Breaking NFTs to Pieces: These 4 Projects Are Fractionalizing Grimes, Banksy, Cryptopunk NFTs

July 30, 2021 Bitcoin.com

NFT sales top $2.5B in first half of 2021

July 7, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Art

NFT sales in June alone have eclipsed those for the entire first half of 2020 for the OpenSea marketplace.

Sales of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have surged to record highs in the first half of 2021.

There has been $2.5 billion in NFT sales in the first six months of this year according to DappRadar, a massive increase over the $13.7 million in sales for the same period in 2020.

Citing stats from Dune Analytics, Reuters reported that June has been a record month for the OpenSea NFT marketplace with almost $150 million in sales. This is almost a thousand percent higher than the sales figure for all markets over the entire first half of the previous year.

NFT buyers and enthusiasts view them as unique digital collectibles with intrinsic value because of their cultural significance. Others simply treat them as investments, speculating on rising prices.

According to NonFungible.com, which aggregates Ethereum- based NFT transactions, there have been between 10,000 and 20,000 buyers per week since early March. The NFT tracking and discovery platform reported that there had been $1.3 billion in sales for the period, but excluded around $8 billion in DeFi-based NFTs.

The most prolific NFT sale so far has been by renowned artist Beeple with his “Everydays: The First 500 Days” fetching a staggering $69 million dollars in March following a Christie’s auction.

Sales figures from analytics platforms such as DappRadar only track on-chain transactions meaning those sold at auction may have part of the transaction take place off-chain, so they must be manually added to the data, Reuters noted.

Collectible and sports-themed NFTs are the most popular according to data from Nonfungible with digital art coming in third place. Almost 300,000 sports-related tokens have been sold in the first half of the year compared to 124,000 for art. Its latest figure for June 6 reported just shy of 140,000 total NFT sales on the day for Ethereum-based tokens.

As reported by Cointelegraph in June, NFT transaction volume has multiplied by more than 25 times since December 2020 as they usher in a new paradigm of interacting with culture, music, sports, and the media.

Beeple launches iconic ‘moments’ NFT platform with Time, Universal, and Warner

June 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

beeple

The platform will host the sale of tokens depicting historic moments in sport, politics, and fashion.

Pioneering digital artist Mike Winkelmann— better known as Beeple — has helped launch We.new, a platform selling iconic moments in sports, politics, art, and fashion as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The platform is backed by industry giants from the world of journalism, sport, and music including TIME, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Wasserman, and Endeavor.

We.new will host auctions and direct sales of Ethereum-powered NFTs. Tokens sold in multiple editions on We.new will use Polygon (MATIC) for layer-2 scaling.

Beeple, the highest paid NFT artist so far, said that NFTs represented a new paradigm in how the public can celebrate remarkable achievements.

"They give people a way to meaningfully engage with the memories and moments that matter to them — maybe even inspired them or shaped who they are in some way. We.new exists to facilitate and make concrete these once-abstract connections."

very excited to announce the launch of https://t.co/K0TMwMJWwZ !!!

this is a new project we've been working on centered around giving people the opportunity to collect iconic moments in music, sports, comedy, history, etc. on the blockchain. pic.twitter.com/WqhkFwLFBo
— beeple (@beeple) June 24, 2021

NFTs sold on We.new will also offer opportunities to secure real-world artifacts and unique experiences — including physical sculptures, and opportunities for meet and greets with artists and athletes.

Wenew will host its first auction from July 2 -5, offering tokenized images celebrating tennis star Andy Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon Grand Slam victory. The highest bidder will also get to play a game of tennis with Murray in real life, and two tickets to the 2022 men’s Wimbledon finals.

As the NFT boom began bubbling last year, Beeple emerged as a pioneer of the form.

In February, Beeple auctioned his Crossroad NFT for $6.6 million alongside a looped museum-quality video which can be hosted in an art gallery or displayed at home. The success of the auction was followed up in March with the sale of Beeple's piece Everydays: the First 5000 Days which raised a record-breaking $69 million through the prestigious auction house, Christie’s.

Beeple Launches “Iconic Moments” NFT Project

June 24, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

NFT Livestream: Watch Original Painting Burn as NFT is created by world-renowned Marvel & DC Comics Artist Rob Prior

May 24, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

Nifty News: Instagram’s NFT platform? Warhol’s Amiga art, Beeple’s holograms … and more

May 20, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Andy Warhol

NFT artist claimed Instagram is building an NFT platform, while Beeple is working to create fully holographic NFTs

Digital artist Sean Williams claims that Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram is working to create its own NFT marketplace.

STORY TIME:

INSTAGRAM IS BUILDING AN NFT PLATFORM RIGHT NOW AND THEY’RE REACHING OUT TO UPCOMING ARTISTS IN THE NFT SPACE TO HELP THEM BUILD IT.

