Beeple's $69 Million Crypto Art Score | JPMorgan’s Bitcoin Basket

THE MOST EXPENSIVE NFT EVER

Digital artist Beeple sold his artwork for a record-breaking $69.3 million at Christie’s auction Thursday morning. “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” a digital collage of 5,000 pictures the artist drew using computer software over nearly 14 years, became the most expensive non-fungible token (NFT) ever sold. A starting bid of $100 on February 25 had vaulted to $13.25 million on Wednesday afternoon. With 30 minutes to go, the artwork hadn’t topped $15 million, but a flurry of last-minute bids sent its price skyrocketing. “5,000 days” is not just a unicorn of NFTs but of the broader art market, too. It is now the third-most-expensive work from a living artist ever sold at an auction.

Ahead of the viral auction, Beeple had sold a 10-second video artwork for $6.6 million at Nifty Gateway, an online cryptocurrency marketplace for digital art owned by the Winklevoss twins. All the while, the total NFT sales volume is rushing toward $500 million, according to NonFungible.com, which aggregates sales data for the Ethereum blockchain, the most commonly used ledger for recording these types of assets. Separately, the NBA’s Top Shot marketplace, which runs on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain, has recorded more than $300 million in sales.

BITCOIN IS ON A PRICE RALLY YET AGAIN

The price of bitcoin has been steadily climbing over the last few days, putting it within shouting distance of its all-time high of $58,332. It broke out of its recent trading range of $47,000 - $52,000, and according to technical analysts, the next key resistance level is near $58,000. Analysts repeatedly emphasize the continued influx of institutional investors and high-profile companies as the main factor behind bitcoin’s latest gains.

Additionally, banking powerhouse JPMorgan, led by famed bitcoin-skeptic Jamie Dimon, threw its proverbial hat into the crypto ring. An SEC filing on Tuesday revealed the U.S.’ largest bank is giving its clients indirect exposure to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through a structured note offering tied to a basket of 11 stocks . The market value of the portfolio will largely depend on the performance of MicroStrategy, Square, Riot Blockchain and Nvidia. Collectively, the four stocks of these companies make up more than 60% of JPMorgan’s crypto-proxy basket.

Bitcoin Mania Prompts BlockFi To Go Back To The Well

Financial services firm BlockFi has joined the ranks of crypto unicorns with a massive $350 million Series D round barely six months after its last round, giving the company a $3 billion valuation. With this raise, BlockFi is looking to expand its presence in European and Asia-Pacific markets. In the upcoming weeks, the company will also start shipping its new product—the first bitcoin rewards credit card launched in partnership with Visa.

That said, it has been a difficult week for BlockFi. On Sunday, the company faced a malicious spam attack where it received approximately 1,000 emails containing racist language sent through the company platform’s sign-up page. As a result, client sign-ups were paused for two days but have since been re-enabled.

BLOCKCHAIN 50 SPOTLIGHT

Forbes 2021 Blockchain 50 member of the week is Carrefour. The French retail giant tracks more than 30 of its product lines, including eggs, cheese and salmon, on the IBM blockchain. The products are tagged with a QR code that customers can scan to find out more about where their food comes from. The feature has boosted sales so the company is targeting a significant expansion to 100 product lines by the end of next year.

ELSEWHERE

PayPal Confirms It’s Buying Crypto Security Firm Curv [CoinDesk]

Ethereum Network Upgrade That Will Destroy Coins Could Cause ‘Explosive Growth’ In The Ether Price, Experts Say [Insider]

‘Slam Dunk’ Bitcoin Arbitrage Fizzles for Biggest Crypto Fund [Bloomberg]

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