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Digital Artist Beeple Sells $582,000 of Crypto Art in 5 Minutes

Open editions for three of the artist Beeple’s new NFTs generated nearly $600,000 on Nifty Gateway.

Digital artist Beeple yesterday kicked off a massive multi-day digital art sale to unite physical art with blockchain-based magic money. The first auction, which commenced last night at 7pm ET on Gemini-backed crypto art marketplace Nifty Gateway, generated $582,000 in 5 minutes; cumulative sales from the auction have since surpassed $1.1 million.

For a five-minute window yesterday, Beeple, real name Mike Winkelmann, sold three “open editions,” titled Bull Run,” “Into The Ether,” and “Infected,” at a rate of $969 apiece. While Nifty Gateway propped the window ajar, people could rush in and buy as many NFTs as they pleased.

Open editions have closed.

A total of $582,000 was sold.

Congrats to @beeple !

— Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) December 12, 2020

Beeple has vowed to mail to the hundreds of owners digital frames, encased in plastic, that display a loop of the NFT art.  Many are now on sale on the secondary market, with resellers asking for much, much more than the original asking price

TONIGHT 7PM EST ✨ @niftygateway https://t.co/QeeDdBSNCv pic.twitter.com/JyGEEUahok

— beeple (@beeple) December 11, 2020

In addition to yesterday’s sale, Beeple will auction off a further 21 editions over the course of the weekend, each of which comes with corresponding physical versions. 

Beeple's auction schedule
Beeple’s auction schedule. Image: Mike Winkelmann

So far, the cumulative revenue from the drop, including sales on secondary marketplaces, has surpassed $1 million, according to Roger Dickerman, the author of an NFT substack. Nifty Gateway retweeted Dickerman’s calculation.

[Saturday 12:31pm] History is Made

Cumulative sales as of 12:30pm: $999,833.44
Cumulative sales as of 12:31pm: $1,002,532.44

Bull Run #237/271 bulls the @beeple drop and @niftygateway over $1MM.

🥳*CONGRATULATIONS*🥳 pic.twitter.com/WkMT7F2lbe

— RD 🖼 (@RogerDickerman) December 12, 2020

Titled the “2020 Collection,” Beeple’s latest set of NFTs is his second for Nifty Gateway, following “The First Drop,” a group of pieces released ahead of the US presidential election. One of those works, “Crossroad,” was an animation that would change depending on who won the election. It sold for $66,000.

Auctions for limited-edition NFTs continue today and tomorrow, with pieces like “Spongebob Hillarypants”—a drawing of Hillary Clinton in a giant Spongebob-themed mech suit—already set to go for significant sums.

If you want to snag that one, don’t hesitate—bidding closes soon, and the price is already up to $7,777.

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