Rick & Morty Creator Sells Ethereum Art for $1.65 Million
2 min read
Justin Roiland’s first foray into the non-fungible token (NFT) art scene ended up with a bang as his debut crypto art collection was sold for roughly $1.65 million in total yesterday, according to metrics platform CryptoArt.io.
The best I could do. Testing the boundaries of crypto art. What makes something valuable? The art? The artist? The process? The state of mind while created? The intention of the piece? Feeling really good about this collection. $NFT #NFT https://t.co/xeQhw0o5Vv
— Justin Roiland (@JustinRoiland) January 19, 2021
As Decrypt explained, each NFT has identifying information embedded within it, making each one unique. This means that each of them can be held by only one person—a quality valued by collectors that can drive NFTs prices up. Most NFTs run on the Ethereum blockchain, which means no third party is required to keep track of who owns them.
Roiland’s collection (as well as a special five-minute “open edition” of it), titled “The Best I Could Do,” was auctioned off on crypto exchange Gemini-owned platform Nifty Gateway and comprised 16 NFT-based artworks of various scarcity.
Some pieces—such as “It’s Basically Tree Guy” ($10) and “Eligible Bachelors” ($100)—were sold as 100 copies each while other editions consisted of 20, 10, 5, or one NFT in total.
The crowning jewel of Roiland’s NFT collection was an artwork titled “The Smintons” (an obvious nod toward “The Simpsons”).
One of two auction pieces from @JustinRoiland being released tonight at 7 pm ET! The minimum bid for this piece is $14,999 – the same amount as the physical Smintons piece, which was auctioned on Ebay. Will the NFT be more valuable than the physical piece? pic.twitter.com/Nay4xEqUtQ
— Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) January 19, 2021
“The minimum bid for this piece is $14,999 – the same amount as the physical Smintons piece, which was auctioned on Ebay. Will the NFT be more valuable than the physical piece?” Nifty Gateway tweeted at the time.
As it turned out, yes, the NFT representation of Roiland’s artwork ended up as more valuable than its physical counterpart—to put it mildly. The winning bid for “The Smintons” amounted to $290,100, becoming the most expensive piece in the collection.
“All proceeds of the smintons are going directly to help the homeless people in Los Angeles. There are a lot of them since Covid started,” Roiland noted after the auction.
Other one-of-a-kind artworks were sold for $150,000, $100,000, and $92,000.
SILENT AUCTION RESULT "First Rick and Morty Crypto Art" by @JustinRoiland
WINNING BID: $150,000
1. blanK
Congrats to the winner and to @JustinRoiland! Last 2 silent auctions have 5 minutes remaining. pic.twitter.com/M7k7PzlIRp
— Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) January 20, 2021
As Decrypt reported, the popularity of crypto art has been booming lately. For example, $8.2 million worth of NFT artworks were sold last December. Is there anything that won’t sell for thousands as an NFT?