THE CATCH?

They’re reaching out to artists IN OUR COMMUNITY to give them insight on what the NFT community needs, and disguising
— Sean Williams (@iArtSometimes) May 18, 2021

Williams tweeted to his 12,000 followers on May 18 that Instagram had invited him and other artists to speak on an NFT focused panel, and to provide feedback on how the company can “build a better platform for creators.”

However, the approach hasn’t gone down well with Williams, who feels that Instagram wants to leverage NFT artists' insights to provide market research for the development of an NFT platform of its own.

The NFT panel is part of a three-day event named “Creator Week,” which is touted as an opportunity to help creators “build their community” and grow their business.

Williams claimed the company offered him $1000 to sit down with the development team and give his insights but made a non-disclosure agreement part of the deal.

“An honorarium of $1000 while we sit in a room with upper-level management and the dev team to build product??? Weird. Sounds like a platform that’s behind, and looking to use the leverage they’d had over the last ten years to pretend like they care.”

Williams sold an NFT named “Haunted by a Taste of Freedom” last month for 10 ETH on SuperRare, worth around $24,530 at today’s prices.

Beeple’s holographic NFTs

Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, has partnered with rendering software providers RNDR, and its parent company OTOY to create holographic NFTs.

Beeple has joined the advisory boards of both firms to offer his expertise as an artist and long-time user of OTOY’s OctaneRender software.

RNDR is a blockchain-based rendering platform that utilizes GPU power from a distributed network to render graphics. Beeple will help the platform create a new form of holographic NFTs, along with minting his entire catalog on RNDR’s network. The announcement on OTOY’s website notes that:

“The collaboration will focus on developing the first blockchain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that are fully immersive on holographic displays and mobile AR, and are validated using deep forms of authentication on the RNR blockchain network.”

OTOY will also be leveraging another partnership with Light Field Labs to create the “world’s first glasses-free holographic display panel,” to showcase the upcoming holographic NFTs from Beeple.

Beeple recently told Variety that NFTs weren’t a passing fad:

“It’s actually very simple and can be applied to so many different things. It’s proving ownership of something. It’s hard for me to imagine this kind of all evaporating away. People have too much of an emotional connection to this stuff.”

Andy Warhol NFTs from the 1980’s

Art auction house Christie's announced the launch of an NFT auction named “Andy Warhol: Machine Made” yesterday.

The auction contains five tokenized artworks recovered from floppy disks in 2014 which stored artwork that was created by Andy Warhol in the mid-1980s.

The five artworks have each been minted by Christie’s as one-of-one NFTs, with all sale proceeds going to the non-profit “The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts.”

The NFTs depict artwork created on Warhol’s Commodore Amiga computer from the ’80s, and the collection includes two self-portraits, a banana on a blue background, and his famous flower and Campell’s soup can motifs.

The auction is running from May 19 to May 27 on Christie’s website, and the minimum starting bids for each piece is $10,000.

Webster’s definition of an NFT sells as an NFT

Dictionary maker Merriam-Webster tokenized a photo of its definition of an NFT and sold it on OpenSea for 15 ETH worth around $37,000 last week.

Dictionary Publisher Merriam Websets auctions NFT of the definition "NFT"

Recently, dictionary specialist, Merriam-Webster announced its plans to go super meta and auction an Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of... the...https://t.co/KtS9oWPaA0 #NotForProfit #NFT pic.twitter.com/bYYINpdNod
— Michael Bacina (@MikeBacina) May 19, 2021

The one-of-one NFT depicts a GIF of a dictionary that opens up to a page displaying its NFT definition.

The one-of-one dubbed “The Definition of NFT '' was auctioned off for a good cause, with the net proceeds going to the non-profit organization “Teach for All” — which offers education and outreach services to disadvantaged communities across the globe.

NFTs Are the “Gateway Drug to Crypto,” Says CoinGecko

April 15, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

beeple

A new report from CoinGecko suggests that the popularity of NFTs during Q1 2021 has been a key driver in raising awareness for the broader crypto market.

NFTs Become One of the Main Drivers for Crypto Adoption

CoinGecko released its quarterly report, detailing the main factors that helped drive the adoption of blockchain technology. The data platform details how emerging institutional presence pushed the total crypto market capitalization higher with “no ceiling in sight.”

Still, most of the growth seen over the first quarter can be attributed to the NFT sector, says CoinGecko. The market slice became the “gateway drug to crypto,” they write.

According to CoinGecko, a simple glance at Google searches for “NFT” paints a clear picture of the hype around this nascent economy. Although searches for NFT kicked off the year far below those for “DeFi,” they picked up the pace by the end of March.

Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” digital artwork has been the key catalyst for the interest in NFTs. After it was sold on Christie’s for $69 million, interest levels for NFTs skyrocketed to an all-time high of 100, surpassing the searches for DeFi by a 4:1 ratio.

