Category: Crypto Art

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CryptoPunk Owner Turns Down $9.5 Million Offer, Could Have Made 11,500% Return

CryptoPunks have gone way beyond cult status with multimillion-dollar price tags and diehard collectors who refuse to part with these exuberant pieces of digital art, no matter what the cost or inducement.

CryptoPunk #6046

Canadian Punk collector Richerd bought CryptoPunk #6046 for 45 ETH (US$83,209) on Mar 31, 2021. Just over six months later he refused an offer for the same Punk, turning down a record-breaking on-chain bid of almost US$10 million, with a potential 11,500 percent return.

Richerd owns three other Crypto Punks: male punk #3936, which is basically the same as #6046 but without the cigarette, as well as two female Punks – #1032 and #1042 – and a variety of other, equally expensive NFTs, including Bored Apes.

@Richerd took to Twitter with his priceless punk #6046 featured as his profile picture, declaring that he will never sell his Punk.

He further explained that his CryptoPunks are deeply tied to the identity of his business’s branding, therefore selling ownership of the image would not be something he would consider.

My identity along with identity of other iconic Punks and apes have value beyond the NFT itself. We have our own brands similar to any other brand and that has value. Because I value my personal brand and identity, this was an easy rejection for me.

Richerd Chen, co-founder, Manifold

Richerd is otherwise known as Richerd Chen, the co-founder of NFT smart contract developer Manifold, a studio behind some of the most inventive NFT projects yet seen. Manifold Creator includes a powerful extension framework that allows creators to install blockchain “apps” into their creator contract, allowing them to create products beyond just visual and audio NFTs and support features beyond simply minting.

Chen added via Twitter: “I have huge conviction in the NFT space and in Punks. When it comes to [the] NFTs space, I think very long-term … To me, my brand, identity, and what I’m building in the NFT space will be way more valuable in the long run.”

See the below CryptoPunk image branding a truck wrapped with Spottie the CryptoPunk Rapper:

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Sotheby’s Launches Its Own NFT Marketplace, Dubbed ‘Sotheby’s Metaverse’

Auction house Sotheby’s has stepped into the metaverse trend by launching its own NFT marketplace, dubbed Sotheby’s Metaverse.

First Auction House to Have Its Own NFT Marketplace

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) is the fastest-growing trend in the DeFi community, with over US$10 billion in trading volume in the third quarter of 2021, with astronomical sums changing hands such as a collection of Bored Ape NFTs that sold for US$25 million last month.

NFTs are also used in the metaverse – virtual as in Decentraland, where players can interact with each other and trade items and pieces of land in the form of NFTs, all in a blockchain-based digital landscape.

With such rapid expansion in the space, Sotheby’s decided to step into the metaverse and become the first auction house to own an NFT marketplace. The platform, launching October 18, is powered by Mojito, an NFT studio and tech platform that provides services including brand identity, strategy and management for NFT businesses.

The platform will host various well-known NFT collectors and artists across the space, including Steve Aoki, Paris Hilton, Whaleshark, Pranksy, Straybits, and more. Some of its lots contain rare Pepe pieces, the famous CryptoKitties, and Time magazine’s NFT collection.

Sotheby’s is one of the world’s largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery and collectibles, with 227 years of history. An auction house with its trajectory could surely boost the NFT industry.

This isn’t the first time Sotheby’s has entered the digital world. As Crypto News Australia reported in June, the auction house accepted crypto for the first time as payment for a rare 101.38-carat diamond.

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Crypto Art Crypto News Ethereum NFTs Tokens

Glenfiddich to Release Rare, Expensive $18K Whisky as NFTs

Premium single-malt Scotch whisky brand Glenfiddich has partnered with new non-fungible token marketplace BlockBar to launch a series of 15 limited-edition NFTs, each worth a tidy US$18,000.

The tokens are offered through BlockBar’s NFT platform, which allows Glenfiddich to digitise and sell exclusive spirits products as NFTs directly to consumers for personal consumption, collecting or investment purposes.

Each token corresponds to a physical bottle of a 1973 Armagnac cask finish Single Malt Scotch Whisky sold by Glenfiddich. The purchaser of each NFT becomes the owner of the physical product represented by the token, which also takes the form of a digital receipt to verify the buyer’s ownership and the authenticity of the product.

Buyers can be assured their accounts won’t be compromised and their NFTs won’t be stolen as the tokens are protected by FireBlocks’ digital asset custody infrastructure and Chainalysis’s compliance technology.

