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Watch Beeple react to his crypto art selling for $69 million, making him the 3rd-most-valuable living artist: 'I'm going to Disney World!'

Natasha Dailey   

Watch Beeple react to his crypto art selling for $69 million, making him the 3rd-most-valuable living artist: 'I'm going to Disney World!'
Tech1 min read
  • Beeple watched the last minutes of the auction for his digital art on Thursday in his family room.
  • The piece, titled "Everydays: The First 5000 Days," sold for about $69 million.
  • With the sale, he said, "digital art is here to stay."

Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist known as Beeple, gathered with family in his living room to watch as dozens of bidders took part in the auction for his crypto art on Thursday.

The auction closed with a bid of over $69 million, making him the third-most-valuable living artist.

He jumped off the couch and said, "I'm going to Disney World!"

In the final 30 minutes, the price for his unique digital art jumped from $15 million to $69 million. Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, was outbid at the last minute, a representative for Sun told Insider.

As he watched the last moments, Beeple said, "I think it probably means digital art is here to stay."

The transaction was the historic auction house Christie's first sale of an NFT, or nonfungible token, a digital asset that operates as a type of collector's item and can't be duplicated.

Beeple's piece, titled "Everydays: The First 5000 Days," was the highest-valued crypto-art sale. The second highest was another Beeple piece that sold for $6.6 million in February.

Beeple has previously said he hasn't valued his art at more than $1,000. But now his pieces are leading the crypto-art boom as digital tokens gain popularity during the pandemic.

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