Similar growth was seen in the trading volumes of one of the most established NFT marketplaces in the cryptocurrency industry, OpenSea.

The platform averaged about $1 million in trading volume per month throughout 2020, but as the hype around NFTs exploded so did trading volumes.

“In January 2021, OpenSea reclaimed its No.1 spot with $8 million and doubled Rarible’s trading volume ($3.8 million). The NFT scene then exploded in February 2021 where trading volumes grew by almost 10X. In March 2021, total trading volume reached an all-time high of $187 million.”

OpenSea and Rarible Trading Volumes by CoinGecko

CoinGecko expects the NFT market and cryptocurrency industry to continue growing at the same pace for the rest of the year. Given Coinbase’s debut on Nasdaq and Fidelity’s plans to launch a Bitcoin ETF, the firm anticipates institutional demand to skyrocket.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, this author owned Bitcoin and Ethereum.

14 Years of Art for $500K: Youtuber Ali Spagnola Compiles All Her Free Paintings Into an NFT

April 12, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Tron’s Justin Sun Unveils NFT Fund Aimed at Art Acquisition

March 30, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Rare Beeple NFTs Sold for $7, Valued at Six Figures Hours Later

March 29, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

Two limited-edition Beeple pieces released last week have been valued at a premium of up to 50,000x on the secondary market.

$7 NFTs Selling for Six Figures

Beeple organized two surprise drops through MakersPlace, the same marketplace that arranged his historic Christie’s sale, last week. Each piece was released in an edition of seven and priced at $7. Would-be buyers were required to enter a raffle within a few minutes to be eligible to purchase the pieces.

The first raffle, which happened in the early hours on Wednesday, ran for 30 minutes. Another piece was sold on Saturday with a time window of only 21 minutes to enter.

Both pieces form part of Beeple’s now-famous “Everydays” project, in which he’s created a new piece of artwork daily since May 2007.

Despite the short timeframe, there were more than 16,000 entries across the two raffles. The winners then had 24 hours to make the $7 purchase.

Since the sale closed, the pieces have hit six-figure valuations on the secondary market.

One edition of “ILLUMINATED PATH,” the Wednesday release, sold for 158 ETH last night. That’s just over $266,000 at today’s prices.

Several other winners said that they had received six-figure offers after purchasing the pieces. One Twitter user, who also releases NFTs under the alias Corrosive, said that someone had privately offered them $350,000 for the latest piece, titled “TRILL KILL,” within an hour of the auction closing. “This could be truly life-changing for me,” they wrote.

They went onto say that they’d received multiple offers “fairly deep into the six figures.”

Guys, this could be truly life changing for me.

Iv had a private offer for 350K for the Beeple I have just won. This feels absolutely ridiculous to say but if anyone can beat 350k, Id be sorely tempted to let this go, As i said before, this stuff does not happen to me.

— Corrosive (@corrodestuff) March 27, 2021

Many of the editions have received offers that far exceed the $7 price tag, though $350,000 is the highest known bid so far.

Beeple’s NFT Rise

Though unheard of with practically any other asset or piece of artwork globally, 50,000x returns are less surprising today given Beeple’s recent ascent. The digital artist, real name Mike Winkelmann, has been extolled as a shining light of the NFT movement in recent months, thanks in no small part to his historic Christie’s sale earlier this month.

His “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” piece sold for $69.34 million, shocking the art and crypto worlds at once. The sale makes Beeple the third-most valuable living artist to sell in an auction. It was widely reported in the mainstream media, leading to much skepticism over the value of a “tokenized .jpeg.”

Beeple is arguably the most successful digital artist who’s made a name from tokenizing his work on Ethereum. In addition to the Christie’s sale, several other rare pieces of his have sold for millions of dollars in the last few weeks. “OCEAN FRONT,” released as part of Open Earth Foundation’s CarbonDrop auction, sold for $6 million on Tuesday.

TRON founder Justin Sun, who was narrowly outbid in Beeple’s Christie’s auction in the final seconds, bought the piece.

By creating non-fungible tokens on the blockchain, Beeple and other digital artists have found that they can now assign provable scarcity and ownership to their work. While some have questioned the value of NFTs and their environmental impact, the space has gained huge momentum this year.

Many musicians have embraced the format, while rare “OG” NFTs like CryptoPunks have become highly sought after in recent months.

Given the price speculation some NFTs have attracted, critics have pointed to a possible bubble. Nonetheless, for now, the market seems to think that Beeple’s work is some of the most valuable art on the planet.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.

beeple

Beeple’s holographic NFTs

Andy Warhol NFTs from the 1980’s

Webster’s definition of an NFT sells as an NFT

NFTs Become One of the Main Drivers for Crypto Adoption

$7 NFTs Selling for Six Figures

Beeple’s NFT Rise

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