Buyers Retain Resale or Transfer Options

Each buyer has the option to resell or transfer the NFT via the BlockBar platform or redeem it for the physical version. BlockBar is also responsible for storing the product and, on request, delivering it to thirstier buyers.

“Glenfiddich continues to push boundaries in whisky innovation and this mindset transcends to those we partner with,” commented Doug Bagley, chief commercial officer of William Grant & Sons,  Glenfiddich’s parent company.

We are proud to be the first luxury spirits brand to be available on BlockBar at the time of the launch. BlockBar brings a heightened level of authenticity to our brand via its proprietary NFT platform and creates an elite club of distinguished collectors with whom we’re excited to build long-term relationships.  

Doug Bagley, chief commercial officer, William Grant & Sons

The first series of Glenfiddich NFTs will launch October 19 on a first in, best dressed basis. Buyers can purchase them from BlockBar with Ethereum (ETH) or by credit card.

“BlockBar values transparency, authenticity and quality assurance, and Glenfiddich is the perfect partner to mark the launch of our mission to bridge the physical and digital worlds of luxury,” said BlockBar CEO Dov Falic. 

We’re proud to be providing the first direct-to-consumer, fully authenticated wine and spirits platform via an NFT marketplace. This is a momentous time for the crypto, NFT, and luxury wine and spirits communities, and we can’t wait to announce many more exclusive releases in future.

Dov Falic, CEO, BlockBar

NFT Space Continues to Show its Versatility

Not only does the Glenfiddich/BlockBar partnership herald the advent of the drinkable NFT, this month Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was awarded the world’s first NFT chess trophy after winning the Meltwater Champions Tour.

Not all has been rosy in the blooming NFT garden, however. Last month, when Time magazine announced a new collection of NFTs offering “unlimited access” to its website throughout 2023, all 4,676 tokens tied to the digital artworks sold out in minutes. The sale rush clogged the Ethereum blockchain, sending gas fees through the roof – so much so that buyers spent almost four times as much on transaction fees as they did on the NFTs themselves.

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Blockchain CBDCs Crypto Art Crypto News Ethereum NFTs

New Visa NFT Program Aims To ‘Help Creators Reach New Audiences’

Financial services giant Visa has partnered with former major league baseballer Micah Johnson to launch an initiative to help digital creators learn about using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies, the company announced in a media statement.

In August, Visa sprang across the NFT board by purchasing a CryptoPunks NFT avatar for US$150,000 worth of Ethereum. The company now aims to bring more NFT awareness to a larger audience, in a new initiative it has launched jointly with Johnson.  

Bringing Blockchain to a Wider Audience

Johnson, a former MLB player turned crypto artist and creator of the NFT series character Aku, has launched along with Visa a program aiming to assist digital creators and small-business owners to better understand how NFTs work, and how blockchain can be used to create and mint digital art.

The initiative will select a group of creators, sponsor them and consult with them on NFTs and using blockchain to enter the digital art scene.

Johnson came onto the digital art scene in 2020 when he launched Aku, an animated astronaut character that became the first NFT to be optioned for a feature film.

Visa also aims to build connections between NFT creators and its current network of payment partners. Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, explained that Visa will help participants “navigate both crypto and traditional payment infrastructure”:

Visa Aims to Operate as a Universal Payment Channel

The financial services powerhouse is very active in the blockchain and crypto space. Earlier this month, Visa announced plans for the development of a protocol to make cross-border payments with Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins from any blockchain connected to its network.

Visa is developing the protocol to allow customers to send digital currencies between blockchains so as to operate as a “universal payment channel” (UPC). The payment channel will connect CBDC networks between countries and will link CBDCs with private stablecoins.

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ChainLink Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs Scams

Banned Convicted Art Forger Launches NFT Collection; Will It Succeed?

Convicted German art forger Wolfgang Beltracchi has entered the NFT world, launching his very own digital NFT museum. Beltracchi is recreating the world’s most expensive painting, da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, in the form of 4,606 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.

Recreating “The Greats”

In a new project, aptly named “The Greats”, Beltracchi will be recreating – not forging – one of the most controversial paintings in art history.

Painted in whole or in part by Leonardo da Vinci between 1499-1510, Salvator Mundi was in 2017 sold at a Christie’s auction to a proxy for Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. It had been mistaken for a copy for the previous 500 years until the truth was finally revealed in 2011.

Salvator Mundi, believed to have been painted by da Vinci between 1499-1510.

