NFT Artist Beeple Auctions Latest Work for $28.9M at Christie’s

“Human One” is a real-life sculpture that comes with a non-fungible token.

article-image

Beeple’s Human_ONE

share

key takeaways

  • Ryan Zurrer, a former venture partner at Polychain Capital, claimed the artwork
  • The NFT runs on Ethereum blockchain, allowing Beeple to continuously update and change the artwork for the rest of his life, according to the artist

The second most expensive non-fungible token (NFT) just sold for $28.9 million via Christie’s auction house on Tuesday.

Artist Beeple’s “Human One” depicts an astronaut-like figure walking in an almost seven-foot-high translucent box, describing it as “the first portrait of a human born in the metaverse.” 

Elsewhere, Beeple compared “Human One” to a “subscription service,” adding that the owner is also “buying continual access to me updating this piece.” (The artwork runs on Ethereum blockchain, allowing Beeple to update and change the work.)

Loading Tweet..

“While the piece was sold last night, [it] is not complete,” he said in a webinar on Wednesday. “I’m going to keep changing the piece and keep updating the artwork over the course of the rest of my life. That is something that is very exciting to me, and I think is much more analogous to how people will appreciate art in the future.”

Ryan Zurrer, a former venture partner at Polychain Capital, claimed the artwork.

“This is how people will view art in the future as a dynamic thing. You come down in the morning, and the piece looks one way. You come home from work, and the piece looks a different way,” Beeple said. “It just continues to evolve, surprise and just adds to its beauty.” 

Mike Winkelmann, who goes by Beeple, made headlines in March of last year for selling his NFT, “The First 5000 Days” for over $69 million at the same auction house. It remains the highest-selling piece of crypto art for Christie’s. 


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (15).png

Research

A spot listing on Binance can support highly favorable short term returns. Tokens that TGE on Binance exhibit lower short term returns when compared to tokens that receive the listing after TGE. Both spot and futures listings support higher returns, while a spot listing is historically more favorable. Tokens that have yet to receive a Binance spot listing may be trading at a 30-50% discount to their market value upon receiving a Binance spot listing.

article-image

Maple’s Sid Powell said that TradFi firms have been in contact with the firm about lending and borrowing in crypto

article-image

Building onchain public goods is noble but they don’t always make the number go up

article-image

Vector is a mobile social trading app with a built-in crypto wallet that lets users broadcast their trades to other users

article-image

Kraken Pay is only the latest product in the growing crypto payments landscape

article-image

One ex-SEC senior counsel doesn’t “expect an overnight response to this, [but] rather a slow rollout of approvals”

article-image

The unemployment rate has “stabilized” and the labor market is “solid,” officials said