Christie’s Auction sold Beeple’s NFT for a record-setting $69.3 million, making it the most expensive digital art ever sold

Last week, we wrote about Elon Musk’s partner Grimes making $5.8 million in just 20 minutes after she sold her digital art (Non-fungible token) at auction. Just when you thought NFTs couldn’t get any crazier. This morning, Christie’s Auction announced it has sold Beeple’s NFT for a record-setting $69.3 million, making it the most expensive digital art ever sold.

The storied auction house Christie’s wrapped its sale of “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” by crypto artist Beeple. The winning bid just after 10:00 a.m. ET for the non-fungible token (NFT) was a staggering $60.25 million. A last-minute surge upped the final price to $69,346,250. It is unclear at this point if the buyer used fiat or crypto to buy the now-famous Beeple.

In a tweet, Christie’s said,

@beeple ‘s ‘The First 5000 Days’, the 1st purely digital NFT based artwork offered by a major auction house has sold for $69,346,250, positioning him among the top three most valuable living artists. Major Thanks to @beeple + @makersplaceco. More details to be released shortly

.@beeple 's 'The First 5000 Days', the 1st purely digital NFT based artwork offered by a major auction house has sold for $69,346,250, positioning him among the top three most valuable living artists. Major Thanks to @beeple + @makersplaceco. More details to be released shortly

— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 11, 2021

The latest sale is by far the largest known sale of an NFT and the latest in series of crypto arts that are being sold for millions of dollars by celebrities around the world.

NFT (non-fungible token) is a type of cryptographic token on a blockchain that represents a unique digital asset. This asset can either be entirely digital assets or tokenized versions of real-world assets. Because NFTs are not interchangeable with each other, they may function as proof of authenticity and ownership within the digital realm, for example as proof of the authenticity of rare art. NFT is a special type of token that lives on the Ethereum blockchain and proves digital ownership of its associated media.

Beeple broke his previous auction in February on NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway when he sold a video clip of a digitally illustrated Donald Trump lying face down in the grass for $6.6 million in ETH.