According to The Greats’ website, the project will feature seven different takes on Salvator Mundi, based on the seven different eras of art history. Beltracchi is said to have redesigned the famous painting in 4,608 copies in his style.

The infamous forger conned the art world out of approximately 35 million euros between 1980 and 2011 before he was finally arrested by German authorities and sentenced to six years in prison, of which he served only three.

Since his incarceration, Beltracchi has been barred from exhibiting and selling his art by art museums, auction houses and galleries, hence his entry into the NFT market:

The NFT market offers artists a platform to market themselves independently and makes them independent from traditional art market mechanisms.

Wolfgang Beltracchi

Not all of the NFTs are currently exhibited on the website, with a spokesperson indicating they would only be revealed when the sale starts later this month.

In order to ensure the NFTs are not exploited, The Greats will be making a “hidden sale”. Chainlink’s Verifiable Random Function (VRF) will prevent buyers knowing which NFT they are minting.

Will Beltracchi Be Able to Pull It Off?

Confidence in NFT artists is not all that high of late, and many collectors are no doubt wondering if investing in the work of a convicted criminal is their best bet. Just last week, Crypto News Australia reported on the ‘Evolved Apes’ rug-pull in which investors lost a cool US$2.7 million.

Investors in Iconic Sol, an NFT project on the Solana blockchain, were also left in the lurch after the company failed to deliver several pieces of art and made off with US$500,000.

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Crypto Art Crypto News Investing NFTs

The Future of Music? Fans Can Now Invest in Music NFTs and Share in the Royalties

Financial services company Republic has announced the launch of “Republic Music”, an investment product that claims to offer “an entirely new way to create, produce and share royalties from music”.

Not to be confused with Republic Records, a New York-based label owned by Universal, Republic Music has partnered with crypto company Opulous to give fans the chance to “invest in the music they love for as little as US$100 and share in the rights to royalties”.

The idea is based on S-NFTs, or Security NFTs. The cryptosphere likes to argue that NFTs are not securities as such, as in the US they are subject to regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But Republic views S-NFTs as a kind of security that can be invested in with the expectation of future profit.

The songs are going to be placed in an LLC, and you will be a member of the LLC. You will have a share of ownership in that song, and a right to the royalty on the back end.

Pialy Aditya, chief strategy officer, Republic

S-NFTs are overseen by the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the finance industry’s self-regulatory body. Thus US-based investors will have to comply with relevant know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations to be able to get a piece of the action.

This hinges on Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF), which allows private companies to raise up to US$5 million from non-accredited investors.

Rapper Lil Pump Rides Republic’s First Wave

According to a Republic press release, “As part of the first wave of planned releases, [US rapper] Lil Pump is offering fans and investors the opportunity to be part of his forthcoming single Mona Lisa (feat. Soulja Boy), produced by Jimmy Duval.”

Rapper Lil Pump, first cat off the Republic rank. Source: vulture.com

Republic considers its music platform a “vertical” of its primary investment business, and is planning several other verticals geared toward fractional investments in different aspects of the creator economy.

In the new world order, early supporters are going to be rewarded, the artists are going to get paid and the community is going to grow stronger.

Pialy Aditya, chief strategy officer, Republic

More than six months ago, Crypto News Australia reported how some artists were considering directly offering their music in the form of tokenised products sold on DeFi marketplaces, rather than having it handled by traditional third parties such as record companies. It’s taken this long to start to become a reality.

Earlier this month, TikTok announced its series of NFT collectibles in collaboration with celebrity partners including US rapper Lil Nas X, Canadian musician/producer Grimes and NFT entrepreneur Gary ‘Vee’ Vaynerchuk.

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Crypto Art Crypto News DeFi Investing NFTs

Think the NFT Market is Overheated? Now You Can Short It

Singapore-based decentralised derivatives exchange SynFutures is launching NFTures, a product that will allow users to short, or bet against, the future prices of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) such as CryptoPunks.

Holding NFTs and hoping their value increases so you can resell them for a profit is currently the only way you can make anything out of them. Many are questioning the value of NFTs, with the tokens serving no purpose besides being able to be bought or sold.

SynFutures is looking to change the way we derive profit from NFTs.

The Mania Continues

NFTs have realised immense growth in recent months, generating US$10.7 billion in trading volume during Q3, a staggering increase of 704 percent on the previous quarter. Projects like EtherRock, CryptoPunks, and Bored Ape Yacht Club have generated sales worth millions of dollars. Earlier this month, internet personality and investor Gary “Gary Vee” Vaynerchuk sold a handful of NFT doodles worth more than pieces from famous artists such as Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock.

