For more innovations, South Korean electronics giant Samsung has teamed up with Nifty Gateway to develop a new line of smart TVs to enable non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be bought, sold, and held.
Nifty Gateway, a leading marketplace for NFTs owned by Gemini crypto exchange, will join Samsung’s NFT platform on its 2022 Neo QLED premium and QLED TVs.
Per the report:
“This partnership enables users to browse, display and interact with NFTs on their Samsung TVs. It provides them with access to more than 6,000 pieces of digital art and collectibles from artists like Daniel Arsham, Pak and more.”
Duncan Cock Foster, the co-founder of Nifty Gateway, welcomed the cooperation and noted:
“The objective of Nifty Gateway is to bring NFTs to a billion people by empowering creators and streamlining the process by which customers buy, sell, produce, and hold NFTs. We are devoted to making NFTs more accessible and purchasing them more convenient than before.”
The ground-breaking partnership will entail using Nifty Gateway’s Omnibus wallet when buying NFTs using cryptocurrency and credit or debit cards.
Samsung has been gearing up towards the crypto space, given that it disclosed plans to develop top-notch metaverse devices to foster accessibility earlier this month. This decision was reached because the company saw the metaverse and robots as new growth engines.
As the crypto space continues to gain steam, more digital giants are jumping on this bandwagon to create seamless devices. For instance, South Korean tech giant LG Electronics recently revealed plans to add blockchain, cryptocurrency, and medical devices as new sectors in its corporate charter, Blockchain.News reported.
The Winklevoss twins’ crypto exchange Gemini will allocate capital from its $400 million funding round into building a “Gemini experience in different Metaverses.”
Gemini announced that it had closed a $400 million equity growth funding round at a valuation of $7.1 billion on Nov. 18, marking the first time the firm had sought outside financing. Morgan Creek Digital led the round with participation from 10T, ParaFi, Newflow Partners, and Marcy Venture Partners to name a few.
Notably, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) — which also partnered with Gemini to launch the first crypto trading services offered by a big four Australian bank — also backed the round.
“With this round of financing, Gemini will continue to bring simple, innovative, and secure products to market, and advance its geographic expansion,” the announcement read.
During an interview with Forbes published on Nov. 18, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss outlined their plans to expand Gemini’s reach into the Metaverse.
Tyler noted that instead of building numerous “branches in meatspace,” — a reference to the popular meme-based description of physical reality — the company is aiming to spread itself across multiple Metaverses:
“We’re gonna build a Gemini experience in different Metaverses, where you can go into Gemini and trade, but it would be immersive instead of on your phone.”
According to Forbes, the twins will retain 75% of ownership over Gemini, with Morgan Creek’s general partner Sachin Jaitly joining the board of directors as part of his firm’s $75 million investment into the crypto platform.
The move will once again bring the duo into competition with Mark Zuckerberg, who they famously battled in court over the ownership of Facebook more than a decade ago. The Twins sued Zuckerberg in 2004, alleging that he stole their intellectual property to create Facebook, and went on to settle in court in 2011 for $65 million.
Related:VR Metaverse comes closer to reality as Meta previews haptic gloves
Cameron emphasized to Forbes that unlike the centralized roadmap for the Metaverse from firms “like Facebook or Fortnite,” Gemini is aiming for the decentralized route due to the belief that it offers greater upside for the user:
“But there is another path, which is the decentralized Metaverse and that’s the Metaverse where we believe there’s greater choice, independence and opportunity, and there is technology that protects the rights and dignity of individuals.”
“Decentralization is a spectrum,” Cameron added, noting that “we want to continue to move down the spectrum toward empowerment.”
The twins snapped up plots of land in The Sandbox Metaverse at the start of April, with Tyler noting at the time that the plan was to set up Gemini’s crypto exchange and NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway in the play-to-earn focused virtual world.
Digital avatar developer, Genies, has raised $65 million to build an NFT marketplace for digital avatars on the Flow blockchain led by several heavyweight investors, including Flow’s developers, Dapper Labs.
