Digital Artist Beeple Sells $582,000 of Crypto Art in 5 Minutes

By Will Gottsegen

Digital artist Beeple yesterday kicked off a massive multi-day digital art sale to unite physical art with blockchain-based magic money. The first auction, which commenced last night at 7pm ET on Gemini-backed crypto art marketplace Nifty Gateway, generated $582,000 in 5 minutes; cumulative sales from the auction have since surpassed $1.1 million.

For a five-minute window yesterday, Beeple, real name Mike Winkelmann, sold three "open editions," titled “Bull Run,” “Into The Ether,” and “Infected,” at a rate of $969 apiece. While Nifty Gateway propped the window ajar, people could rush in and buy as many NFTs as they pleased.

Beeple has vowed to mail to the hundreds of owners digital frames, encased in plastic, that display a loop of the NFT art.  Many are now on sale on the secondary market, with resellers asking for much, much more than the original asking price. 

In addition to yesterday's sale, Beeple will auction off a further 21 editions over the course of the weekend, each of which comes with corresponding physical versions. 

Beeple's auction schedule. Image: Mike Winkelmann

So far, the cumulative revenue from the drop, including sales on secondary marketplaces, has surpassed $1 million, according to Roger Dickerman, the author of an NFT substack. Nifty Gateway retweeted Dickerman's calculation.

Titled the “2020 Collection,” Beeple’s latest set of NFTs is his second for Nifty Gateway, following “The First Drop,” a group of pieces released ahead of the US presidential election. One of those works, “Crossroad,” was an animation that would change depending on who won the election. It sold for $66,000.

Auctions for limited-edition NFTs continue today and tomorrow, with pieces like “Spongebob Hillarypants”—a drawing of Hillary Clinton in a giant Spongebob-themed mech suit—already set to go for significant sums.

If you want to snag that one, don’t hesitate—bidding closes soon, and the price is already up to $7,777.

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