Digital art work smashes auction house records

A digital collage by artist Beeple has sold for a record $69.4m in an online auction, paid for using the cryptocurrency Ether. It is the first time cryptocurrency has been used to pay for an artwork at auction; the highest price achieved in an online-only auction; and the highest price for any winning bid placed online.

The work, Everydays: The First 5,000 Days, was started on 1 May 2007 when Beeple, posted a new work of art online,something he did every day for the following 13-and-a-half years. The sale has has placed him among the top three most valuable living artists.

The sale marks the first time a major auction house has offered a purely digital work for sale with a a unique non-fungible token (NFT), issued by digital marketplace MakersPlace as a guarantee of its authenticity.