LONDON: A non-fungible token (NFT) of a digital artwork called a 'CryptoPunk' sold for $11.8 million on Thursday, auction house Sotheby's said.
CryptoPunks are a set of 10,000 pixel-art characters made by Larva Labs in 2017. The one sold by Sotheby's - 'CryptoPunk #7523' - is of the sought-after Alien variety with blue-green skin, and wearing a medical mask.
The work is in the form of an NFT - meaning it is authenticated by blockchain, which certifies its originality and ownership. The NFT is sent to the buyer's cryptocurrency wallet; no physical artwork changes hands.
'CryptoPunk #7523' was sold for $11,754,000 as part of the Sotheby's online auction "Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale", which fetched a total of $17.1 million across works by 27 digital artists.