smith Stein, who studies NFTs and cryptocurrency.

Smith Stein sees the benefit of nonprofits using NFTs for fundraising because of the lower cost of processing a donation than a credit card. He also adds that the money is available instantly, which is not the case with other types of donations.

Holas says people who give to the Make-A-Wish Foundation are focused on the need that exists right now.

"The reality is for every wish we're currently granting, there are three more children who are waiting for their wishes to be granted," Holas said. "The only thing standing between us and being able to grant those wishes for children who are waiting is increasing our fundraising and being able to raise the revenue we need to grant those wishes."

Make-A-Wish says the majority of kids say getting their wish granted was the turning point that helped them overcome their circumstances.

As interest in cryptocurrencies continues to grow, the number of people using them to donate to charity is increasing as well.

United Way Worldwide has seen a 350% increase in crypto donations in the last 12 months compared to the year before.

And it's not limited to United Way. A Giving Tuesday event focused on crypto giving for 1,000 nonprofits raised millions of dollars in a single day.

"We're seeing that we're we are actually tapping into a new demographic and a new generation, and it's just great to be early and be able to provide them with the opportunity to make an impact," said Edwin Goutier, the VP of Innovation at United Way Worldwide.

Goutier says 80% of visitors to the bitcoin section of United Way's website are men who tend to be younger. That's compared to the rest of their website, where visitors are 80% women who tend to be middle-aged.

Rick Cohen with the National Council of Nonprofits says cryptocurrencies only make up a small portion of donations to nonprofits — something that the United Way says applies to them as well.

"I don't know that cryptocurrency will get to the place where it's taken over from regular contributions of dollars, but it's something that over time, as nonprofits hear that it's something their donors want to be able to utilize, they'll go ahead and implement it when it makes sense for them," Cohen said.

Small nonprofits are still approaching crypto giving with caution.

"It can be a bit volatile in value, and so it's also something where it's new to a lot of folks. particularly when you're talking about smaller nonprofits that don't have a lot of infrastructure. that don't have financial experts on staff or even someone with a lot of financial expertise able to advise them," Cohen said. "It's something they're they're nervous about."

United Way protects itself from market volatility by automatically selling the cryptocurrency as soon as they receive it.

Nonprofits are also watching how Washington could regulate cryptocurrencies in the future.

"What I do think will happen in the future, as more and more cryptocurrency adoption takes hold, is we'll see vendors that typically already served nonprofits added as just a native payment type," Goutier said. "So right next to PayPal, right next to Apple Pay, you'll start to see more cryptocurrency options, but I think that's still a few years out."

Nonprofits need help this holiday season, no matter how donations are given. Cohen says smaller local nonprofits especially have seen giving go down, and relief funds that kept them going during the pandemic have run out.

CHICAGO, Ill. — After soaring by 86,000% in just a matter of days, the explosive new cryptocurrency known as "SQUID" crashed to zero this week. It turned out to be a swindle with scammers making off with more than $3.3 million in investor money. Crypto can be risky. Still, it’s a gamble that’s attracting traders of all ages.

If you’ve never heard of cryptocurrency, you’re now in a small minority. New research suggests that only about 4% of American adults surveyed are in the dark about the digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security.

“The way you make money on cryptocurrency is by selling it to somebody who thinks it's going to be worth even more in the future than you think it's going to be. It's what's called ‘the greater fool theory’ of investing,” said James Royal, an analyst with Bankrate.com and author of the book "The Zen of Thrift Conversions." “I think hot potato is a good metaphor for thinking about what's going on in cryptocurrency markets right now.”

It’s been more than 10 years since decentralized digital currency Bitcoin was introduced and since then, countless competitors have launched their platforms in the race to create more digital currency.

“Fundamentally, what you're investing in with crypto is not an asset that's backed by something. It's not backed by cash flow. It's not backed by an underlying asset,” said Royal.

Investor confidence varies by generation with millennials leading the way.

According to a recent survey by Bankrate, 49% of millennials are at least somewhat comfortable with investing in crypto assets such as Bitcoin, compared to 37% of Gen X’ers and only 22% of baby boomers.

“We're looking at a period of time where real wages have not grown in decades for a lot of people. And so, I think a lot of people think cryptocurrency is a kind of lottery ticket,” he said.

But Royal says while that lottery ticket could yield substantial returns, it also comes with substantial risk. An estimated one-third of people have been scammed by some type of fake email and imposter website.

“In a fast-growing area like this, where it's not clear exactly who's real and who's fake, it's important to understand that you can get scammed,” he said.

Shady cryptocurrency projects can quickly turn into scams, something proven by the Squid Game-inspired cryptocurrency in the last few weeks.

“It lost it all, literally lost 100% of its value within minutes,” said Royal.

Royal says if you’re getting into digital currencies, be sure to use a reputable exchange or broker like Robinhood or Interactive Brokers. Try to avoid the get-rich-quick mentality of investing and be cautious of allocating too large of a portion of your portfolio to cryptocurrency.

“You're not analyzing assets or cash flow, you're analyzing the psychology of the rest of the market to figure out how you should act," said Royal.

Because in the end, he says virtual currency is driven by optimism and market perception.