Biggest NFT sales ever from Star DJ dropout business school

^T.The Blau family gathered last weekend to celebrate one or two things: the second last covid vaccine for grandpa Blau – and the live, multi-million-dollar internet auction with a new kind of cryptoasset compiled by Justin Blau, 30-years-old. , the clan’s guest at his Las Vegas suburban home.

Blau, better known as the electronic dance music star 3LAU, sold 33 invisible tokens, or NFTs, for various prices, marking the three-year anniversary of Ultraviolet album. Simply put, digitally collected NFT is traded on the blockchain. Among the most expensive NFTs in Blau’s sales, for example, were custom song, access to music no one had ever heard on its website, custom art based on its music and new versions of Ultravioletand 11 original songs. (In a rather unusual decision, the buyer of the token would receive a physical object, a vinyl edition of the record.) Claims took place over Saturday and Sunday, and by the last evening, it was likely to stop at around $ 1 million in total. . But Blau had decided to prove the auction. After reaching the final three minutes, anyone who increased the clock motion started at the minus three minutes. The relocation took place over 40 hours, extending the auction several hours, much to the surprise of Blau and his entire family.

“We were all celebrating, and then everyone stopped talking,” says Blau, reflecting on the show for the first time. It brings a short, amazing smile. “Trust me, I didn’t know it was going so high. ”

The night ended with a $ 11.7 million draw, setting several new records. Not only was it the biggest NFT sale ever, but the $ 3.6 million paid for the most expensive token rates at the auction the most valuable NFT ever sold in an original offer. (Only one other NFT ever went for more: $ 6.6 million work by artist Beeple sold out in the resale last week.) Blau’s auction was the latest headline turnaround amid a rise in tokens over the past two months. Technology is bringing an important change to the digital art market: Before this time, it was difficult – almost impossible – to validate online work as an original work, significantly reducing its value. But the unique code of the signals makes it possible to verify, and with the established property problem, people are falling into place, buying different types of virtual media. Nearly $ 50 million in NFT sales occurred last week, according to Nonfungible.com, which follows this market. In total, February saw $ 179.4 million in such transactions, more than double the amount during 2020 as a whole.

Running to meet this crush of enthusiastic new customers are thousands of digital artists who want to take advantage of their attention. And among that set, Blau, having shown an interest in crypto for nearly a decade, has proven himself as the most prestigious name in the place, reliably maintaining the highest and highest sales. Having put together more than 15 auctions since September and raised nearly $ 13 million, Blau is “the thought leader – the gold standard,” said nicknamed WhaleShark, one of the largest NFT collectors. He paid $ 3.5 million for the 3LAU token in his latest offer. “I’m not even doing too much. He has a lot of commercial and technical savings that balance his artistic potential. ”

^A.s WhaleShark points out, NFTs exist at the crossroads of industry, technology and culture, a place where Blau comes naturally. He studied economics and finance at the University of Washington but found himself spending much of his time honoring his turning skills at fraternity parties. After refusing an internship at Black Rock, a major asset manager, he stepped down as a rising senior. Unsurprisingly, his parents opposed them – until a call came from one of Blau’s economics professionals. The teacher had analyzed the revenue stream from his performances, determined several of his presentations and concluded that Blau had a reasonable chance of success. (“He thought the opportunity cost was too much for me not to let him do,” Blau says.) As it turned out, the prof was right. Within a few years, Blau was performing at the world’s largest dance festivals, such as Electric Zoo in New York and Lollapalooza in Chicago, alongside artists such as Marshmello, Afrojack and Steve Aoki.

While opening for Avicii in Mexico in 2014, he was introduced to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, a Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg with a keen interest in crypto. “They invited me to stay at their home in LA during Grammy Week next year,” Blau recalls. “And they were talking about bitcoin. It was a great pleasure for me. ”He settled as best he could there and also tried to venture capitalist Keith Rabois, urging him to suggest other connections within the emerging crypto world. (The two were introduced to friend JD Ross, who went to college with Blau and cofounded OpenDoor with Rabois.) “I am not surprised that Blau has played a leading role [in NFTs]. He has been studying crypto for years, ”says Rabois.

Learning Outcome: A plan to build and assemble a festival through a first medal offer. (The so-called ICOs turned into a bubble in 2017 and 2018, analyzing a large number of big fortunes.) Finally, Blau decided to scrap the ICO plan, worrying that the offer to run out of authorities. “I had good lawyers,” they all advised against him, he said. “We didn’t want to do anything wrong.” It went ahead with the festival, allowing crypto attendees to use it to buy tickets, merchandise, food and drinks, among other things.

As Blau considered his first investigation into crypto, NFTs were still a new idea. Early interest in the tokens was largely driven by CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties, who bought two sets of collected cartoon images as generations passed basketball cards or Cabbage Patch dolls. (Originally given gratis, CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties are now reselling for six or seven figures.)

Blau wouldn’t embrace the idea of ​​selling NFTs until covid stopped the touring industry, cutting artists from their main revenue. He was looking to make up some of the money lost and create a path for himself and other artists with an interest in a self-controlling revenue stream – away from agents and registration forms.

^I.n September, its first NFT sale brought in $ 23,000 from tokens linked to video animation covered in new 3LAU music. For the insights, Blau turned to an experienced collaborator, a risqué artist known as Slime Sunday. (With half a million followers on Instagram, Slime Sunday is in a perma fight with the social network, which often tries to remove the sexually charged digital collages.) He had artwork previously done for Blau’s original work. Ultraviolet record in 2017 and contributed to the DJ’s music videos, and he fully understood the potential of NFT. “A lot of digital artists take this very seriously because they’re all in the situation like me: Their art is being torn all the time… Someone else might say they did if they really want to, ”says Slime Sunday. NFTs present “a proven way of proving the origins of digital art and its provenance. ”Slime Sunday believes it has earned more than $ 600,000 in the last 12 months almost entirely through NFT sales, mostly made in partnership with 3LAU. Previously, a good year used to be $ 50,000.

The record position sale from last weekend was made a little different than most NFT offers. In the biggest departure from normal usage, the auction took place on Blau’s own personal site. Most NFTs are purchased on one of the major exchanges, such as OpenSea and the Nifty Gateway in Winklevoss. Blau’s decision to take control of the entire event may indicate what artists aiming to brand in the future could do, choosing to put together a custom site rather than go through a third-party marketplace – enabling features like resetting the clock, something Blau added. thinks it helped goose prices a lot. “It has captured the attention of the entire music industry,” says Matthew Liu, cofounder of Protocol Origin, NFT startup founder of the Blau special page. “Every major label, every major artist is blowing up our DMs and inboxes right now. ”Blau is preparing plans for another sale on March 12, although it may not be another record-maker: It is considering these signals to lower prices to customers who are new to the market. pull in a place.

While the hype surrounding NFTs is certainly growing, there is also criticism that the tokens are just the latest in crypto to explode mania. Blau does not completely agree. “Prices are shrewd. Many people are also considering this. We have to accept it – we have to accept that this is a little out of hand, ”he says. But it is fast with a riposte against the most diverse critics. “They say, ‘Why is this digital art going for this huge amount of money? I could copy that. ‘Well, I could copy the Mona Lisa and put it on my wall. That doesn’t mean I own the original. ”