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 …

Nonfungible tokens are currently a major topic of discussion within the crypto space, with creators and collectors alike jumping on the bandwagon. However, Litecoin (LTC) creator Charlie Lee is of the opinion that the hype is unsustainable. Tweeting on Monday, Lee said that unlike “real art,” NFTs have “zero cost” of creation. With all that said, I’m willing to be proven wrong. I created a unique NFT with my profile pic. It cost me nothing (well except for the ridiculous ETH gas fee) and no effort at all. Prove me wrong and show me that this has value: https://t.co/ucmu8KB1Us — …

Mike Shinoda, the musician and co-founder of rap-rock band Linkin Park, launched an auction on Rarible last night for “Zora,” a nonfungible token (NFT) music clip from a forthcoming song. In doing so, Shinoda joins an ever-growing throng of celebrities and influencers who are dipping their toes into NFT tech — and bringing their considerable fanbases along for the ride. Late last night Shinoda revealed the drop with a short Tweet: I made a thing: https://t.co/nxirMUsCvb #NFTs #Cryptoart @ourZORA — Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) February 6, 2021 In a follow-up thread Shinoda described the auction as an “experiment,” and seemed to …

Hashmasks, a new non-fungible token project has raised over 7,600 ETH (about $10 million) from the sale of more than 15,300 digital collectible cards. The owner of Hashmasks #1 has sold his card named after former United States President Donald Trump for about 97 Ether (ETH) which amounts to over $126,000 at the current Ether price. Hashmasks #1 was acquired for 0.1 ETH according to the collection timetable on the project’s website meaning that the original collector has earned a 96,900% profit on the initial investment. As of the time of writing, it now costs 1.7 ETH to buy a …

With the nonfungible token market approaching the frothing point, perhaps it’s time to sit back and ask: “What’s happening here?” The $750,000 in proceeds from the recent sale of a single “alien” CypherPunk NFT, after all, could have paid for a reasonably sized house. The crypto world at large is only 12 years old, entering adolescence, but crypto art — art on a blockchain — and nonfungible tokens are just out of their terrible twos. The launch of an epoch-defining CryptoKitties goes back to 2017 and 2018, and Ethereum’s nonfungible token, ERC-721 — which is used by many digital galleries …

Russian political opposition leader Alexey Navalny is the latest subject to be tackled by the burgeoning non-fungible token art world. An animation inspired by the recently-arrested Kremlin critic was minted into an NFT and released on the SuperRare platform on Jan. 21. The 1/1 artwork, simply called “Navalny,” is the first piece that pseudonymous artist @brickspacer111 has minted on the platform. The 3D rendered piece starts with a close up of Navalny’s hand making the “V for Victory” sign. As the camera pulls back we see that he stands in front of a huge bust of Russian President Vladimir Putin. …

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 …

Metapurse, a crypto and NFT fund financed by renowned NFT collector Metakovan and stewarded by Twobadour, recently announced that it had acquired all 20 of the 1/1 NFT artworks auctioned in December’s Beeple Everydays: The 2020 Collection. This in itself was a gargantuan undertaking, utilizing multiple accounts to put other bidders off the scent, costing around $2.2 million, and with no “Plan B” in case any of the artworks was won by somebody else. As Cointelegraph reported, the drop raised a total of $3.5 million, when open editions were also taken into account. Of course, one doesn’t spend $2.2 million …

When you ask someone what superpower they’d most like to have, they usually come up with the ability to fly, or to read thoughts, or maybe to see through multiple layers of clothing. This year, all we wanted was the ability to hibernate. Imagine! Going to sleep sometime around the Australian wildfires… taking a peek outside in mid-March and thinking “Ooooh, no, not sure about this at all” and cuddling up in a warm, happy bed until the U.S. election was over. But think what you would have missed in crypto! 2020 was another decade-in-a-year for the industry, packed full …