Beeple, one of the most prolific visual graphics artists in dance music, has sold a collection of digital artworks for an astounding $777,777 via auction.
If you don’t know Beeple by name, there’s still a good chance you’ve seen his work at a dance music show. The designer has worked with the upper echelon of music producers including Skrillex, Zedd, deadmau5, and many more to develop mind-bending visuals and artwork.
Over the weekend, numerous artwork auctions from the designer were hosted via Nifty Gateway, a budding marketplace for digital assets. With the advent of blockchain technology, true ownership of digital assets (referred to as “nifties” on the platform) is now a possibility.
Participants bid on a variety of singular prints from Beeple, many of which fetched five- and six-figure bids. The grand finale, however, was a chance to bid on a collection of twenty prints titled “The Complete MF Collection.” The prints were encased in digital plaques, each containing a signed titanium backplate. The backplates contain a code that certifies ownership and authenticity of the art.
Bidding for the collection rose steadily to an impressive $380,000. It appeared that would be the winning bid until, at the very last second, a heavy-hitter dropped a monstrous $777,777 bid to win it all.
With that show-stopping final bid locked in, the combined value of the art Beeple has sold on the platform thus far totals an astounding $3.5M. While Nifty Gateway is operating a cutting-edge marketplace, it’s rapidly proving there is a crazy, untapped demand for digital blockchain-based assets that few could have expected.