Beeple’s NFT “Everydays” Sells for $69M in Christie’s Auction

A 21,069 x 21,069 pixels jpg file attached to an Ethereum token sold today for $69M in ETH at Christie’s, the world’s oldest fine art auctioneer.

Of course, we’re talking about Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days.”

The sale was not only a record for an NFT; it was also the third-most expensive work from a living artist ever sold at auction, behind $90.3M for a David Hockney painting and $91.1M for Jeff Koons’ stainless-steel Rabbit.

It marks a turning point in both art and blockchain history alike: it’s the first time a digital token has been sold at a major auction house. It also proves that, at least today, it’s undeniable the market is assigning real value to provable digital ownership, even if anyone else can take its screenshot.

“Holy fu*k,” Beeple tweeted in response.

A New Record

The previous record for most expensive NFT initial offering sale was set just last week when DJ 3LAU’s Ultraviolet collection sold for a total of $11.7M, with the highest-priced individual NFT netting $3.6M.

Factoring in after-market sales, Beeple was already among the highest individual NFT sales after his 2020 election-themed “Crossroads” piece resold in February for $6.6M. Less than a day ago, a CryptoPunk sold for $7.56M

Setting a Precedent

For over 13 years, Beeple has been creating a new piece of digital art every day and posting it online. “EVERYDAYS” is a single NFT collage functioning as the culmination of the past 5,000 days of Beeple’s work and artistic growth. During this period, Beeple has become one of the most recognizable artists of the digital era.

“EVERYDAYS” is a fitting piece for such a historic sale. One day in the future, people very well might look at this moment as the exact point in time when NFTs overtook the mainstream art world.

Almost $200M of NFTs have been sold in total, according to Nonfungible.com. The space has become red hot in the past few weeks, amid a booming cryptocurrency market and an increasing number of artists and celebrities (like Lindsay Lohan) using unique tokens to monetize their work and riding the trend.

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