Q&A: Artist Beeple on selling NFT collage for a record $70M

LONDON (AP) — When digital artist Beeple put an NFT digital artwork up for auction this month, he became instantly famous when it sold for almost $70 million. The record sale also sparked huge interest in digital certificates of authenticity based on cryptocurrency technology that are called “non-fungible tokens.”

These NFTs are undergoing a boom. The Associated Press caught up with Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, to talk about the auction result, NFTs and how the crypto art boom is affecting him and other artists who haven't previously had a way to guarantee exclusive ownership of digital works, which by their nature can normally be freely copied.

Beeple spoke with the AP via a Zoom call. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Q: Why do you think your artwork "Everdays: The First 5,000 Days" fetched such a high price?

A: There are a couple of reasons. One, it represents 13 years of work. You can very easily see that this is something that took a very, very, very long time to make. Another part of it is a lot of excitement around NFTs. The people in this space, the people who bid on them, I think they personally understand what NFTs are going to be much more than the rest than the general public.

The technology is simple enough that it can be used for many different things. And a lot of people are comparing it to the beginning of the Internet.

Q: How do you respond to concerns that the buyer Metakovan, who bought 20 of your other NFT artworks in an earlier sale and founded an NFT investment fund, was trying to pump up prices of his holdings?

A: Say somebody goes out and buys a painting for $5 million. So that person has $5 million invested in the career of that artist. If the next painting goes for way less, what does that say...