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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.
Open editions have closed.
A total of $582,000 was sold.
Congrats to @beeple !
— Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) December 12, 2020
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.
TONIGHT 7PM EST
@niftygateway https://t.co/QeeDdBSNCv pic.twitter.com/JyGEEUahok
— beeple (@beeple) December 11, 2020
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.
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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.
[Saturday 12:31pm] History is Made
Cumulative sales as of 12:30pm: $999,833.44
Cumulative sales as of 12:31pm: $1,002,532.44Bull Run #237/271 bulls the @beeple drop and @niftygateway over $1MM.
*CONGRATULATIONS*
pic.twitter.com/WkMT7F2lbe
— RD
(@RogerDickerman) December 12, 2020
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.