Buzzy digital artist Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, made NFT history yesterday with his piece, “Crossroads”, netting $6.6 million on the secondary market via Nifty Gateway. Like many Beeple artworks, Crossroads was inspired by the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. It was designed to feature one of two animations, depending on the outcome of the election — one a triumphant Trump, the other a forgotten, despondent one. Originally purchased by a user called Pablo for $66,666.60 on Nov 1, the new owner, who chose to remain anonymous, paid almost 100 times more, breaking the price record for a single NFT sale. Previously …

Micah Johnson, a former MLB player-turned artist, sold a whopping $1 million worth of tokenized art in just one minute on the Winklevoss-owned NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. The auction, which launched on Feb. 21 and lasted for 28 hours, generated $2 million worth of sales in total. The auction sold NFTs representing a painted sculpture made from hand-casted resin dubbed AKU: The Moon God. The physical AKU sculpture was also sold during the auction, fetching $305,000. The sculpture will be deposited into a vault and is subject to a two-year lockup. The purchaser also receives exclusive access to view the …

Async Art, a Silicon Valley nonfungible token platform, has secured over $2 million in seed funding from at least 10 investors, highlighting the growing value proposition of programmable art. The company announced the new raise on Wednesday, highlighting Async’s rapid growth since its February 2020 launch. In its first year of operations, Async generated over $1 million in art sales and launched a smart TV app to display digital art. Although the company didn’t specify how it would use the funds, it indicated that onboarding new users and creating new displays were the primary focus. Async is also looking to …

British auction house Christie’s has announced the auction of its first ever “purely digital work of art." Announcing the news Tuesday, Christie’s said that the nonfungible token artwork will be issued in partnership with major NFT marketplace MakersPlace. Dubbed “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” the piece was created by Mike Winkelmann, who goes by the name "Beeple." According to the official page of the NFT auction, the starting price for the work, which interested parties can bid on from Feb. 25 until March 11, is just $100. “Minted exclusively for Christie’s in February 2021, this monumental digital collage marks the …

The auctions were organized by Illumino, an NFT-focused firm seeking to bring “tastemakers and artists” together to launch innovative art on-chain. Illumino was put together by the LA-based management agency Keel, crypto VC firm Framework Ventures, and Bruch Projects — the NFT arm of Manna Ventures. The NFTs went live on Valentine’s Day, beginning with one-of-a-kind 3D renditions that were sold to the highest bidder. The one-of-a-kind renditions included “Crowded City” and “A Peak In My Head” — works composed collaboratively by FEWOCiOUS and Two Feet that sold for $150,000 and $158,888 respectively. Two other collaborative works were made available …

Major EDM record label Monstercat has highlighted how non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, can be a successful new revenue stream for artists and the music industry, generating $180,000 in the first two minutes of an NFT collection release. The collection consists of animated video clips with music backing and was created in collaboration with Australian-based digital artist Giant Swan, renowned for his use of VR technology, and Platinum producer Varien, who recorded “The Crown”. It was released on the Winklevoss-owned Nifty Gateway yesterday. The collection included 500 Constellations packs which were sold out in one second flat at $0.50 each, and …

A crypto art piece by Justin Roiland, co-creator of the famous animated series Rick and Morty, has sold for a handsome price on non-fungible token marketplace Nifty Gateway. Dubbed “The First Ever Edition Of Rick And Morty Cryptoart,” the tokenized artwork was sold at silent auction for $150,000. Nifty Gateway announced the news on Twitter on Jan. 19. SILENT AUCTION RESULT "First Rick and Morty Crypto Art" by @JustinRoiland WINNING BID: $150,000 1. blanK Congrats to the winner and to @JustinRoiland! Last 2 silent auctions have 5 minutes remaining. pic.twitter.com/M7k7PzlIRp — Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) January 20, 2021 The newly sold …

The Winklevoss-owned Nifty Gateway has announced the auction of a crypto art collection from the voice actor and co-creator behind Adult Swim's cult animation series Rick and Morty. According to a tweet from Nifty Gateway today, the non-fungible token, or NFT, marketplace will be auctioning artwork from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland on Jan. 19. The platform stated “several original artworks” from Roiland would be offered as part of the collection. We are thrilled to welcome @JustinRoiland to Nifty Gateway for his first ever crypto art release! The full collection features several original artworks from Justin and will go …

Darren Kleine, known to most by his handle DKleine, is an NFT artist with a decidedly specific niche — Zombies. We’re talking crypto zombies, political zombies, mustachioed Salvador Dali zombies. Zombies of all shapes, sizes, and orientations! If it’s green, dismembered, and loves the savory taste of a good brain, it’s ripe for tokenization (and charity) so far as Mr. Kleine is concerned. What started as a quasi-political statement just a few short months ago (his first zombie NFT was a decaying Donald Trump, still running for president in 2040) has now blossomed into a fully matured signature aesthetic. And …

On Friday, Kevin Abosch — an Irish conceptual artist who was among the first to use blockchain technology as a medium — reported that a dastardly heist had been committed in one of his on-chain installations, an Ethereum wallet-turned-artwork titled "Stealing The Contents of This Wallet Is a Crime" (2018). In a Tweet the artist, whose work has been exhibited at The Hermitage, said that a CryptoKitty had been swiped from the freely-accessible address: Hi @CryptoKitties/@dapperlabs - Someone tipped me that "IAMA Kitty" was sitting in the #crypto wallet of my artwork "Stealing The Contents of This Wallet is a …

A former baseball player has created a non-fungible token, time-sensitive artwork piece that allows crypto holders to donate Bitcoin to enable two African American boys to fulfill their dreams. According to a representative for the artist, former Tampa Bay Rays player Micah Johnson, marketplace Async Art will be making NFT artwork available starting on Oct. 29. The NFT is programmed to show the effects that Bitcoin (BTC) donations will have on the two children, represented by a door opening wider with each passing year. Each year on the boys’ respective birthdays, a BTC QR code will appear directing all NFT …

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is funding a major decentralized audio streaming service through its investment and incubation arm. According to an Oct. 23 announcement, Binance Labs led a $1.25 million extension round for Audius, a blockchain-enabled streaming service that connects music fans with artists. The latest investment round follows a $3.1 million round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Blockchange Ventures in July 2020. Major industry players like Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures also participated in the round, as previously announced. According to Audius Co-founder and CEO Roneil Rumburg, the latest rounds brings the platform's total investment up to …