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A very expensive block chain picture

Auction house Christie has for the first time sold a digital-only artwork. Mike Winkelmann´s collage of sketches called “Everydays — The First 5000 Days” went for breathtaking USD 69 million after dramatic late bids. Winkelmann is online known as Beeple.

Bids during the final two hours of the open biding went from USD 14 million to the final USD 69 million. 22 million visitors tuned in during the last few minutes of the digital bidding, Christie´s said.

The Christie´s action is an example of the increasing interest for so called NFTs – cryptographically encoded collectible computer files. NFT is short for non-fungible token and a NFT is the registration of ownership of a digital object on a blockchain. It can be any type of media and the non-fungible part means the object is unique and irreplaceable. 

Christie said the auction result places Beeple among the top three most valuable living artists.

“Digital Art has been an established artistic medium since the advent of the personal computer. However, before the introduction of NFTs and Blockchain technology it was impossible for even the most celebrated digital artists to claim their place in the art market. These mechanisms have paved the way for future of art of purely digital means, and Christie’s is proud to have been on the forefront of this pivotal movement. As the art world continues to embrace digital art, Christie’s looks forward to holding further sales of NFTs”, the auction house said.

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