A Record $3.5M in Crypto Art Was Sold Over the Weekend

Prolific 3D artist Beeple sold $3.5M worth of crypto art on fiat-to-crypto marketplace Nifty Gateway, a record for NFT sales over a 72-day period. The sale is a sign digital art is becoming increasingly valuable,

The Beeple Everyday: 2020 Collection featured 21 single edition auctions, three open editions which were auctioned for 5 minutes and started at $969, and an edition of 100 pieces which were auctioned at a starting price of $1 each.

Beeple’s “The Complete MF Collection” which sold for $777,777. Image source: Niftygateway.com

The 21 single edition auction and the three open editions featured both a digital NFT and a physical version of the digital art ––a video of the piece displayed in a glass frame–– set to ship in six to eight weeks. This hybrid of digital art of provable scarcity thanks to the link with a non-fungible token, of NFT, together with physical art you can actually display has struck a chord.

“Twenty years ago graffiti was vandalism, vinyl collectibles were just toys and they weren’t seen as art,” Beeple said to his 1.7M Instagram followers in a post explaining the collection. “I really feel like this could be the start of people looking at digital art as something that is much more respected and as ‘real art.”

The most valuable piece, ‘The Complete MF Collection,’ sold to the notorious NFT collector illestrator for $777,777, helping Beeple become the top selling artist in crypto, with 824 pieces sold for $6.4M according to Cryptoart.io/artists.

Beeple Resales Soar

Pieces of the collection are now trading at 100x their original value in secondary markets. The highest-priced piece is the second copy of 207 of the “Into the Ether” open series, which is selling for $2.2M on Nifty Gateway, more than 600x its primary market price of $696.

Now, Beeple will set his sights on a collaboration with Meme, a project we’ve covered in depth on The Defiant Youtube. As expected, anything Beeple touches turns to gold with MEME soaring over 150% on the back of the announcement.

Taking a step back from the financial success of the drop, Beeple’s moonlighting of the NFT ecosystem has seemingly kickstarted the next wave of mainstream interest in what appears to be one of crypto’s biggest sectors headed into 2021. Total Crypto Art is now valued at ~$26M according to cryptoart.io/data,with every other metric of usage soaring.