SEC filings dated May 3 reveal the California-based company recently closed a $65 million Series B funding round led by investment firm Bond, alongside Coinbase Ventures, Tull Investment Group, Breyer Capital, and Dapper Labs.
The $65 million is slated to fund the development of Genies’ NFT Marketplace, which will allow users to create and trade tokenized avatars, in addition NFT clothing worn by the avatars. Genies expects to launch its marketplace in beta during the third quarter of this year.
In a tweet revealing the funding, Genies stated it hopes to become the single “virtual portable identity across the digital world,” offering users a means to express themselves within the virtual metaverse.
Genies launched in 2017, initially targeting for its avatars to be used on centralized social media and messaging platforms. On April 29, Genies announced it would be teaming up with Dapper Labs to launch a Genies marketplace on the Flow blockchain.
Move over NBA Top Shot @dapperlabs has a new pet project. The Genies Marketplace is on track for a beta release this summer⚡️https://t.co/Oui29g1sqa
— GENIES (@genies) April 28, 2021
In an interview with VentureBeat’s gaming division, Genies’ CEO, Akash Nigam, noted the firm is transitioning to target a broader audience after initially planning to offer celebrities customized avatars to use in the context of digital events and launches.
Nigam stated the platform will host simple and intuitive tools allowing kids as young as six to “create their own digital wearable and goods collection and then release it in the marketplace and sell to the masses as well.”
In March, Genies released a series of NFTs in March commemorating pro-soccer player Mesut Ozil’s move from Arsenal F.C to Galatasaray in the firm’s first foray into nonfungible tokens. The tokens were auctioned on Nifty Gateway, with Genies selling out of 518 tokens for $670 each, or roughly $347,000.
Playboy centerfolds will be sold as NFTs after the classic men’s magazine announced a partnership with Nifty Gateway today.
The entertainment and lifestyle brand, famous for its Playboy bunnies, distinctive logo, and the dubious claim that men “only read it for the articles”, is planning to tokenize its art, cartoon and photography archive built up over 67 years, as well as release onew original artworks.
According to a April 6 announcement, the brand does not reveal specific details for its NFT Drops on Nifty, but did state plans to “support emerging and underrepresented artists entering the NFT art community,” with the first set of NFTs to drop in collaboration with former playboy magazine contributor “Slimesunday”, better known as Mike Parisella, and a following drop set for June, with 3D artist Blake Kathryn to create a pride-focused series of NFTs.
Slimesunday X @Playboy coming soon to @niftygateway ☺️ pic.twitter.com/1GXG0z8udY
— slimesunday (@grimemonday) April 6, 2021
Speaking to Business Insider, Rachel Webber, Playboy’s chief brand officer and president of corporate strategy, relayed her enthusiasm for adopting NFTs:
“We see the digital asset revolution as an enormous business opportunity, we see huge growth potential in integrating tokens into our streetwear business, our live experiences, and events, creating a social token economy with our network of talent.”
“In the first issue of Playboy magazine, there’s this line, ‘Picasso, jazz, Nietzsche, and sex, those are the four ideal conversation topics for any sophisticated person’,” she added. “Right in the core of Playboy’s DNA is appreciation for art and for great artists.”
SNL’s NFT skit sells as an NFT
Saturday Night Live auctioned off their one-of-one “What the hell’s an NFT?” skit for 171.99 ETH worth roughly $360,000 on OpenSea yesterday.
The NFT depicts a 10-second clip of the skit — a comedic rap by Pete Davidson that breaks down tokenomics — with the NFT including two tickets to an episode taping in season 47. The highest bidder was “Dr_Dumpling”, who is yet to re-list on secondary markets and has kept the NFT locked up.
The proceeds will go to a good cause, with the late-night comedy show donating all of the money to Stop AAPI Hate, a non-profit reporting center that responds to incidents of Asain related hate, in light of the escalation in xenophobia and bigotry related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Top college basketballer drops an NFTs
Luka Garza has become the first college basketballer to drop an NFT, after he released a one-of-a-kind for auction on OpenSea yesterday.
