Beeple Sells Latest NFT Work for $29 Million at Auction
HUMAN ONE is a physical sculpture that comes with an NFT.
Beeple, the digital artist whose tokenized artwork "EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYs" sold for a record $69.3 million at a Christie's auction this March, has followed it up with a $28.9 million sale today of a hybrid physical and digital work. It's the second-largest sum paid for an NFT—or, at least, a piece of art accompanied by a "dynamic" NFT.
HUMAN ONE is the first physical piece of art from Michael Winkelmann, otherwise known as Beeple. The accompanying digital piece is connected to a deed of ownership issued on the Ethereum blockchain.
"The new sculpture is a generative work of art, a dynamically changing hybrid physical and digital piece, which the artist intends to seamlessly add and evolve creatively over the course of his lifetime," according to a blog post by the British auction house.
Beeple's "EVERYDAYS" holds the record for the most-expensive NFT ever sold and helped propel non-fungible tokens out of the dusty corners of crypto and into mainstream conversation. Athletes and artists are keeping busy cashing in on the trend!
NFTs originated on the Ethereum blockchain in 2017 and were first popularized by CryptoKitties, collectibles that allowed people to spend ETH on breeding unique animated cats. The tokens have since become a key component in rival blockchains' expansions strategies, showing up on Solana, Tezos, and the DeSo Blockchain.
Trading volume for the digital tokens extended past $10 billion in the third quarter, a year-over-year increase of 38,000%.
With Coinbase NFT Marketplace launching at the end of 2021 we are excited about what is to come.