Power to the Beeple
NFT Mania - $69 Million Dollar Collage Sold
Full Stack
Crypto Goes Mainstream - NFT Sells for $69.3 Million
And I quote, “holy f***”.
This was the immediate reaction from Mike Winkelmann (aka Beeple), a graphic designer from Charleston, South Carolina. His non-fungible token (NFT), titled, “Everydays — The First 5000 Days” was just purchased for $69.3 million.
The sale happened at the famous, 255-year-old auction house, Christie’s, and Beeple’s piece “Everydays”, is the 3rd most expensive artwork sold by a living artist. It’s a collage of thousands of images from the artist from the last 13 years, and it beat bids for in-real-life works by Goya, Delacroix, and Duchamp.
Last month Beeple also snatched up $6.6 million for another NFT.
Clearly, lunch is on Beeple.
For the first time in Christie’s history, it accepted payment in Ethereum (ETH), and they buyer was revealed today to be MetaKovan, the pseudonymous founder of Metapurse, the non-fungible token (NFT) fund. The sale marks a serious entrance for cryptocurrency into the mainstream.
How crypto will eventually be mainstreamed has been a fierce debate among enthusiasts for years. Many thought it would be through online payments and merchant adoption, or even speculation mania.
Instead, the playful nature of NFTs, once thought to be little more than vaporware or sorry tech jokes, have become a thing. For a whole host of reasons, people find them easier to interact with, understand, and cheer.
No one is trying to sell the NFT phenomenon by way of deciphering Misesian economic theory, ending The Fed, or overthrowing the warfare state. Instead, everyone can have an emotional, visceral reaction to art and collectibles. It’s easy.
Maybe that’s how crypto gets to mom and pop: not with bang, but a whimper.
Quick Bytes
Ethereum Miners Voicing Opposition to EIP-1559
Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko confirmed, “We're in agreement about 1559 and a difficulty bomb pushback going into London,” a proposal to address growing transaction fees. EIP-1559 would essentially scrap the current fee market with fixed pricing and burns. This will, of course, impact miner revenue, and they’ve taken notice. Red Panda Mining worked-up nerve enough, in fact, to propose:
“For educational purposes, let's collectively move our hash to http://ethermine.org April 1st for 51 hours.”
If successful, it could significantly challenge the balance of power in terms of determining future network changes.
Max and CZ to Fight the CFTC?
Around the time rumors swirled regarding US regulator CFTC poking around popular exchange Binance’s doings, the company announced partnership with former US Senator and Ambassador to China, Max Baucus. On social media, the Binance co-founder and CEO, CZ, defended the move:
“Many don't seem to understand. So, here is a summary. Sen. Max Baucus, Senator of Montana for 36 years, 11th U.S. Ambassador to China, Advisor to Alibaba … Will help @Binance on Strategy and policy, Government relations, Compliance, And more.”
“And more” seems to be the operative phrase.
NFTs Get Street Cred
Back in late 2017, as the Bitcoin boom was in full flower, OG dev Amir Taaki pronounced it “a failed project,” citing community obsession with speculative prices. Acknowledging the callback, Taaki recently posted his take on NFTs: “I said this at the peak of 2017. This time is different. Especially the ecosystem growth in DeFi. There is a stronger awareness and an ideological mission.”
Search for Regulatory Clarity is Never Ending
US crypto exchange Kraken CEO Jesse Powell quipped:
“Huge asymmetrical risk for exchanges. Have to assume SEC's case is in good faith. Judges tend to side with agencies. If XRP found to be a security, SEC would say that exchanges should have known. Safe harbor pending outcome would have been responsible if only purpose is to ‘test.’”
It was in response to litigation against Ripple that might have far-reaching consequences for exchanges and other crypto projects.
Alex Jones and the $500 Million Missing Laptop
Bitcoin maximalist and television personality Max Keiser once approached conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back in 2011. Keiser was bent on convincing Jones about the potential of Bitcoin, and apparently Jones was less than impressed. Keiser went so far as to plunk down 10,000 Bitcoin onto Jones’ laptop. The price was somewhere around $5 at the time, according to both men. The rest is crypto history, a hilariously funny video recounting, and widespread wondering what would’ve become of Jones had he access to half a billion dollars (at current prices) in Bitcoin.
By C. Edward Kelso, NBTV contributor.
Find more of Kelso’s work here: @coinfugazi / coinfugazi.com