Founder of NFT fund Metapurse bought Beeple's 5000-day collection for nearly $70M

Founder and financer of NFT fund Metapurse Metakovan bought popular digital artist Beeple's 5,000-day collection for nearly $70 million dollars, British auction house Christie's announced Friday.

The collection, which sold for a whopping $69.3 million, is one of the highest art auction sales ever and makes Beeple one of the top three most valuable living artists. 

The sale, hosted by British auction house Christie's, received a total of 353 bids. According to the auction house, 22 million people tuned in for the sale, which ended yesterday.

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"When you think of high-valued NFTs, this one is going to be pretty hard to beat. And here's why - it represents 13 years of everyday work. Techniques are replicable and skill is surpassable, but the only thing you can't hack digitally is time," Metakovan said in the announcement. "This is the crown jewel, the most valuable piece of art for this generation. It is worth $1 billion.”

The collection of 5,000 pieces titled Everydays: The First 5000 Days has been called "one of the most unique bodies of work to emerge in the history of digital art."

To create the collection, Beeple produced a new work of art every single day for 14 years, starting in May 2007. The auction, the result of a partnership between Christie's and NFT marketplace MakersPlace, marks the first time non-fungible token (NFT) art has been sold at an auction house.

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Saniya More (pronounced: Saan-ya Mo-ray) is a quadrilingual journalist at The Block. She got her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and did her undergraduate degree at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. Her work has appeared in CBS News, Bangkok Post, Thai Enquirer, Globalists, Byline Times and other publications. When she’s not chasing a story, you will most likely find her biking, tweeting, taking photos or creating Spotify playlists for every occasion.