A piece of digital art or what is known as a Non Fungible Token (NFT) has sold for $69 million. The digital artwork by American artist Mike Winkelmann, better known by his artist name Beeple was auctioned by Christie’s.
Until October, the most Mike Winkelmann — the digital artist known as Beeple — had ever sold a print for was $100. Today, an NFT of his work sold for $69 million at Christie’s. The sale positions him “among the top three most valuable living artists,” according to the auction house.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique files that live on a blockchain and are able to verify ownership of a work of digital art. Buyers typically get limited rights to display the digital artwork they represent, but in many ways, they’re just buying bragging rights and an asset they may be able to resell later.
The technology has absolutely exploded over the past few weeks — and Winkelmann, more than anyone else, has been at the forefront of its rapid rise.
This is also the first time that the auction house will accept cryptocurrency in the form of payment, though it will take Ethereum, and not Bitcoins. Christie’s is typically known for auctioning artworks, which are well-established and digital art and NFTs are still a relatively new domain.
Plus the fact that the artwork fetched such a high price also shows that such art is about to gain more mainstream acceptance.
Digital designer and artist Mike Winkelmann, who goes by Beeple, sparked a global frenzy for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs after Christie’s sold his digital collage for $69 million in March—but since then he’s maintained a relatively low profile, stoking curiosity about his next big move.
Now, Mr. Winkelmann is opening up, revealing that he’s had a rocky entrée into the art establishment even though he currently ranks as the world’s third-most-expensive living artist after Jeff Koons and David Hockney.
Instead of chatting up the world top’s collectors and curators, he’s primarily focused on launching a new NFT venture next month that will seek to transform historic moments into collectible NFTs. He’s planning to start with tennis star Andy Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon win.
NFTs, which are any digital assets with ownership recorded on a blockchain, has become a $400 million market — much of that in the past month. Jack Dorsey turned the first-ever tweet from 2006 into an NFT that currently has a top bid of $2.5 million. NBA Top Shots, which are NFTs of NBA highlight videos, have exploded in popularity, with sales topping $200 million and a LeBron James video selling for $208,000. Grimes, the musician, and the artist have sold more than $6 million in videos and music.
Until Christie’s sale, the most expensive NFT ever sold was a Beeple work that was flipped by its owner for $6.6 million.
It’s unclear whether major art auction houses will follow. Sotheby’s said it hasn’t made any announcements about future NFT sales and Phillips said it doesn’t have “any NFT news to share” at the moment.
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