Category: Crypto Art

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Rammstein Lead Singer NFT and Dinner – A Cool €100,000

Till Lindemann, the lead singer of infamous German metal band Rammstein, has released a NFT collection that includes a music video priced at €100,000 (A$160,000).

The token is one of 10 and offers exclusive rights to an unreleased music video filmed at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Successful bidders will be “invited (+1) to a dinner with Till Lindemann in Moscow, including flights, accommodation, and a visa for the buyer and companion”.

Currently, the only other item in Lindemann’s NFT collection is a portrait of the singer priced at €200. This has already sold several times. It is expected that more items will be added in the future.

Is This Something Fans Actually Want?

There are undoubtedly a number of wealthy Lindemann acolytes out there who would love to have dinner with their idol. But how many Rammstein fans have upwards of €100,000 to blow on a music video and a meal with him in Moscow? None of the videos has sold yet, so we’ll have to wait and see. Some fans seem disappointed that Lindemann is branching out into NFTs, though.

Global NFT Mania Continues

Recently, German car manufacturer Audi became the latest brand to jump on the NFT bandwagon, releasing six NFT artworks inspired by the new Audi A8L 60 TFSIe. In China, a number of real estate NFTs were unveiled at last month’s Taobao Maker Festival. But the cream of the NFT crop has to be the person who bought a drawing of a plain grey rock for US$103,000 this week. It’s likely that NFTs will continue to boom for a while longer, but that’s one hell of a top signal.

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Australia Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Steve Jobs’ Job Application Auction Offers Real vs NFT Comparison

It’s an aged, yellowed piece of paper with printed text from an old typewriter and some scribbly, hard-to-read handwriting on it. But it isn’t just any piece of paper. The item in question is the first-ever job application of Steve Jobs, the man who built the Apple computer empire out of his family home garage in Los Altos, California.

As the worlds of finance and art combine, the demand for NFTs paired with the sale of real-world items is growing at a rapid rate, generating a lot of money and interest.

The physical item auction of the late Steve Jobs’ first job application was hosted on the stevejobsjobapplication.com website by internet entrepreneur Olly Joshi and closed on July 28. The NFT version went on sale separately, through NFT marketplace Rarible.

Physical Copy Achieved Higher Price Than NFT

From a total of 43 bidders who took part in the auction, the winning bid was US$343,000, almost 15 times the sale price of the NFT version, which sold for just US$23,000.

The Steve Jobs’ Job Application from 1973 is a unique piece of history from the exact moment that a dreamer changed the world. It’s a snapshot into the mind of a future genius at a moment where any small deviation from the path ahead would have meant a very different world today. This NFT listing is part of the world’s first Physical vs NFT auction.

rarible.com
Steve Jobs’ job application

The item description for the Steve Jobs’ Job Application NFT listed on Rarible adds: “The motivation behind this auction is to gain a further understanding on where true ‘value’ sits in today’s world: the physical, the digital, or can value co-exist in both? This will be the first ever minted Steve Jobs’ Job Application NFT, created from the physical Steve Jobs’ job application.”

Physical Item Value Increased 1200% in Four Years

Auctioneers Winthorpe Ventures said it was decided to offer the document in two formats in two separate auctions “to test the appetite for digital assets in contrast with physical equivalents”.

Jobs’ application has gone under the hammer on three other occasions, selling for US$18,750 in 2017, $174,757 in 2018, and $222,400 in March. Prior to the latest auction, the physical item’s worth increased more than 1,200 percent over four years. The latest sale of $343,000 saw the value appreciate a further 55 percent in five months.

Crypto News Australia recently reported how Australian artists are creating their own NFT exhibitions, as NFT mania sweeps the country. In June, a highly valuable collection of historic Australian photographs was auctioned as NFTs.

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China Crypto Art NFTs

Chinese Internet Giant Supports Real Estate NFTs in its Entrepreneur Festival

Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao is unveiling its self-proclaimed “socialist cyberpunk” housing digital collection as nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in a first-time event showcasing NFTs at the Taobao Maker Festival, which concludes on July 25.

Huang Heshan, a Chinese digital artist and creator of the “Bu Tu Backyard”, is a star of this year’s festival, held in Shanghai. The annual event celebrating Chinese language, artwork and entrepreneurship will display the “Bu Tu Gardens” as part of his “Toorich City Series”.

Toorich luxury villas. Source: Toorich

With more than 1,000 virtual structures available for purchase, interested individuals can choose from 10 “luxury single-family villas”, 300 “high-end units”, and 1,000 “umbrella” parasols. However, these will not be purchasable with cryptocurrency as payment will need to be made in Chinese Yuan.

Toorich high-end units. Source: Toorich

These NFTs are purely artistic works but with the technology expanding, crypto-driven virtual real estate has seen a massive upsurge in interest. Binance’s NFT marketplace recently hosted its ‘100 Creators’ campaign and Australians are also in on the act, with an NFT art exhibition held in Adelaide earlier this year.

NFT Technology Facilitates Art and Artists

The partnership of NEAR protocol and Web3Games was essential to the creation of the Toorich City Series NFTs. Each time an artist casts an NFT on the chain, a certain fee is required. The low casting cost is one of the reasons Huang Heshan chose to cooperate with NEAR.

If I were to issue the NFTs on legacy blockchain platforms, it would cost me a few hundred US dollars to issue each NFT, whereas on NEAR, an environmentally friendly blockchain platform, minting an NFT could cost below 1 cent.

Huang Heshan

The technical standard of an NFT not only helps to better determine the copyright or ownership but can also benefit artists by including a royalty-sharing function. NEAR has played an important role in lowering the barriers for the use of blockchain technology and promoting the use of NFT technology by the mainstream.

I thought that the concepts of blockchain and NFT would be very complicated, and it would be very troublesome to operate, but the result was unexpected.

Huang Heshan

NFTs are still a niche technology, but applications are numerous in the art world. Mintbase, NEAR’s NFT platform, has provided technical support for next month’s German music festival Wilde Moehre, integrating the real world with the virtual world. The tickets for this festival, to be held from August 6-9, were also made into NFTs through Mintbase, resulting in reduced channel loss and the elimination of fake tickets and ticket resellers.

NFTs are beyond just digital collectibles. As an innovative technology, they can power many use cases across different industries. NEAR’s goal is to bridge the users of today’s internet to the blockchain-based web of the future.

Amos Zhang, general manager, NEAR Asia
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Adelaide Australia Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Australian Artists Are Creating Physical NFT Art Exhibitions

Australian multimedia artist Dave Court is the first in his field to stage a physical Non-Fungible Token (NFT) exhibition in his home state of South Australia, and one of the first in the southern hemisphere.

Court, who is based in the SA capital of Adelaide, decked out an otherwise ordinary brick house in colours and light as part of a unique art installation. The house has since been demolished, though collectors can still purchase a digital piece of it online.

Interior of the former Ironbank house, as painted by artist Dave Court

In what would become Court’s so-named ‘House Party’ exhibition, the house at Ironbank in the Adelaide Hills was enhanced with a kaleidoscope of colours in paint and light just before it was torn down in 2020.

It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and then the opportunity came up to paint a house last year … I combined that with other things I was working on in the studio and it [all] came to fruition in this exhibition.

Adelaide artist Dave Court
Artist Dave Court in his Adelaide studio. Image: Angela Skujins/CityMag

The digital works that have outlived the house feature augmented and virtual reality which effectively recreates the original building. Included among these works is NFT artworks that can be bought online with cryptocurrency.

NFT Artworks Break Out in Australia and Worldwide

Earlier in June, Hobart’s Museum of Art & Philosophy (MAP) launched Australia’s first NFT gallery in the Tasmanian capital with an exhibition to coincide with Hobart’s annual Dark Mofo festival.

In June, Binance announced its own NFT Marketplace, saying it would support the NFTs of various creators from Australia through its ‘100 Creators’ campaign.

NFTs are also making waves in the international art world. Just two weeks ago, Sotheby’s sold an NFT artwork for a world record price of US$11,754,000.

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Australia Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Australia’s Most Valuable Historic Photo Collection to be Auctioned as NFTs

A treasure trove of more than 100,000 original photographs dating back to the 1880s and spanning five generations has been found in the spare bedroom of a Melbourne family home, hidden under some kids’ bunk beds. The entire catalogue, estimated to be worth millions, will be auctioned by Lloyds Australia.

From Ned Kelly to Phar Lap … and the Queen

The collection includes original glass plate negatives of some rare historical gems, including pictures of Ned Kelly’s armour taken during his trial in 1800, the 1915 Gallipoli landing, Queen Elizabeth II (when she was just a princess), and famous racehorse Phar Lap winning the Melbourne Cup in  1930.

Lloyds Auctions Australia

The Rose Stereograph Company Collection, described by Lloyds as “one of the most important photographic collections in Australia if not the world“, is to be auctioned online, complete with NFTs to offer blockchain proof of ownership.

According to Lee Hames, Chief Operations Officer for Lloyds Auctions, “This has to be one of the most important photographic collections in Australia, if not the world.”

There are original glass negatives in this collection that capture the very first moments of not only Australian but world history and some that may even change the course of history. We believe this to be a world first to offer these tangible original glass plates which rival any modern photographic resolution.

Lee Hames, Lloyds Auctions CEO
M.V. Duntroon & Sydney Harbour Bridge, 1 of 1, Glass Plate Negative 1:1, NFT 1:1, original size: 8.8 x 13.9cm. Original negative & minted NFT are both included in this auction. Lloyds Auctions Australia

Collections Viewable Online

M.V. Duntroon & Sydney Harbour Bridge (above) is just one moment in time from the prestigious collection. Collections such as this one will be viewable online as the art world continues to adopt NFTs and digital gallery exhibitions.

Customers will be able to bid for ownership on both the Lloyds platform and in cryptocurrency on leading NFT marketplaces for rare digital collectibles. Winning bidders will receive the minted NFT along with a tangible one-of-one original glass plate negative.

Just last week, Lloyds announced it would accept major cryptocurrencies as payment for collector or sports cars.

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Blockchain Crypto Art NFTs

Jay-Z NFT Goes On Sale at Sotheby’s – This Time, Approved by Jay-Z

An attempted sale of rapper Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt as an NFT was recently stopped by the US District Court of New York.

As one of the owners of Jay-Z’s label Roc-A-Fella Records, Damon Dash allegedly attempted to sell a tokenised version of the album. However, Dash stated he was only selling his stake in the company.

No More Doubt About Reasonable Doubt NFT

In any case, NFT artworks of the Reasonable Doubt album will be going on sale at Sotheby’s – this time with the approval of Jay-Z himself.

From June 25, Sotheby’s put up for auction an NFT commemorating the album, just in time for its 25th anniversary. Bidding starts at $1000 and will continue until July 2.

An undisclosed percentage of the sale proceeds will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation, an organisation that provides scholarships to low-income and at-risk students.

The artwork is called “Heir to the Throne” – which was reportedly the original name of the album in its early stages of conception. The artwork was created by Brooklyn-based Afro-American artist and curator Derrick Adams, who has maintained a long professional relationship with Jay-Z.

Over the years Jay has collected and supported my work and so this collaboration is particularly fulfilling. With this NFT project, we jointly embrace the opportunity to further the conversation about how artists of different mediums contribute to a more inclusive society. Jay’s album Reasonable Doubt changed the game 25 years ago, and continues to influence so many of us.

Artist and curator Derrick Adams

This NFT is the first to be created by Adams – and the first to be sold by Jay-Z. The artwork can be viewed at Sotheby’s Decentraland art gallery.

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

World Record Price Paid For CryptoPunk at Auction: $11.8 Million

Sotheby’s sold a non-fungible token (NFT) artwork for a whopping US$11,754,000 this week, setting what the London auction house described as “a new world record [price] for a single CryptoPunk”.

Sotheby’s tweet, June 11

Titled “Covid Alien”, CryptoPunk 7523 is considered to be a rare NFT collectible, one of nine “alien punks” in a series and the only one with a COVID-appropriate mask.

The buyer is believed to be Israeli entrepreneur Shalom Meckenzie, the largest shareholder of online sportsbook and daily fantasy sports company DraftKings. Meckenzie has a net worth of US$1.6 billion, according to Forbes.

Once Free, Now Worth Millions

There are a total of 10,000 CryptoPunks, with no two exactly alike. When launched in 2017 by Larva Labs, original CryptoPunks were made available for free but several have changed hands recently for millions of dollars.

Two other “alien punks” sold for more than $7.5 million each, according to CryptoSlam, and seven more have gone for over a million each. In May, a collection of nine CryptoPunks sold for almost $17 million at Christie’s.

CryptoPunks are now among the most sought-after NFTs on the market … We’re excited to continue to explore new and interesting ways to present these cutting-edge works.

Michael Bouhanna, contemporary art specialist at Sotheby’s

Anyone can view the artworks represented by NFTs, but only the buyer has official status as owner. Do NFTs have value? It is debatable whether NFTs actually have value, especially at the prices they are being sold for. All manner of digital objects – images, videos, music, text and tweets – can be turned into an NFT. American rock group Kings of Leon released their latest album in NFT earlier this year, allowing fans exclusive access to limited-edition vinyl or future concert seats.

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Australia Coinjar Crypto Art Crypto News Melbourne NFTs

Melbourne Street Artist Lushsux Has Made Over $500,000 From NFTs

Lushsux has become one of the most popular street artists in Melbourne, reaching international recognition for his large mural paintings depicting internet meme culture. He has now become one of the highest-paid artists in Australia, selling his NFTs for over $500,000 AUD.

Over the weekend, Lushsux has sold over $130k worth of NFTs with some pieces that originally sold for $333 are today reselling for over $20k.

Some of his most popular (and controversial) paintings represent the latest trends in the meme culture. His artwork ranges from politicians like Donald Trump in the form of ice cream, or popular icons in the crypto scene, including Doge, Elon Musk with a “genetically engineered catgirl” and the CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao with laser eyes.

“Funds are Safu,” a limited edition at Makersplace

In an interview with Coinjar, Lushsux admitted he was not deep into the cryptocurrency space at first, but he saw a great opportunity in it and, especially, in the NFT industry.