The auction is due to close on April 9 and at the time of writing there have been fou bids so far, with the price moving from 0.25 ETH up to the highest bid of 0.67 ETH worth more than $1,400.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA currently prohibits college athletes from profiting from their name, image, and likeness. However, NFTs could now serve as a new revenue stream for graduating athletes, with Garza now free to capitalize after he recently completed his final year of college basketball.
Celebrating winning the Consensus National Player of the Year, Garza’s is dropping an NFT that depicts a collage of his career highlights, which includes an interesting set of real-world bonuses.
The top bidder will be granted the chance to meet the player, play him in a game of HORSE, share a meditation session and attend dinner and a movie. Additionally, the highest bidder receives a lifetime VIP pass to Garza’s future basketball camps and a signed pair of game-worn shoes.
NFTs after the bubble bursts
Peter Wood, CEO and co-founder UK-based crypto trading platform CoinBurp, thinks that NFTs will re-emerge stronger after the initial bubble pops.
During an interview with D-Corp on YouTube yesterday, the CEO drew comparisons to Bitcoin in 2017, when the price hit a peak of around $20,000 before it crashed, noting that:
“People called Bitcoin a bubble back in 2017 right? and when the bubble popped they thought it was the end of Bitcoin A few years later it was stronger than ever.”
Wood conceded that “I absolutely think it’s a bubble”, as he feels the exorbitant prices and sales in the NFT market are being “inflated by these guys who are trying to get into the space and trying to make a quick buck.”
However, he highlighted that booms and crashes are all natural parts of market cycles, and that investment into NFT infrastructure will stabilize the industry moving forward:
“When it does [burst], and it will eventually because every financial market has this decline, what’s actually left behind will be a ton of more investment, like our company, who are building specifically for NFTs. The products don’t completely flourish over three to six months. We’re building the infrastructure now.”
Coinburp’s exchange was founded in 2018, after Wood transitioned from his previous project BitBroker, a UK-based crypto brokerage website.
The Weeknd has minted his first NFT collection, raising $2.29 million in sales.
The collection featured previously unreleased music by The Weeknd. A token featuring a full song sold for $490,000.
Despite the criticism surrounding NFTs, the technology could hugely benefit musicians and other creators.
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Abel Tesfaye just made $2.29 million from his collaboration with Nifty Gateway.
The Weeknd Gets Tokenized
Abel Tesfaye, the platinum-selling R&B artist better known as The Weeknd, just made $2.29 million from his first NFT collection.
He sold the pieces through Gemini-owned Nifty Gateway, an NFT marketplace that’s recently sold tokenized work by Calvin Harris,Steve Aoki, and Grimes, among others. The collection was put together alongside visual artist Strange Loop Studios, who The Weeknd worked with to develop the creative direction. The collection also featured a previously unheard The Weeknd song.
The drop included three open editions, two silent auctions, and two raffles. The cheapest pieces priced at $100, while others were sold to the highest bidders.The open editions, which featured excerptsof The Weeknd’s unreleased track, raised $1.4 million in a 15-minute sale window.
The auction’s showstopper was a unique token of an animated video accompanied by the full song. Bidding ran for 24 hours and closed at $490,000 on Sunday evening. Adding in the open editions, the auction made a total of $2.29 million.
When heannouncedthe drop, The Weeknd said:
“I’ve always been looking for ways to innovate for fans and shift this archaic music biz and seeing NFTs allowing creators to be seen and heard more than ever before on their terms is profoundly exciting. I intend to contribute to this movement and can see that very soon it will be weaved into the music industry’s mechanics.”
NFTs Draw Criticism
Like many other artists who have recently used NFTs to release music, The Weeknd faced a backlash from some fans. Many of the technology’s loudest detractors have presented arguments related to theenvironmental impactof blockchain technology, often leaning on questionable statistics with little credible evidence to support their claims. Critics have also pointed to the speculative nature of the NFT market, accusing some artists of profiteering from their fans.
