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Beeple sets record with NFT artwork, who is he? Who bid? How much did Christie's earn?

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Beeple sets record with NFT artwork, who is he? Who bid? How much did Christie

American digital artist Beeple sold an NFT digital artwork for a high price of $69,346,250 at Christie's auction house. So who is Beeple? Who bid on this piece? And how much did Christie's earn from this artwork?

Who is Beeple? Mike Winkelmann

Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, hails from Fond du Lac, a small town of 5,000 people in Wisconsin, USA. He holds a degree in computer science but did not receive formal art training.

His piece "EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS" is actually a collective artwork. Beeple heard that British artists had a habit of sketching every day, so he started a project in May 2007 to create a digital artwork every day, resulting in 5000 pieces over 5000 days spanning nearly 14 years, forming a large-scale artwork. By zooming in on the website, you can see the evolution of his style from the first piece to the later ones: from portraits to social and political satire and sci-fi digital art.

Some of Beeple's early works:

Beeple's later works:

After becoming a freelance artist, Beeple worked on concert animations and visuals for Los Angeles-based Possible Productions, including events like the MTV Video Music Awards and the Super Bowl, showcasing his work. Additionally, he has collaborated with Apple, SpaceX by Elon Musk, and even fashion brand Louis Vuitton.

Beeple was involved in the Super Bowl halftime show production

Here is his collaboration with Louis Vuitton, featuring Beeple's work printed on fashion:

In the latter half of 2020, Beeple discovered a new revenue stream. In the past, it was challenging for digital artists to exhibit and sell their works like traditional art pieces. However, the emergence of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) changed this. NFTs are a digital token standard based on blockchain technology that can tokenize digital artworks, proving their uniqueness and enabling them to be traded, collected, and displayed online.

Beeple sold a piece on the digital art auction site Nifty Gateway for $66,666 USD, featuring a digital artwork that changed with the outcome of the US election, ultimately depicting a toppled Trump. More details: Digital collectibles that change with election results? If Trump wins, the artwork will look like this. The auction on Nifty Gateway was a success for him; the "EVERYDAYS" series was previously auctioned there, with each piece selling for an average of $110,000 USD. More details: Digital artist Beeple auctions blockchain-based physical artwork for an average of $110,000 USD.

In an interview with Forbes, Beeple expressed:

I think NFTs could really be another asset class. For a younger generation, maybe they don't want to invest in stocks. Maybe they would rather invest in something like digital art, something that showcases their culture and the way they interact with the world.

After getting involved in cryptocurrencies, Beeple often uses crypto-related themes in his works, such as NFT mining platform DontBuyMeme, Ethereum, Bitcoin bull market, Elon Musk and Dogecoin, and more.

To see more of his complete works, visit the following platforms:

Who bid on Beeple's high-priced artwork?

Compound founder Leshner expressed regret for not bidding on Beeple's work:

Additionally, Tron founder Sun Yuchen, known for his love of making a splash, stated that he bid $60 million but was unsuccessful. In the last 30 seconds, he bid even higher: $70 million, but due to system issues, the bid did not go through.

Ultimately, when Beeple saw the final bid price, he exclaimed a curse word, expressing surprise at the outcome, with various crypto celebrities congratulating him.

How much will Christie's earn from this?

Christie's auctions include both offline physical auctions and online auctions. This time, it was conducted online and accepted payment in Ether. However, there are special rules, such as requiring wallets from Coinbase, Fidelity, Gemini, or Paxos; they do not accept exchange wallets or private wallets, likely due to anti-money laundering requirements.

So, how much will Christie's earn from this auction? According to the rules, commissions will be extracted based on tiers: 25% for amounts less than or equal to $600,000, an additional 20% for amounts between $600,000 and $6,000,000, and an extra 14.5% for amounts exceeding $6,000,000. According to "Musรฉe du chat", the hammer price of $60,250,000 plus commission calculation results in a final price of $69,346,250. Therefore, Christie's commission is $9,096,250, calculated as $69,346,250 - $60,250,000, with Beeple typically receiving the hammer price minus the seller's commission based on the initial negotiation.