A digital assets investor who goes by the nickname Metakovan and refuses to give his full name, announced that he is the buyer of the record $ 69.3 million digital artwork that was sold on Thursday. The auction house Christie’s, which hosted the sale, confirmed his statement, also refusing to disclose his legal name.
“I think it will bring in a billion dollars,” said Metakovan in an interview on Google Hangouts. “I do not know when.”
The work in question is a mosaic of 5,000 works made in the last 13 years by Mike Winkelmann, who goes by the name of artist Beeple.
Included in the mosaic are images of Abraham Lincoln beating a baby Donald Trump, a giant rabbit eating children at a playground and a muscular Tom Hanks beating an anthropomorphic representation of the coronavirus. The image file is connected to a non-fungible token (NFT), which was “coined” last month and serves as its registered certificate of authenticity through blockchain technology.
The auction for every day: the first 5,000 days opened for bidding on February 25 and skyrocketed from $ 100 to $ 1 million in minutes. But it was not until the final 10 minutes of the sale that the bidding action became particularly intense. The number quickly jumped from $ 14 million to $ 30 million. With seconds to spare, Metakovan made the winning move.
“It was painful, actually,” says a man who works with Metakovan and goes by the pseudonym of Twobadour, and whose unofficial title is “the butler of Metapurse”.
“It is an unknown experience to bet on Christie’s – he was not very kind to the nerves,” he continues. Regarding his role in the venture, he says: “I try to look for really meaningful NFTs. Metakovan is the founder of Metapurse, and he puts his money where my mouth is. “
“Twenty-two million visitors tuned in the final minutes of the bid,” said Alex Rotter, Christie’s president for 20th and 21st century art. “There is a lot of excitement out there, but there is also real interest. We had over 200 subscribers to this auction who really took it seriously. “
Metakovan paid using Ethererum, the second largest digital currency in the world; approximately 42,329,453 ETH in total, according to a Christie’s representative. Accepting cryptocurrency is the first time for the 254-year-old auction house and a big nod to the legitimacy of the payment method. At 10:11 EST on March 11, shortly after the lot fell, Ether was trading at $ 1,815 per dollar.
Beeple’s ‘Everydays: the First 5,000 Days’ auction opened for bidding on February 25 and skyrocketed from $ 100 to $ 1 million in minutes, but it was only in the final 10 minutes of the sale that the bidding action became particularly intense [Christie’s Images Ltd via Reuters]
This is not the first time that Metakovan buys Beeple’s works. At a December auction of Beeple’s original art on the Nifty Gateway online market, Metakovan bought 20 images for $ 2.2 million. Later, he split them up. These works currently have a market value of US $ 163.5 million.
In an interview a month before the Christie’s auction, Winkelmann talked about the sale: “A guy in Singapore made several username accounts with names of Greek philosophers – he deceived everyone and bought all 20 works of art,” he explained. Winkelmann. “He then locked those [artworks] using blockchain in another smart contract and then split them up. ”(Winkelmann did not respond to requests for comment on Christie’s sale, although he tweeted something that cannot be reprinted.)
Twobadour says he currently has no plans to sell fractional shares on Everydays.
“For now, quite honestly, we just want to take advantage and try to reach an agreement, because it is historic,” he says. “This is the third most valuable piece ever sold by a living artist, and it is almost inconceivable that we are part of this story, so we are going to absorb it now and we are not thinking of any monetization of this piece.”
Money in Context
Not only is $ 69 million the highest amount ever paid for a digital work of art, but also behind Jeff Koons and David Hockney for any living artist’s auction record, period. However, outside the context of the art market, this figure is even more impressive.
That amount of money could buy a collection of legitimate palaces in France, Ireland and Italy, with about $ 30 million left; it could just give you the highly coveted Gulfstream G700, although we hope you have enough money for maintenance and airtime; or you can leave the money in a conservative index fund and let it appreciate. Left alone for a decade and assuming 7% compound annual interest, your money would more than double to $ 135.7 million.
And yet, considering how NFTs are appreciating – another piece of Beeple was bought for $ 67,000 last October and launched four months later for $ 6.6 million – the market also appears to have potential for huge returns.
“We are not getting involved in things that seem effervescent to us,” says Metakovan of investing in NFTs. “There are so many things that can be out of control. It is not regulated, which is good and bad, so there will be opportunities in which people make and lose money ”.
Metakovan, who says he doesn’t have a house, doesn’t have a car, and “just tries to be physically light, so that I can pack up and get around”, has not yet sat down to admire the piece. “It is the most expensive purchase I have ever made,” he says.