A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) by crypto artist Mike Winkelmann has been sold at Christie’s auction house for approximately $69 million, the biggest for any NFT in history. As reported by CNBC, the sale ended two long weeks of ecstatic bidding on the artwork and marks the new era showing increasing interest by art collectors for highly-priced creative works.
The Beeple NFT is called “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” and marks the collection of digital artworks the artist began creating daily since 2007, the first 5,000 of which were collated, merged, and turned into a single piece.
NFTs are making a mind-blowing impression on the evolution of art and intellectual properties, drawing on the integrity of blockchain technology to register ownership that can easily be verified
“At this point, especially after today’s Christie’s sale, it’s not a question of whether NFTs will have an impact on the so-called traditional art market, but to what degree its impact will be felt,” said Andrew Goldstein, editor-in-chief of Artnet News. He added that the price is a sign that a new group of technology-enabled collectors can “destabilize the establishment in attention-grabbing ways.”
The sale of the NFT has earned Beeple the reputation as one of the top three most valuable artists in history, following Jeff Koons and David Hockney.
NFTs Are Here To Stay
Just as many have noted that the entire cryptocurrency space is a bubble, with the possibility of bursting very soon, there are some who believe the NFT boom may lose steam in the near future.
Understanding the value and the use cases of NFTs will make people understand that besides their burgeoning prices, they have great use cases that will guarantee their longevity. With piracy and counterfeiting of unique works of art, the NFT revolution will help correct these wrongs and recreate how artists and creators are compensated.
“As soon as I saw it, I saw it as this massive, massive potential for this as a platform for digital ownership of a bunch of different things, not just art,” Beeple said in a statement. “Moving forward, I think this will be seen as an alternate form of asset class.”
The NFT adoption has been getting a far-reaching embrace as the trend is impacting the demand for uniquely created fan tokens. Blockchainjournal.news reported earlier that Chiliz (CHZ) tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the Socios.com fan engagement platform hit a $1 billion capitalization earlier this week, an indication that the NFT boom has a more profound influence.
