United States, March 2, 2021 /AlexaBlockchain/ – Crossroad, An NFT digital artwork by the artist Beeple, created history by selling for a record price of $6.6 million on the secondary market. The 10-second video artwork has been sold second time in less than a year. In October 2020, Miami-based art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile spent $66,666 for the NFT artwork. Last week, he sold it for a rocord $6.6 million.
“History has just been made.” tweeted Nifty Gateway, a blockchain-based marketplace platform which acted as a broker.
CROSSROAD
— Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) February 25, 2021
By @beeple
The #1/1 from beeple’s first NG drop has just resold on the secondary market for $6.6 million.
History has just been made.
Congrats to beeple and of course to @pablorfraile for the sale. pic.twitter.com/mTYG4VABSw
Background of Crossroad NFT
The digital artwork sold for record price depicts a giant Donald Trump collapsed on the ground with the face down and body covered in derogatory slogans. And, people can be seen passing through the road nearby.
When Beeple first created it, it was designed to change based on the outcome of the US presidential election. When Biden won, it depicted the former President corpse slumped next to trash. But things could have been very different. If Trump had won, the NFT would have been turned into an animation of a storming hunk of Trump muscle with a crown on his head, stomping through the flames to lead the nation with a second term in the White House.
What makes this artwork so expensive?
An artwork’s provenance, or a history of who it has belonged to, is one of the determining factor in its value. For example, if an artwork was once owned by a prominent collector or came from a respected gallery, it will automatically be worth more.
This artwork is really wonderful, but being an NFT allows it to be verified that it is original piece and easily determine the rightful owner of the video.
The video by digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was authenticated by blockchain, which serves as a digital signature to certify who owns it and that it is the original work.
It’s a new type of digital asset – known as a non-fungible token (NFT) – that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend enormous sums of money on items that only exist online.
Blockchain technology allows the items to be publicly authenticated as one-of-a-kind, unlike traditional online objects which can be endlessly reproduced.
“You can go in the Louvre and take a picture of the Mona Lisa and you can have it there, but it doesn’t have any value because it doesn’t have the provenance or the history of the work,” said Rodriguez-Fraile, who said he first bought Beeple’s piece because of his knowledge of the US-based artist’s work.
“The reality here is that this is very, very valuable because of who is behind it.”
Checkout the CROSSROAD NFT here.