Though some of the bigger artists the space has attracted don’t likely need extra income, NFTs could hugely benefit artists with smaller fanbases. Due to the low royalty fees paid from music streaming, many lesser known musicians are dependent on touring for their main source of income. NFTs could change that through smart contracts, allowing creators to sell their work directly to fans rather than waiting until other intermediaries have taken a cut. These smart contracts can also be programmed to pay a portion of the revenue every time an NFT is resold, which is the norm for those listed on Nifty Gateway.
“NFT” stands for non-fungible token, which means that they are interchangeable. When someone trades a Bitcoin for another Bitcoin, the two assets don’t differ from one another. With NFTs, each piece is different. It’s worth noting that more than one edition of the same NFT can be printed, like the open editions The Weeknd released. The difference lies in the data recorded on the blockchain for each piece. This data is the core of an NFT: it’s what proves the owner and scarcity of an asset like a piece of music. NFTs mostly run on Ethereum, which is where part of the criticism for the space comes from. Ethereum uses proof-of-work, a consensus algorithm that places a heavy toll on the environment due to its reliance on computational power. Soon, though, the smart contract blockchain will move towardsproof-of-stake, which should significantly reduce its carbon footprint.
With this weekend’s sale, The Weeknd has joined a growling list of artists who have recently cashed in on the NFT space’s growing momentum. The Weeknd has won three Grammy awards, performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, and collaborated with stars like Drake and Daft Punk. Since emerging onto the pop scene in 2012, he’s sold millions of records worldwide. His hit singles include ‘Starboy,’ ‘Can’t Feel My Face,’ and ‘Blinding Lights.’
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
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The non-fungible token rush has seen every man and his Doge flock to the non-fungible market to cash in on the recent craze for tokenized collectibles. Even celebrities one would presume to have little engagement with crypto assets have been rushing to cash in, with the likes of John Cleese, Tony Hawk, Lindsay Lohan and Ja Rule cobbling together NFTs of varying artistic merit in recent months.
However, surging NFT adoption has led to public backlash over the perceived carbon footprint associated with crypto asset technologies.
Nifty Gateway pledges to go carbon-negative
NFT platform Nifty Gateway announced on March 29 that it has plans to become carbon-negative in the near future.
In a post shared on the website of Nifty investor Gemini, the platform’s co-founders announced plans to calculate Nifty Gateway’s carbon emissions over time and purchase twice as many carbon offsets at the end of each month — theoretically making Nifty a net remover of carbon overall.
While the post acknowledged the environmental concerns regarding NFT proliferation, Nifty’s founders characterized the concerns as the product of double-standards the crypto industry is often subjected to.
“Ironically, because blockchains give the world such a transparent and accurate accounting of the energy consumption of our industry, they provide a tangible number to focus and dwell on, which has led to a double standard being applied to our industry,” the post said, adding:
“There is no blockchain to account for the carbon footprint of the traditional art world.”
Nifty will also deploy a new token minting system that will utilize Ethereum’s recent EIP-2309 upgrade that it expects to improve the energy efficiency of its token creation by 99%.
Defunct music mag to tokenize back catalog into “sustainable” NFTs
Popular music media publication Spin has partnered with corporate liquidity firm Nax to issue NFTs depicting the magazine’s acclaimed photography, claiming the tokens are environmentally sustainable.
Spin, which now operates as a media company after running as a print magazine between 1985 to 2012, will provide its full content archive to be tokenized and collected.
While the two companies have announced they will work to launch an “energy-friendly” NFT marketplace and issuance platform to host Spin’s tokens, the announcement did not make any estimates as to the upcoming platform’s carbon footprint.
Investing in NFTs is like going to the casino: CEO of BNP Paribas bank
During an interview with Bloomberg on March 24, the CEO of French bank BNP Paribas, John Egan, described NFTs among the most “risky categories of assets.”
Likening NFT investment to visiting a casino, Egan urged collectors to only purchase non-fungibles for fun:
“I don’t think we could find many more risky categories of assets at this point. I think it’s probably akin at this stage, to going into the casino. You know you’re going to spend money but maybe you’re doing it for enjoyment, for the experience.”
“If you win, you’ve got lucky and I think it’s the way we need to think about it at this point; it’s in its initial phase,” he added.