SynFutures is getting on the NFT train with NFTures, a product targeted toward retail investors. It uses a similar user interface to dating app Tinder in an effort to streamline the trading process, while at the same time bringing game-like elements and leverage to NFT markets.

NFTures is a decentralised protocol based on SynFutures’ existing synthetic automatic market maker (sAMM) model to match its competitors.

NFTures user interface. Source: SynFutures

Allowing Users to Maximise Profits

Rachel Lin, CEO and co-founder of SynFutures, said of the new venture:

Every healthy financial market needs a way for participants to take both sides of the market, and NFTs are no exception … By providing a way for users to take long or short positions in NFTs, we’re enabling more robust trading strategies that allow users to maximise profit opportunities while hedging risk and exposure.

Rachel Lin, CEO and co-founder, SynFutures

The company explained further in a statement that: “Those who wanted to speculate on downward trends had to bet against entire markets, shorting the native tokens of NFT-centric products like Axie Infinity ($AXS) and SupeRare ($RARE).

“With NFTures, SynFutures has created an intuitive platform for traders to long or short specific NFTs at any time and take advantage of better price discovery.”

The Risk Remains as NFT Market Continues to Grow

NFTures’ contracts are based on spot price oracles from decentralised exchanges such as SushiSwap and Uniswap, along with NFT fractionalisation protocols including Fractional and Unic.ly.

As with traditional futures markets, the spot and futures prices converge on a set periodic schedule.

Risks of oracle price manipulation remain a concern for many as the budding NFT market continues to grow in size and liquidity. Product designer and Coinbase investor Bobby Goodlatte took to Twitter to provide his take on the future of NFTs:

Albeit with some concerns, NFTures highlights the renewed interest in NFT-related DeFi projects, including the tokenisation of physical assets and NFT-backed collateralised lending. As the popularity of DeFi increases, investors are looking to seize niche markets within the industry.

Earlier this year, SynFutures raised US$14 million in a Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital. Investors included Pantera Capital, Bybit, Framework Ventures, Kronos, and IOSG Ventures. SynFutures indicated that it aims to focus its entire platform on derivatives and wants to eliminate the barriers to entry to the derivatives market.

Lin has stated that SynFutures’ overall goal is to “democratise the futures market”, and added:

We’re aiming to level the playing field for the average investor by cultivating a free and open market for derivatives trading.

Lauren Stephanian of Pantera Capital also said:

NFT-specific derivatives products will add more depth to the nascent NFT market, just as options and futures contracts play an important role in established financial markets.

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Crypto Art NFTs

Gary Vee’s Hand-Drawn Doodles Net $1.2 Million, Outselling Warhol and Pollock

It’s pretty clear that NFT season is well and truly under way, but who would have thought that a handful of childlike doodles from an internet personality and investor could outsell iconic artists including Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock?

Gary Vaynerchuk (known as Gary Vee) has done just that.

Gary Vee’s Empathetic Elephant hand-drawing sold for US$412,500. Source: Christies

Gary Vee’s “VeeFriends”

In May this year, Gary Vee launched “VeeFriends“, an NFT platform that aimed to offer token owners access to exclusive events “focused around business, marketing, ideas, creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation, competition and of course, fun”.

“VeeFriends” is a 286-piece collection of animals hand-drawn doodles by Vaynerchuk himself which he has turned into a collection of 10,255 NFTs. According to Vee, the animals represent human traits that he most admires and that lead to “happiness and success”.

To date it has been a roaring success, fuelled no doubt by the strength of Vee’s celebrity status. Total sales to date since its mid-year launch exceed US$90 million, with the floor price currently sitting at 14.65 ETH (US$49,300).

Vee Dominates Christie’s Auction

In a Christie’s auction in New York this past week, Vee sold five paper versions of his hand-drawn doodles, each for over US$100,000, bringing in a total of US$1.26 million.

Up for sale were the hard copy versions of Empathetic Elephant, Gratitude Gorilla, “Diamond Hands” Hen, “You’re Gonna Die” Fly, and Tremendous Tiger. Emphatic Elephant achieved the highest selling price of US$412,500.

Gary Vee’s Tremendous Tiger hand-drawing sold for US$237,500. Source: Christies

I grew up with collectibles, antiques and sports cards … My mom and dad were into that stuff too, and they would have been intimidated even walking into Christie’s two decades ago and now their son is selling stuff in it … It’s the American dream.

