(Newser)
– The blockchain technology behind Bitcoin and other digital currencies is shaking the art world as well as the financial markets. Sales of “non-fungible chips” – works of art or other pieces of digital property authenticated as unique blockchain originals – are exploding, with a 10-second work by artist Beeple recently sold for a record $ 6.6 million. . The video, which shows people walking on what appears to be the graffiti-covered body of a huge Donald Trump, was bought by art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile in October for $ 67,000. He resold it almost 100 times more last week. The 32-year-old tells Bloomberg that he thought it would take longer to increase value, but it was still “a fantastic bargain for the buyer.”
“You can go to the Louvre and take a picture of the Mona Lisa and you can have it there, but it has no value because it has no provenance or history of the work,” said the Miami collector. “The reality here is that this is very, very valuable because of who is behind it.” Bloomberg notes that the boom in digital art has a precedent in the photography market. Beeple, real name Mike Winkelmann, is a digital artist. who creates a drawing every day for 13 years. A two-week auction of his work began at Christie’s last week. New York Times that he only started looking at NFTs in mid-October. As in many other NFTs, the blockchain that authenticates its work includes the requirement that it receive 10% of the price each time it is resold. “When you buy a work of art, it kind of enters into a relationship with me,” he says. (Read more stories about the blockchain.)