Despite the gambling analogy, Egan predicted that NFTs will become a “bedrock economic infrastructure” within the virtual economy over the next decade.
Pamela Anderson hints at upcoming NFTs
Pamela Anderson has been active on social token platform
BitClout is among several platforms that have emerged to facilitate celebrity NFT cash-grabs, enabling influencers to mint “creator coins” for their fans to trade and collect.
Anderson’s coin is currently valued at more than $12,000, with the celebrity hinting that token holders may soon receive an NFT airdrop:
“My sons told me about NFTs — Who knows… I might just give a Pamela NFT to all my coin holders when the time comes ;)”
Edward Fairchild, one of the founders of LA-based cannabis company THC Design, revealed that he “stumbled” into buying an NFT from acclaimed digital artist “Beeple” that has since increased in value by 30,000% since he purchased it in December.
Recounting the story in an article published by Business Insider on March 14, Fairchild noted that despite being a long-time fan of Beeple, he didn’t have any knowledge about NFTs and had little faith that anybody would want to collect tokenized art at the time of the purchase.
“I had no idea what an NFT was and I’d never heard of Nifty Gateway […] I really didn’t see the point,” he said, adding:
“I had no idea that spending $969 on a work of art would, within three months, turn into an asset valued around $300,000”
Fairchild recalls stumbling across a video from acclaimed NFT artist Beeple while scrolling through Instagram in December of last year. Despite his skepticism regarding tokenized art, the investor’s interest was piqued by Beeple’s 2020 Collection, which featured works converging NFTs with physical art.
Fairchild purchased Beeple’s The Infected Culture for $969, with the artwork showcasing one of three works as a looped gif from a screen in an ornamental display box. The artwork also came with a certificate of authenticity, and a hair sample taken from Beeple.
While the investor speculated that he may be able to sell the artwork for a 100% gain within the next couple of years, Fairchild was unaware of the recent NFT market boom, with secondary sales of Beeple’s works were clearing for double their primary selling price within 10 minutes of the auction’s completion.
Within three months, the asset’s value appears to have appreciated by nearly 30,000%, with a different copy of The Infected Culture selling for $288,000 on Feb. 26.
However, the LA-based investor has since adjusted his targets, listing the artwork for sale at a price of more than $1.6 million on Nifty Gateway.
On March 11, Beeple auctioned off his latest piece “Everydays” for a record-setting $69 million on NFT marketplace MakersPlace.
The recent boom in non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has been accompanied with controversy and concern over the technology’s environmental impact due to the computational power required.
Out of all transaction types on a blockchain, NFTs are some of the most intensive of them all as they often involve numerous complicated transactions and executions of smart contracts in the minting, bidding, selling, and transferring process. This is sometimes reflected in transaction costs reaching hundreds of times more than that of a simple transaction.
Almost 5k is the price to accept a bid on @rariblecom now!! Is it because of ETH high gas fees⛽️ or some type of bug ?
Thoughts ? pic.twitter.com/tYoV1ilB85
— Olive Allen (@IamOliveAllen) February 3, 2021
In the past, the impact of such concerns was minimal, however, in recent weeks, some artists and platforms are starting to cancel NFT plans as a result. Digital artist Joanie Lemercier canceled his second Nifty Gateway drop after becoming aware of the environmental impact of the platform’s sales:
“It turns out my release of 6 CryptoArt works consumed in 10 seconds more electricity than the entire studio over the past 2 years.”
Art portfolio platform ArtStation canceled its NFT drop of prominent artists hours after announcing it due to excessive backlash on the environmental impact of NFTs.
However concrete figures behind NFTs’ real carbon footprint remain elusive.
In December, 2020, computational artists and engineer Memo Akten developed the CryptoArt.wft platform which calculates the energy usage and CO2 emissions of any NFT on SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, or any individual transaction on Ethereum.
Carbon footprint of Supreme x Federal Resrve 02 NFT. Source: CryptoArt.wtf
According to the website, the above NFT on SuperRare has consumed 421 kWh, the equivalent energy to an EU resident’s electricity consumption for 1.5 months. On the site, Akten provided a link to his in-depth analysis behind his calculations, adding that the average NFT has a footprint of approximately 340 kWh.
