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Beeple NFT Sold for Record-Setting $69.3M at Christie's Auction

Beeple NFT Sold for Record-Setting $69.3M at Christie's Auction

Beeple NFT Sold for Record-Setting $69.3M at Christie's Auction

Just when you thought NFTs couldn't get any crazier.

Just when you thought NFTs couldn't get any crazier.

Just when you thought NFTs couldn't get any crazier.

AccessTimeIconMar 11, 2021, 3:01 PM
Updated Aug 19, 2021, 7:56 AM

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A piece of digital artwork has sold for a mind-blowing $69.3 million at auction.

Storied auction house Christie's has 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. The buyer's premium upped the final price to $69,346,250.

In the final minutes of the auction, the price jumped from the $20 million range to over $50 million.

It's by far the largest known sale of an NFT, a special type of token that lives on the Ethereum blockchain and proves digital ownership of its associated media.

Ether (ETH) was supported as a payment option in a first for the 255-year-old auction house. At press time, it is unclear if the buyer used fiat or crypto to buy the now-famous Beeple.

Beeple's previous record-breaking auction was in February on NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. That piece, a video clip of a digitally illustrated Donald Trump lying face down in the grass, sold for $6.6 million in ETH.

According to the New York Times, the most expensive painting ever sold was a Leonardo da Vinci that went for $450.3 million in 2017.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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