Penny for a pixel? Single-dot NFT sells for $1.3 million

Digital artist Pak has sold a single-pixel NFT for US$1.3 million (AU$1.67 million) through an auction at Sotheby’s, with the buyer, Eric Young, being part of a new-generation of art collectors that are betting big on NFTs.

Young — who has most of his and his wife’s savings in cryptocurrencies — told Bloomberg that investing in NFTs seemed intuitive for him, saying, “I understand how this ascribes provenance to a piece on a public ledger, and there’s nothing else I need to understand”.

A pixel is a coloured dot, the smallest unit of a screen. Generally, hundreds or thousands of pixels come together to make an image.

Young already owned roughly US$1 million in assorted NFTs before purchasing the US$1.3 million token, which certifies him as the owner of a single pixel.

If you’re reading this and thinking that NFTs might be getting slightly overpriced, you’re not alone.

In fact, a new fashion brand called ‘Overpriced.™’ with the tagline ‘F*ck you(r) money’, has just sold a limited run of NFT-backed hoodies for US$26,000 a pop.

Backed up on the blockchain, if your hoodie gets lost or stolen, they will issue you a new physical item — provided you’re the owner of the NFT.

They’ve been designed with a certain kind of buyer in mind, with the hoodie having the same aesthetic as a computer tower built by a PC gamer, or a Monster Energy drink.

As one of the company founders James Zwadlo puts it, “We are a group of artists looking to create art-powered crypto fashion that aims to challenge the conceptions of what luxury fashion is”.

Performance art, a cruel joke, or the next fashion frontier? Either way, they’ve pocketed upwards of a quarter million by printing a scannable code on a hoodie and calling it an NFT.

Need a reminder on what NFTs actually are?

This SmartCompany Plus piece explains how they work, and whether you can offer them through your business.