FIRST NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN AUCTIONED $1.47 million

fetched in a Sotheby’s auction by first non-fungible token (NFT) ever created.

Quantum, an octagon-shaped animation by New York artist Kevin McCoy, became the first work to be associated with an NFT-type certificate of ownership in May 2014, three years before the term NFT was coined. The auction house also sold a pixelated digital figure known as a CryptoPunk for $11.7 million, making it the second most expensive NFT to date.

An NFT is a digital object such as a drawing, animation, piece of music, photo or video with a certificate of authenticity created by the blockchain technology that underlies cryptocurrency. It cannot be forged or otherwise manipulated. NFT exchanges take place in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin on specialist sites. Traditional auction houses are seeking to capitalise on the phenomenon.