https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/first-open-beeple/beeple-b-1981-1/112924
UPD: According to Bloomberg, the buyer was Tron CEO Justin Sun. This was stated by a representative of Tron. Christie's declined to disclose the name of the buyer, only noting that most of the auction participants were closely associated with cryptocurrencies. CoinDesk, citing a Tron representative, writes that Sun did not win the auction, as at the last moment his bid was outbid by another participant.
An item of digital art was sold at a Christie's auction for a record amount this Thursday. The work of the author Mike Winkelman, best known as Beeple, "Everyday: THE FIRST 5,000 days" (English - EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5,000 DAYS) in the form of a non-interchangeable token (NFT) went under the hammer for $69.3 million, including commissions. A total of 353 bids were accepted.
This is the largest amount earned during the sale of a special type of NFT token based on Ethereum or another blockchain that confirms the ownership of a digital item. The broadcast was first accepted at auction in the history of the 255-year-old auction house. It is not known whether the buyer will pay in traditional or digital currency.
With the latest auction, Beeple surpassed its own record set in February on the NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway, when it managed to sell an animated video clip of Donald Trump lying face down on the grass for $6.6 million in ETH. "Everyday" includes 5,000 digital images that Beeple has created every day for 14 years since May 2007. The total amount of its sales up to this time was about $28 million.
"In May 2007, a digital artist known as Beeple set out to create and post new work every day. He didn't miss a single day, creating new digital images every day for 5,000 consecutive days. Individually known as "Everyday", together they formed the basis of "Everyday: The First 5,000 days", one of the most unique works in the history of digital art," writes Christie's.
The most expensive painting in history is Leonardo da Vinci's "Savior of the World", which sold in 2017 for $450.3 million. "Everyday life" was the third most expensive among the works of living authors.