- A Trump-themed NFT by renowned digital artist Beeple has sold for a record $6.6 million
- The piece, called CROSSROAD #1/1, was sold at a 10x markup by the original buyer just four months after it was purchased
- The sale shatters the record recently set by a cryptopunk
An NFT by renowned digital artist Beeple has smashed the sale record for a single piece when it re-sold for $6.6 million yesterday on NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. CROSSROAD #1/1, a short animation centered around Donald Trump’s defeat at the 2020 election, was sold by its previous owner who bought it for $66,666.60 in November last year, marking a handsome 100x return for the original buyer. Beeple has been a fixture in the digital art world for some time, and his reputation has spilled into the NFT market and helped it establish itself as a mainstream part of the blockchain ecosystem.
CROSSROAD
By @beepleThe #1/1 from beeple’s first NG drop has just resold on the secondary market for $6.6 million.
History has just been made.
Congrats to beeple and of course to @pablorfraile for the sale. pic.twitter.com/mTYG4VABSw
— Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) February 25, 2021
NFT Would Have Changed if Trump Had Won
CROSSROAD #1/1 was designed as a two-way animation, with the final design based on the outcome of the election last year. The version on the Nifty Gateway NFT marketplace site was of a giant Donald Trump lying defeated on the grass with graffiti on him and birds circling him, but
Beeple warned buyers that this would change if Trump had won:
PLEASE FUCKING NOTE: If trump wins, this token will change to that video of sexy boi king trump stomping through hell FOREVER.
Previous Owner Listed it For Sale From Day 1
The NFT was purchased by a user called Pablo on November 1, two days before the election. Pablo listed the NFT for sale that very day with a 10x markup and has been relisting it at ever increasing prices since then, with the eventual sale price first cited on January 20. Finally someone has bought, safe in the knowledge that the animation will now not change.
In December a collection of Beeple’s works sold for a combined $3.5 million on Nifty Gateway, since when the NFT space has taken off, with five-year-old cryptopunks selling for over a million dollars.
