Christie's sells its first digital work for more than 57 million euros

'Everydays: The First 5000 Days', the 'collage' of 5,000 Beeple images.

The auction house Christie's has sold for more than 69 million dollars (more than 57 million euros) a unique non-expendable object (NFT, in its acronym in English), that is, a digital piece made from codes that make it unique.

The work is

, a

of 5,000 images that the artist known as Beeple has collected over the past 13 years.

The figure reached through the bids that have been made from February 26 to this Thursday - with a starting price of 100 dollars (about 82 euros) - represents a new record in this emerging art sector.

In addition, it is the third most expensive auction in the history of the house.

The work of Mike Winkelmann, the artist's real name, is placed behind two pieces by Jeff Koons and David Hockney, according to a statement from Christie's.

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With just a few seconds left until the auction closed, a cascade of buyers pushed the price that looked like it was going to stay at $ 30 million (about 25 million euros) to the final figure of more than 69 million.

More than thirty bidders have tried to get hold of the piece, the first of its kind that Christie's has put up for sale.

The transaction, as usual in this market, was made in Ethereum, created in 2015, with the cryptocurrency ether (similar to bitcoin), which in 2016 was trading at one dollar (less than one euro) and which is currently at 1,600 dollars (about 1,300 euros).

"It cannot in any case be copied or plagiarized because it has been created with

technology

the auction house warned in a statement at the beginning of the bid.

Contrary to what happens when an image is downloaded from the internet (it can be printed, framed or hung in the living room), in this case the entire assembly of codes around Beeple's work prevents its massive reproduction.

It is the system known as

in Spanish, chain of blocks, a private database or a ledger that is distributed among several participants outside of the usual traditional transaction channels, such as banks, for example.

This system guarantees the authenticity of the work because everyone who is part of that chain of blocks keeps a copy and maintains the consensus that this work is unique, the purchase is registered and proof of ownership is provided.

Rarible and OpenSea are the two platforms, outside the traditional circuit in which it operates and dominated by Christie's, where more transactions of NFT objects take place.

Like all the new spaces to which those interested in this art come in search of works, this market must apply the laws of intellectual property and copyright regardless of the medium and medium they use for their creations.

Beeple became one of the most sought-after artists in the NFT market in 2020.

He managed to sell 20 works on the specialized platform Nifty for 3.5 million dollars (more than 2.8 million euros), according to

.

The creator has collaborated with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Apple, Nike and Samsung and has also created images for the concerts of Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and Childish Gambino, among others.

In October 2020, Pablo Rodríguez, a Miami-based art collector, bought a 10-second video of Winkelmann for $ 67,000 (about € 56,000) and sold it for $ 6.6 million (more than $ 5.5 million). euros).