Offsetra, a project helping to offset cryptocurrencies’ carbon footprints, uses the same methodology as Akten but admitted the calculations have “clear gaps.” These figures, alarming as they are, only apply to Proof-of-Work blockchains (which include Ethereum and Bitcoin) and apply various assumptions..
“For the time being we have included a 20% buffer in our calculations to include both unknown mining pools, and inefficiencies in the network that may lead to energy losses (e.g. such as via waste heat at the point-of-use),” Offsetra added. This 20% buffer was removed on March 8.
However there is light on the horizon with the emergence of Proof-of-Stake blockchains, such as Eth2. These are viable alternatives for NFT minting and use just a fraction of the computational power required to securely transact on them, Akten stated.
“ETH2 aka Serenity [uses] a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm which is orders of magnitude more computationally efficient.”
Nifty Gateway responded to artist Lemercier’s concerns stating that Layer2 scaling on Ethereum can be deployed in weeks and in doing so, “We can reduce the impact, today, by 99%.”
SuperRare wrote an article responding to some of the environmental issues, stating that calculating transaction costs for NFTs was an incorrect approach as the overall costs of the blockchain remained the same regardless of transaction numbers.
“In other words, if everyone took a break from using Ethereum apps and no transactions were sent for a whole day, the carbon emissions of the network would essentially stay the same,”
SuperRare explained that they, along with many in the Ethereum community, are aware of inefficiencies of PoW blochains and promised to donate money to aid in ETH2 research while exploring alternative scaling options.
But what if crypto was good for the planet?
In a counterintuitive approach, Delphi Digital co-founder and head of research Medio Demarco wrote a recent post arguing that cryptocurrency mining could, in fact, help save the planet. He states that the network incentivizes cheap energy which now means clean energy.
Cost and generation of electricity over time. Source: Delphi Digital
Part of his reasoning revolves around miners using otherwise unused clean electricity, allowing clean energy farms to monetize 100% of their production rather than only a fraction of it. This in turn could be enough to fund new clean energy infrastructure. He argued:
“The impact that has on the bottom line can be the difference between funding new solar infrastructure right now or waiting until the economics improve.”
Steve Aoki is releasing a collection of NFTs on Nifty Gateway this Sunday.
A teaser suggests that the NFTs feature music by Aoki, alongside animated visual art.
Aoki is the latest in a slew of stars to participate in the growing NFT trend.
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EDM comes to Ethereum: Steve Aoki is dropping his first NFT collection this week.
Steve Aoki Creates First NFT
The NFT space has a new entrant.
Famed EDM DJ Steve Aoki has confirmed that he’ll be releasing his first set of NFTs through the Gemini-owned marketplace Nifty Gateway this coming Sunday.
A video clip of the first piece features an animation accompanied by a segment of Aoki-style electronic music. Aoki said that the visual art had been designed by Antoni Tudisco, a digital artist who’s been active in the NFT community.
Aoki also confirmed that the drop would feature both limited edition and open edition releases in his announcement. It goes live at 2:00 PM Eastern Time on Sunday.
Dropping my first ever NFT collection next week! Lil teaser 🤫 this is the first piece in the collection. Visual design by @Antonitudisco. Opens LIVE on @niftygateway next Sunday 3/7 at 2PM ET. We’ll have limited edition packs, open editions and more so u will want to be quick. pic.twitter.com/LkUPjIGU81
— Steve Aoki (@steveaoki) February 28, 2021
Steve Aoki is one of the world’s most famous DJs, known for spearheading the EDM movement. He’s releasedubiquitous dance hitswith artists like Afrojack and regularly performs at Tomorrowland, EDM’s poster event.
Stars Adopting NFTs
Nifty Gateway has attracted many big-name artists like Aoki as NFTs begin enjoying more mainstream interest.
