A piece of digital art by American graphic artist Beeple was sold for a record price of $69.3 million, announced British
auction house Christie’s on Thursday. The digital collage caused quite a stir
in the virtual art market as the sale made the artwork titled “Everydays:
The First 5,000 Days” the most expensive ‘Non-Fungible Token’ (NFT) piece ever sold, reported AFP.  

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The transaction is seen as a sign of long term confidence in the burgeoning market that creates collectible digital assets by transforming virtual work into something ownable. With that, the artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann becomes one of the top three most valuable
living artists, Christie’s said.

“Everydays”, a long term project started by Beeple in 2007 brings together in digital form his first 5,000 pieces,
beginning with a simple image of his Uncle Jim and ending on a detailed graphic
portrait of characters from Donald Trump to Buzz Lightyear to Michael Jackson,
depicted as dystopian muses around a child drawing. 

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Since then, Beeple has attracted nearly two million Instagram followers and had collaborated with many big time brands and musicians, thanks to his graphic universe. 

Notably, the artist has never sold any of his artwork under his own name rather used Beeple for the transactions.

However, this not Beeple’s first work to get a great deal. In February 2021, another art work titled ‘Crossroads’ was resold for $6.6 million on the platform Nifty
Gateway, which specialises in virtual works. 

According to AFP, Beeple, received 10% of the sales.

On the other hand, an animation that he himself had sold at the end
of October last year for a symbolic dollar was recently acquired for $150,000.