CryptoPunk ‘Alien’ NFT sells for $ 11.8 million at Sotheby’s auction | Art and Culture News

The auction house has sold several virtual art works this year, which have garnered large numbers.

The auction house Sotheby’s said a non-fungible digital art site called “CryptoPunk” sold for $ 11.8 million on Thursday.

CryptoPunks is a set of 10,000 pixel artistic characters made by Larva Labs in 2017. What Sotheby’s sells – “CryptoPunk # 7523” – is a sought-after alien variety with blue-green skin and a medical mask.

The work is in the form of NFT, which is authenticated via blockchain, which ensures its originality and ownership. The NFT buyer’s cryptocurrency wallet is sent; no physical work of art is changed by hand.

“CryptoPunk # 7523” sold for $ 11,754,000 as part of Sotheby’s online “Native Digital: A Curated NFT Sale” auction, earning a total of $ 17.1 million from the work of 27 digital artists.

It was bought by Israeli entrepreneur Shalom Meckenzie, who is the largest shareholder in the digital sports company DraftKings, Sotheby’s said.

Moments ago in our #London saleroom, an extremely rare “Alien” CryptoPunk #7523 from the collection of @sillytuna sold for $11.8M as part of our #NativelyDigital NFT auction – setting a new world auction record for a single CryptoPunk. pic.twitter.com/PDVUSttI3o

— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 10, 2021

Michael Bouhanna, a contemporary art specialist at Sotheby’s, said the sale shows strong NFT demand.

“We are excited to continue to explore new and interesting ways to present these cutting-edge works.”

Anyone can see the artwork represented by the NFT, but only the buyer has the officiality to own it.

Sotheby’s metabersean

Although it was an online auction, the works were displayed on screens at Sotheby’s exhibitions in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Sotheby’s also opened its first virtual gallery: a replica of its real-world building on Bond Bond Street in London, the online virtual world of Decentraland.

Decentraland is a virtual world based on the blockchain, where users can walk with friends, visit buildings, attend events, and view collections of NFT artwork.

To those who say “yes, but you can’t hang them on your wall,” that’s where virtual social worlds like Decentraland come in, ”said Dave Carr, a spokesman for the Decentraland Foundation.

“Virtual worlds are home to NFT digital art.”

NFTs became famous in February and March. An NFT work of art grossed $ 69.3 million at Christie’s, the first sale by a major artless auction house.

Sotheby’s first NFT auction was held in April, with digital works by the artist known as “Pak” fetching $ 16.8 million.

Kevin McCoy’s Quantum, a simple geometric animation featured in Thursday’s auction, sold for $ 1.47 million. Sotheby’s said it was the first NFT to be made in 2014, which was “invented” in 2014. A work by Pak was also sold for $ 528,200.