Yesterday, Grimes released her first NFTs through the online marketplace. Several limited pieces were sold for $20 in an edition of 100, while two pieces titled “Earth” and “Mars” featuring music by Grimes were released for $7,500 on a limited timeframe. The most valuable piece is a unique called “Death of the Old,” which also features a clip of her music. Bidding is currently at $200,000 with seven hours remaining.
By minting NFTs on Ethereum, musicians can release their work directly to fans without traditional intermediaries.
Aside from the musicians that have recently jumped onto the trend, NFTs have been a major hit in the digital art world.
Arguably the central figure of the movement is Beeple, whose “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” piece is currently on sale at Christie’s. Bidding is at $3 million; the auction closes in 10 days.
The technology has also caught on among sports fans, thanks to games like NBA Top Shot and Sorare. In November, a uniqueKylian Mbappé card sold for $60,000 on Sorare. The fantasy football game recently received investments from Barcelona striker Antoine Greizmann and others in a $50 million raise.
As NFTs have exploded,some have warnedof the risks of high-priced pieces losing their valuations in the future. But for now, the space is booming, with major names joining in weekly.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH, and a number of other cryptocurrencies. They were also part of a raffle for a Beeple NFT.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
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A unique Beeple NFT has sold for $6.6 million. It’s now the most expensive NFT ever created.
In another historic moment for the NFT space, a Christie’s auction for a Beeple piece commences today.
As stars begin to embrace the NFT movement, pop artist Grimes will sell her first digital collectible this weekend.
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A one-of-a-kind Beeple piece has sold for $6.6 million. It’s now the most expensive NFT ever created.
Beeple Breaks His Own Record
A unique NFT by Beeple fetched $6.6 million on the secondary market yesterday.
“CROSSROAD” was first sold in a Nifty Gateway sale in November 2020. The piece is themed on the 2020 U.S. presidential election—the listing featured two different pieces called “Biden win,” and “Trump win.” Beeple explained that the token would change to the “Trump win” design if Donald Trump won the election in a note accompanying the piece. The description read:
“PLEASE FUCKING NOTE: If trump wins, this token will change to that video of sexy boi king trump stomping through hell FOREVER. I don’t want you coming back to me bitching that you spent $2M* on this and now it’s a video of orangeman going HAM and it’s keeping u up at night popping mad boners. should have voted bruh.”
Both Beeple and Nifty Gateway noted the record-breaking sale yesterday.
The artworks appear to depict a crowned Trump running through a burning dystopia and a more peaceful scene where he’s laying on the ground motionless, covered in graffiti. Since Joe Biden won the election, the token features the piece with Trump on the floor. It received a winning bid of $66,666.60.
The $6.6 million price tag means Beeple has broken his own record for creating the world’s most valuable NFT. Previously, another piece of his called “THE COMPLETE MF COLLECTION” held the record at $777,777.77. Beeple, real name Mike Winkelmann, is fairly new to the NFT game, but he’s quickly become a cult favorite.
Many of his pieces have fetched significant sums on Nifty Gateway. The complete drop from his last sale totaled $3.5 million in sales.
The “CROSSROAD” record could soon be eclipsed, though: starting from today, the world-famous auction house Christie’s is running a sale for his “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” piece. The digital artwork features all 5,000 pieces from the first 5,000 days of his “EVERYDAYS” project and is likely his most elaborate piece to date. The sale runs until Mar. 11, and Christie’s will also accept ETH.
Celebrities Flock to NFTs
Several other major artists have recently joined Beeple and the NFT boom, many of them through Nifty Gateway.
This week, the platform will release an NFT series by Claire Boucher, the acclaimed experimental pop musician better known as Grimes.
The drop is happening this Sunday at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. Details of the collection are scarce on both Nifty Gateway’s website and Boucher’s own channels, though Nifty Gateway has posted a tweet mentioning the drop.
Previously, the platform has listed pieces alongside the likes of Mesut Ozil and Justin Roiland.
The Grimes drop is Boucher’s first known entry into the Ethereum ecosystem, though she’s likely somewhat familiar with crypto already. Since 2018, she’s been married to Elon Musk, renowned for his crypto affinity—not least Dogecoin.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and a number of other cryptocurrencies.
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