Sotheby’s Sale Of Digital-Only Artwork Fetches $16.8 Million

An online sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by the digital artist Pak fetched a total of $16.8 million at Sotheby’s, including an image of a single pixel which sold for $1.36 million, the auction house said on Wednesday.

A non-fungible token is a form of blockchain-based digital asset which has exploded in popularity in 2021, with prices soaring as collectors and enthusiasts rush to buy the items which only exist in digital form.

Last month, an NFT artwork sold for $69.3 million at Christie’s, in the first sale ever by a major auction house of a piece of art that does not exist in physical form.

The Sotheby’s sale, called “‘The Fungible’ Collection”, had a complex structure, including a series of digital cubes which collectors could buy for $500 to $1,500 each, receiving a number of NFTs based on how many cubes they own.

The NFTs in the collection are represented by animated images designed by Pak. They are three-dimensional white and grey shapes on a black background, apart from the pixel, which is just a grey square.