Artist Who Sold an NFT for $69M Thinks NFTs are a 'Bubble'

In a recent article, the Byte by Futurism outlines the opinions of digital artist Beeple, otherwise known as Mike Winkelmann, on the recent non-fungible token (NFT) craze after he sold his own NFT for a record-breaking $69 million. The artist called the crypto craze a “bubble” despite his massive profits.

The Byte by Futurism reports in a recent article titled “The Guy Who Sold a $69 Million NFT Thinks NFTs are Pretty Dumb,” that the popular digital artist Beeple, otherwise known as Mike Winkelmann, isn’t as huge a proponent of non-fungible tokens as many may think despite selling his own NFT for a record-breaking $69 million.

Of that $69 million, Winkelmann received $53 million worth of Ether cryptocurrency which he reportedly immediately exchange for tens of millions in U.S. dollars. Coindesk recently reported that most NFT artists only cash out some of their cryptocurrency gains, holding the rest in the hopes that it will appreciate in value but Winkelmann is not as convinced by the idea of cryptocurrency as others.

Speaking to the New Yorker, Winkelmann stated: “I’m not remotely a crypto-purist. I was making digital art long before any of this shit, and if all this fucking NFT stuff went away tomorrow I would still be making digital art.” Winkelmann even went as far s to tell Coindesk that NFTs are “a bubble.”

“If it’s not a bubble now, I do believe it probably will be a bubble at some point because there’s just so many people rushing into this space,” Winkelmann stated. But did note that was “really all-in since October” and acknowledged that it “has such a huge potential to be a very transformative technology.”

Breitbart News recently reported that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey successfully sold the world’s first-ever tweet for over $2.9 million as a non-fungible token (NFT). The tweet which reads “just setting up my twitter,” was written by Dorsey in March 2006 and was bought by Malaysia-based businessman Sina Estavi.

Estavi told the BBC that his purchase was the equivalent of “buying the Mona Lisa painting.” Estavi is the chief executive of the technology firm Bridge Oracle and bought the tweet via an auction on the platform Valuables using Ethereum, a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin.