Calling themselves \”crypto enthusiasts,\” unknown individuals put up for auction a non-fungible token (NFT) featuring a copy of Banksy’s painting Morons. Prior to that they burned the original.
A group of tech and art enthusiasts (@BurntBanksy) made history today burning an authentic #Banksy piece and minting an #NFT in its place
This is the first physical to digital transfer of its kind
The NFT was minted from the @SuperFarmDAO NFT contract. https://t.co/AR2gU2z19E
— SuperFarm (@SuperFarmDAO) March 4, 2021
The participants in the performance are prepared to do the same with the painting’s certificate of authenticity, if the token’s buyer does not request it, or if the NFT itself goes unclaimed. Part of the proceeds will go to charity.
According to CBS, the painting was purchased by the blockchain company Injective Protocol. Representatives from the Taglialatella Gallery, the seller, confirmed the buyer to the channel. They did not know that the work would be destroyed.
\”We intend to usher in a new era in the art world, where artworks will live in digital form forever\”, the \”crypto enthusiasts\” explained their actions.
Banksy originally created Morons (translated as \”Morons\”) in 2006 as a stencil print. It depicts an auction of artworks. On one of the canvases the words read: \”I can’t believe you idiots actually buy this d$%#mo.\”
Morons by Banksy. Data: Burnt Banksy.
The work was originally issued in an edition of 100 copies. The prints were sold for $500. A year later, an updated version in three new colours was released. At Sotheby’s auction in 2020, one of them was bought for $84 494,79.
\”Crypto enthusiasts\” provided Crypto Briefing with a photograph of the painting and the certificate of authenticity. The latter, according to them, was issued by Banksy’s official authentication service Pest Control. The NFT token was created with the involvement of the SuperFarm project.
As reported, in February Christie’s first put NFT up for auction — Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days.
A Russian recently opened an auction for selling a non-fungible token, in which he captured a looping video of a live bat in its mouth.
The creator of the Litecoin cryptocurrency, Charlie Lee, noted the similarity between the growing popularity of the NFT market and the ICO boom of 2017 to the ICO boom of 2017.
In the analytics firm NonFungible they predicted significant growth of the non-fungible token market in 2021.
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