Gary Vaynerchuk

An ‘Uncomfortable’ and ‘Humbling’ Experience

Vaynerchuk described the experience as “a paradigm shift” and when asked about his doodles outselling many prominent artists, he responded it was “uncomfortable” and “humbling”.

The real question that remains to be answered is to what extent these prices are a product of mania, strong marketing and/or the celebrity status of the “artist”?

Overall, the auction provided a fascinating account of the inter-relationship between analogue (paper) and digital (NFT) art. For many, analogue is still preferable, as reported by Crypto News Australia in August when a paper-based Steve Jobs job application fetched 15 times the NFT sale price.

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Blockchain Crypto Art NFTs Scams Solana

Alleged 17-Year-Old Artist Sells Fake NFTs in $500,000 RugPull

Iconic Sol, an NFT project on the Solana blockchain, has apparently rugged its investors after failing to deliver several artwork pieces and disappearing with US$500,000.

A 17-year-old 3D artist is presumed to be behind the project. The teenager promised to deliver 8,000 NFT artworks on the project’s Discord channel and some of the tokens were supposed to be available in an October 1 presale. A total of 2,000 NFTs were up for grabs at a price of 0.5 SOL, many of them selling out quickly. 

The presale generated the anonymous artist 1,000 SOL, or US$138,000, but the estimated amount of stolen funds is over half a million dollars. The event was reported by SOL Big Brain, a popular member of the Solana NFT community:

Data from Solana Explorer shows the person(s) behind the project has already sent the money to different addresses. And just as concerning for investors, instead of receiving the NFTs the artist sent them a bunch of random emojis.

Beware of Fake and Non-Existent NFTs

This is probably the first rugpull on the Solana network. But it’s hard to say as controversy still surrounds a previous Solana project backed by American rapper Lil Uzi called Eternal Beings, whose floor price plunged after the rapper deleted his Twitter posts regarding the project.

Fake and non-existing NFTs are becoming an increasing concern in the DeFi space. As Crypto News Australia reported, last month an NFT collector paid almost US$500,000 worth of ETH for an NFT that never existed.

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Blockchain Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs Social media Tokens

‘TikTok Top Moments’ NFTs Launch Featuring Lil Nas X and Grimes

TikTok is set to release a series of NFT collectibles with celebrity partners including American rapper Lil Nas X, Canadian musician/producer Grimes and NFT entrepreneur Gary ‘Vee’ Vaynerchuk.

TikTok Passes One Billion Active Users

The hugely popular Chinese video-sharing and social media app, which now boasts more than one billion monthly active users worldwide, will issue six different NFT drops based on what it terms “culturally significant” videos shared on the service.

Rapper Lil Nas X leads the TikTok NFT rollout. Source: Billboard magazine

The TikTok Top Moments collection kicks off on October 6 with Lil Nas X as the subject of the first drop, with an NFT based on a TikTok video by Seattle-based artist Rudy Willingham. The video, a stop-motion tribute to the rapper’s Montero (Call Me By Your Name) music video, has already garnered millions of interactions via the service.

Subsequent ‘Moments’ in the collection will feature Gary Vee, social media personality Bella Poarch, and musician Grimes, who in March this year sold her crypto art NFT collection for US$6 million.

NFT ‘pioneer’ artist Grimes features in the Moments collection. Source: foxnews.com

TikTok will offer both one-off and larger “limited edition” runs of its NFT collectibles. Other artists in the pipeline include Brittany Broski (aka Kombucha Girl), rappers Curtis Roach and FNMeka, and TikTok video regular Jess Marciante.

TikTok plans to showcase all six of its one-off videos at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York, this month.

NFTs Minted on Immutable X

The NFTs will be minted on Immutable X, a layer-2 scaling solution that runs on top of Ethereum. Immutable X attracts lower transaction fees and faster completion times than Ethereum’s mainnet, plus it uses significantly less energy than Ethereum’s proof-of-work consensus model.

The first six months of 2021 have seen some US$2.5 billion worth of trading volume across the top NFT marketplaces. Since then, however, leading marketplace OpenSea has recorded more than US$3.4 billion in volume in August alone.

That same month, Audius, a music streaming platform on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, partnered with TikTok to create TikTok Sounds. As a result, the $AUDIO token surged 200 percent.

All very ironic when you consider that just a month earlier, TikTok banned its users from promoting crypto-related financial products and services and also prohibited ads relating to crypto.