Sotheby’s sale of digital-only artwork fetches $16.8 million

LONDON

An online sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by the digital artist Murat Pak fetched a total of $16.8 million at Sotheby’s, including an image of a single pixel which sold for $1.36 million, the auction house said on April 14.

A non-fungible token is a form of blockchain-based digital asset which has exploded in popularity in 2021, with prices soaring as collectors and enthusiasts rush to buy the items which only exist in digital form.

The Sotheby’s sale, called “‘The Fungible’ Collection,” had a complex structure, including a series of digital cubes which collectors could buy for $500 to $1,500 each, receiving a number of NFTs based on how many cubes they own.

The Turkish artist is known only as Pak, with the Twitter handle @muratpak.

The sale also included four limited edition NFTs which were awarded to the winners of specific tasks, including paying the highest amount for a Pak artwork on the secondary market and posting the hashtag #PakWasHere to the biggest social media audience.

An NFT called “The Pixel” - an image of a single pixel - was also up for auction, fetching $1.36 million after a 90-minute bidding battle.

The NFTs in the collection are represented by animated images designed by Pak. They are three-dimensional white and grey shapes on a black background, apart from the pixel, which is just a grey square.

Max Moore, contemporary art specialist at Sotheby’s, said the sale was targeted towards “crypto-native” collectors.