The idea of selling JPEGs and other digital content for thousands of dollars seemed like a “cool idea” to him, and he’s now selling his work in markets like Rarible and Nifty Gateway.

I sold a piece called ‘The 8’ for 88.8 ETH, or like $250,000. I’m literally one of Australia’s highest paid living artists. Top 20 at least. And some guy is trying to sell one of my Elon Musk portraits for $1.4 million. You could buy a Whiteley for that price. Or, like, a 2-bedroom house in Melbourne.

Lushsux

NFTs are still in season

NFTs are Digital creations that provide certain benefits for their creators, like copyrights, transparency, and better revenue. Some of these artworks are being sold for hundreds of thousands —and even millions. Read more about it in our guide to NFTs.

The NFT craze reached the mainstream due to these millionaire purchases, calling the attention of artists, musicians, and other celebrities who now see it as an opportunity to promote their work. Even former NSA consultant Edward Snowden auctioned an NFT for US$5.4 million.

Lushsux said NFTs are an “excuse to spend more time building things in the digital world,” although he doesn’t believe the market will be sustainable in a few months.

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

TIME Magazine is Auctioning NFTs and Accepting Crypto For Subscriptions

TIME magazine has revealed that it is going to be joining the blockchain and crypto space by accepting crypto as payment for their digital subscriptions, as well as holding an NFT auction.

Three Time Magazine Covers to be Auctioned

TIME has designed its first-ever cover exclusively as an NFT, featuring the title “Is Fiat Dead?” It’s a reference to one of its most iconic cover designs from the April 8, 1966 “Is God Dead?” and April 3, 2017 “Is Truth Dead?” editions — and an acknowledgement of the rise of digital currency as an asset class.

Time on SuperRare

TIME’s red border is one of our or most iconic assets. We already have an existing business with the cover store in the analogue space. Moving into the NFT collectibles is a natural extension for us […]

Keith Grossman, TIME magazine President

Grossman also stated that it is their job to provide access to world-class content regardless of medium or payment type. One of their long term goals are to provide the media industry with a “turnkey enterprise solution” through crypto and NFT offerings, inspired by the work being done by The Washington Post with Zeus.

And so our goal is to get there first to get there fast. And then to be able to open it up to others.

Keith Grossman, TIME magazine President

TIME Accepting Crypto for Their Magazine Subscription

One of the other steps the magazine is taking, is by accepting crypto for their digital subscription. As yet it isn’t known which currencies they will be accepting, as soon as we find out we’ll update it here.

Time will be joining a growing list of major U.S. companies that are using/accepting cryptocurrencies including Tesla, Mastercard, Microsoft and many more.

TIME Magazine looking for a crypto savvy CFO

TIME is looking for a CFO, and one of the key job requirements? “Comfort with cryptocurrencies.” The Job listing just shows the magazine’s conviction to not be left behind the technological curve.

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Eight CarbonDrop Artworks From Renowned NFT Artists Attracts Over $2.2 Million

Eight CarbonDrop Artworks From Renowned NFT Artists Attracts Over $2.2 Million

Popular digital artists, including Beeple, are auctioning carbon-neutral artworks as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). This is part of a collaborative effort between the NFT artists and the Open Earth Foundation to create awareness of climate change and essentially raise funds to support its CarbonDrop initiative, which is aimed at improving the planetary condition.

A total of eight artworks have been issued under this initiative, all of which see over US$2 million bids.

CarbonDrop NFTs Attracts Over $2M Bids

The artists involved in the CarbonDrop initiative include Beeple, Refik Anadol, Sara Ludy, Mieke Marple, GMUNK, Kyle Gordon, Andres Reisinger, and FVCKRENDER. The carbon-neutral NFTs are being auctioned on Nifty Gateway, one of the leading NFTs marketplace. So far, the eight artworks combined have amassed US$2,218,951 in bids at the time of writing.

Beeple’s ‘OCEAN FRONT’ NFT has the highest bids in terms of value. It attracted a US$2 million bid during press time. Interestingly, Justin Sun, the CEO and founder of the Tron blockchain, is one of the highest bidders. Meanwhile, other artworks are yet to reach a six-figure bid.

Beeple’s OCEAN FRONT NFT

NFTs Artists Help to Fight Climate Change

All the proceeds from the digital art collection will be donated to Open Earth Foundation, as noted on the auction page. The 501c3 non-profit organisation is on a mission to increase planetary resilience. It harnesses emerging digital technology, such as blockchain and radical collaborations, to deploy and scale concrete systemic solutions at a planetary level.

The NFT auction is also committed to balance its own carbon footprint as detailed on their website.

Each unique carbon offset is pegged to the unique artwork in order to compensate the underlying emissions from the NFT minting. Artists will further commit to offset their historical NFT footprint to create a net positive climate impact.

CarbonDrop.art