Published
Sun, Mar 14, 2021, 22:35
- The piece sold for 72 ETH, or $136,349.28
Aphex Twin has put up an NFT (non-fungible token) for a digital artwork on the cryptocurrency marketplace Foundation.
afx\/weirdcore\blockscanner is a collaboration with visual artist Weirdcore, featuring audio from Aphex Twin (and "additional technical input" from Freeka Tet). The auction was revealed in a Tweet yesterday. The auction concluded late Sunday, with a winning bid of 72 ETH—$136,349.28—from user @artoninternet.
The NFT is for the only edition of the piece. An NFT, or non-fungible token, signifies ownership of digital media—such as videos, documents and the like. The music industry has entered the NFT marketplace in a big way over the past few weeks, with artists like Jacques Greene and Kings Of Leon notably selling NFTs for recent work.
"Foundation are honored to debut the first NFT from world class innovators Aphex Twin, Weirdcore & Freeka Tet," the marketplace said in a statement to RA. "A new future for the independent creator economy is being born in audio visual art and beyond—[we] couldn't be more thrilled that both first time artists and legends alike are blossoming in this space."
NFTs and the blockchain cryptocurrency stream have also come under criticism for the environmental impact of the intensive CPU processing necessary to secure transactions and generate currency. In another Tweet, Aphex Twin said, "We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get."
We'll update the piece with the final price once the auction finishes.