I know i know, the headline is so misleading. So much wrong.
"The space is called NFT art now, Scrilla." - Everyone
"Actually, by my calculations, the President makes more by taking advantage of networks, Scrilla." - Karen
"Beeple doesnt even make cryptoart, he's been fucking wizard, Scrilla." - Beeple fans
"Its not cryptoart it is all design, Scrilla " - Pak
(these are made up quotes in case anyone doesn't enjoy muh good spirited jabs)
Look. This space is unbelievable. I mean, Beeple transcends cryptoart, NFT space, rare digital art, blockchain art or whatever you want to call this wacky and wild arm of crypto. He has been making these succulent pieces of art for 13 straight years, everyday. EVERY-Fucking-DAY. He's like the monk of Octane. The high priest of Tiger - style digital art. He just got into the cryptoart space ("cryptoart" is the term I like and I will continue to use it for the unforsee-able future, but I'm no maniac and I welcome whatever name you use, just respect my term for this article that I am freestyle writing) like a few weeks ago. Well, many many months ago if you count his ETHDenver auctions.
Whoever is helping him and guiding him through the ideas of rare digital art- damn, just like that the term "rare digital art" seems more appropriate than "cryptoart" for the context, in this instance - is doing well. I salute you. I'm guessing it's the Nifty Gateway team. But, since Beeple seems to be a bad man (not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good- Run DMC) and a one - of - one himself, maybe he is calling the shots.
Lets quickly recap.
He dropped a historic 1/1 Presidential piece that wasn't even final until after the election. I don't have time to describe it, but look up the "Crossroad" piece that collector, and Metaverse- All-Star Pablo "Pyrex Picasso" won. He also had an open edition sale that 99 lucky bots and a Grammy- award winning musician were able to land. (I'm not checking for facts, but, I think RAC scooped one.) It sold out in less than a nano second. I had my window open with a UTC clock to grab one right at the drop but I lost to those damn bots. The piece was $1. He made $100. But, because he gets royalties on resales, that's not entirely true, as several went up for sale immediately for 6,000x the price and are an extremely hot commodity.
That 1/1 Trump/Biden piece that he dropped commanded $66,666 and is in the MOCA, the most notorious cryptoart museum in the Metaverse. (I don't say that just because I have a piece in there - honk honk.) I believe his piece is probably worth closer to half a million dollars just a month later. But, I doubt it goes on sale anytime soon.
But, the real headlines just happened over the weekend. Grab yer gawd damned popcorn. He sold off his 2020 collection of Everydays for around 2.5 million dollars. Or as my VPN likes to say 408,029,369,000 Swedish Krona. That's like 131 Bitcoin. I am lucky enough to have grabbed an open edition. The open edition idea that Nifty Gateway added is great by the way. It allows anyone that wants to collect an artist's work, to grab a piece without having to battle the mega-rich collectors. I also happily grabbed a Slime Sunday piece this way after losing to bots a week or so earlier.
I was enthralled all weekend by this Beeple drop. I literally ran traffic lights and endangered my son's life driving through Florida to make it home in time to grab one. I got one of the last open editions after I missed the initial 100 drop because I couldn't remember my Nifty login and I just switched computers. I was breaking a sweat to spend a G and be part of this moment. The open editions went for $969 each. Side note: Another interesting tactic in this cryptoart land is that spiritual numbering sequences are very important. You will see bids of 696.96, 6666.66, 102,201 and so on and so forth if you watch prices and auctions.
The next day, Saturday, December 12, the auctions of 21 of the 1/1s and the whole collection were running and some ran into Sunday. The biggest lot was sold for $777,777 to a guy named Tim. Everyone seems to know Tim. Hi Tim. Holy shit Tim. That number is the God number 6 times over, A play on God defeating Satan? TRIPLE SIX MAFIA USING GOD NUMERS. That's fucking Juicy J on crack! Juicy Jesus? Number don't lie! That shit just ties it all up perfectly. I am in awe. (I know Juicy J didn't make NUMBERS DONT LIE but he could've!)
All said, the dude sold over 600 pieces this weekend for around 131 Bitcoin. 1 + 3 + 1 = 5. 5 is Phi. The basis to the Golden Ratio!
These numbers tell truths! I am fucking livid I didn't stick to my 3D Max classes in the early 2000s. I could've been the next Kidmograph, the next Carlos Marcial, the next Love Visuals, the next Gavin something, the next... idk. I doubt it, those folks are truly ridiculous too. High praises due.
Nobody could be the next Beeple though. He is a 1/1. A true non- fungible human. The discipline required to do what he does at such a high level is quite amazing.
I have been in the cryptoart space since before it had a name and it was just 100 people in a telegram chat making frog drawings and attaching them to a blockchain. This weekend made me really appreciate this space more. This article doesn't even count that I got to pitch cryptoart and music to a roundtable of hip-hop legends on Saturday.
I am a nostalgic guy so I went down the rabbit hole and dug up an old interview I did in 2016 (it was published in 2017,) where I was just scratching the surface of the blockchain layers. It's a quick 7 minute joint with the Blockchain Billions podcast. I know, I know, I'm tying this amazing article up about the Lord Beeple and ending it with some posturing about myself. Well, it is my stupid blog and you can leave if you don't like it. Fuckos.
No, don't leave. Stay and download my SOUND MONEY album. I gotta eat too playaz. Or as Beeple would maybe say, "stick your dick in this shitty new music I made."
(NOTE: A lot of this info came from memory and I did not fact check the exact numbers and ownerships, but if anything needs to be edited just holler. The article is suppose to be fun and informative.)
