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Sotheby's to Auction 'First NFT Ever Minted'

Sotheby's to Auction 'First NFT Ever Minted'

Sotheby's to Auction 'First NFT Ever Minted'

The auction will feature an NFT by Kevin McCoy minted in May 2014.

The auction will feature an NFT by Kevin McCoy minted in May 2014.

The auction will feature an NFT by Kevin McCoy minted in May 2014.

AccessTimeIconMay 6, 2021, 10:48 PM
Updated May 15, 2023, 1:42 PM

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Sotheby’s, established in 1744 in London, is launching its second non-fungible token (NFT) auction.

  • In an announcement Thursday, Sotheby’s said the curated auction from June 3-10 will feature “the first NFT ever minted” – Kevin McCoy’s “Quantum.”
  • “Universally regarded as the first NFT ever created, Quantum is timestamped 05-03-2014 09:27:34,” Sotheby’s wrote in its announcement.
  • Some regard the Bitcoin-based “Colored Coins” as the first NFT.
  • The other two works in the Sotheby’s auction are a rare CryptoPunk from 2017 and Anna Ridler’s “The Shell Record” from 2021.  
  • Bidding will begin at $100 and a portion of the funds raised from the sale will go to the Sevens Foundation, a non-profit supporting digital artists. 
  • Given that Beeple fetched $69 million in ETH at a Christie’s auction in March, some are expecting lofty returns:

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