A Miami art collector made a fortune selling a ten-second video clip on the Internet.
In October 2020, art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile bought a 10-second clip depicting a work of art for $ 67,000. It shows a gigantic Donald Trump, collapsed on the ground, marked with “Loser” in a completely idyllic setting where people walk by and happy birds fly around. Rodriguez-Fraile resold the video clip last week – for $ 6.6 million, according to Reuters.
Beeple produces crypto art
The video clip is from the digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann. Although it is a digital video clip, it is nevertheless unique in its kind. It is a so-called non-fungible token (NFT). This is a cryptographic token that cannot be exchanged and is therefore unique. It cannot be replicated or destroyed and is stored on a blockchain.
Many investors and collectors jumped on this new trend in the wake of the Corona crisis and are collecting NFTs in a targeted manner, reports Reuters. You can imagine it with the NTFs like this: “You go to the Louvre in Paris and take a picture of the Mona Lisa. But that has no value because it does not take into account the origin of the work ”, as the art collector Rodgriguez-Fraile puts it. The work is so valuable because Beeple is behind it, according to the art collector.
Strong demand
NFTs are ideal for digital assets, of which there are only one or a few. In addition to crypto art, this can also be trading cards, game characters or virtual stretches of land in virtual worlds.
The work was sold on the OpenSea marketplace. This was able to turn over $ 86.3 million in February. In the same period last year, monthly sales were around $ 1.5 million. However, it is said that there could also be a price bubble behind these current mega-sales. Investors who specifically rely on NFTs should therefore be careful.
But Christie's is now jumping on the bandwagon and is currently selling its first digital crypto art, also by Beeple. It shows a collage of 5,000 photos and is again an NFT. Bids are currently around $ 3 million and the auction will run until March 11, 2021.
