On Tuesday, nine CryptoPunks NFTs were sold by Christie’s for the whopping price of $16.9 million as part of their 21st Century Evening Sale. This set of digital art was originally estimated to sell for $7 million to $9 million.
Larva Labs, which created CryptoPunks, sold the nine NFTs out of its own collection. Thus far, the identity of the buyer has not been revealed.
This was the 255-year old auction house’s second NFT sale. Digital artist Beeple sold his digital art collage, “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS,” at a Christie’s auction for a record $69 million on March 11, 2021.
And that’s just the start.
A Supermodel is About to Heat Things Up
29-year-old British-American supermodel Emily Ratajkowski, also known as Emrata, will turn up the temperature on Friday, May 14, and I am not talking about her looks. She has minted and is auctioning off an NFT of her own image on Christie’s, and it’s called “Buying Myself Back: A Model for Redistribution.”
As covered in the New York Times, since March, brands and cryptocurrency brokers contacted her directly, offering her 20% to 60% of profits for an NFT featuring her likeness. “I had this bad feeling in my stomach about that way of approaching it,” she said, so she decided to develop her own project — following another prominent model, Kate Moss.
For years, artists, models and musicians have worked in an industry where the cards are stacked against them. Like a growing number of her fellows, Emrata is sick and tired of having her image wrested from her for another’s profit. In fact, she’s on a crusade to take back ownership of her own body. Read her full essay from last September here.
This is where NFTs could be the game-changer. These artists are turning to NFTs and blockchain technology to fight back to take ownership of and benefit from their own image and creations. This is also booming in the music industry, where Grimes, Kings of Leon, Deadmau5, and Eminem have minted NFTs on their work.
In the long run, can NFTs actually give artists control of their own image and creations? Can Ratajkowski effectively buy herself back with NFTs? As the NFT analyst for Quantum Economics, I’ll be watching and keeping you up to date!
Update: Ratajkowski’s first NFT, “Buying Myself Back: A Model for Redistribution” sold for $175,000 on Friday May 14, 2021.
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This content is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute trading advice. Past performance does not indicate future results. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose. The author of this article may hold assets mentioned in the piece.
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