Crypto Entrepreneur Eats $6.2m Artwork to Highlight NFT Comparisons
A prominent crypto entrepreneur has eaten an artwork he purchased in 2019. He did this to highlight the subjective nature of art and the use of NFTs.
In March 2021, $69.3 USD was paid for a digital artwork. The highest amount ever, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, was the moment the art world began to take notice of digital art. Since then, the market has cooled off, but one industrious crypto backer has highlighted its potential by eating an artwork he previously owned.
Justin Sun Eats $6.2m Artwork
Crypto art returned to the headlines late last year with a destructive, and possibly stomach-upsetting stunt. Justin Sun is a Chinese crypto entrepreneur who in 2019, managed to win an auction at Sotheby’s Auction House in New York. The piece he purchased was by Maurizio Cattelan, and featured a banana duct-taped to a wall. At the time, he vowed that one day he would eat it, and he now has.
The banana is not six years old. In fact, it is often replaced before exhibitions and comes with a manual on how to do so. The fruit in question has also been eaten numerous times in the past. A banana and some duct tape were handed out to everyone who attended the exhibition.
In the past year, cryptocurrency has returned to the headlines in a big way. New highs of $174,235 AUD were reached in May after prolonged activity and refreshed investor sentiment. Today, the bitcoin price AUD price stands at $166,281 and has settled around that mark for some days. This is generally down to Bitcoin being scarce on many retail exchanges, with companies and whales buying up the coin and choosing to hold it for long-term gains.
Despite this, the NFT market has yet to reach the heights and volume of trading it has done previously. The action was done to emphasise a link between the piece and cryptocurrency itself. He added that eating it made it part of the artwork’s history. Likening it to an NFT, he added that the piece has no value other than that which people place on it. It is assumed this was to spark interest in the field once more.
What Is Crypto Art?
Crypto art is an umbrella term for art forms that tend to mint their products as non-fungible tokens. Crypto art does not have to be visual and can take the form of music or video. Some even choose to combine all three. They can even take the form of exclusive digital collectibles or memorabilia.
Non-fungible tokens are items that can not be copied. They are created on the blockchain, which is also where they are minted. This is the term used when the creator’s concept is turned into code. NFT art is very much like any other when it comes to value, as Justin Sun pointed out: Its value is dictated by how much people want to pay for it. This usually comes down to the artist’s reputation.
It is worth noting that Sun paid for his artwork in 2019 entirely in cryptocurrency. This is a trend that has continued to grow since he made this purchase. It shows an increasing penchant for wealth accumulated through cryptocurrency to encroach on the traditional art market, usually bringing up new collectors against traditional ones. There are many voices in favour of this, saying it brings new energy to the art world.
The popularity of cryptoart itself reached its height in 2021. While it has cooled, it is now regaining steam. Last October alone saw sales of $356 million USD, an 18% increase on the month before.
What Is a Memecoin?
The perfect amalgamation of cryptocurrency and NFT artwork is the memecoin. These are cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes or viral trends. The most well-known examples of these are Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. They have no intrinsic value, are not pegged to fiat currencies like stablecoins, and are not designed for a use like global money transfers, such as XRP. Instead, they are a form of internet pop art.
As they are part of fashion and trends, Memecoins are extremely volatile. So much so that they have often been criticised. There have been several high-profile celebrity scams, in which well-known faces have created coins that have been artificially inflated in price, only for them to later crash. This has resulted in some countries taking steps to regulate their use.
NFT art is often criticised because you don’t physically own anything tangible. That is often the way of the world, and people pay for many goods and services that exist solely in digital form. All art is subjective, and NFT art is no different, be it visual or music based. If you are interested, take a look through one of the marketplaces, and you may just find something you like.