BY DAN PATTERSON
A blockchain company bought a $95,000 Banksy artwork, burned it and broadcast it live on Twitter — all part of a process of turning the work into a virtual asset called a non-fungible token, or NFT. Injective Protocol, the company behind the stunt, bought the screenprint “Morons (White)” from New York’s Taglialatella Gallery , then burned it Monday evening. The event, which took place in an undisclosed Brooklyn neighborhood, was live-streamed through the Twitter account BurntBanksy .
Moments later, Injective Protocol employees created a digital representation of the art using blockchain technology on the Rarible platform , which recently gained notoriety after Mark Cuban used it to issue his own NFT . While digital art has recently become popular, this event is the first major instance in which a physical artwork was turned into a unique digital asset, according to Injective Protocol’s founder Mirza Uddin.
“We view this burning event as an expression of art itself,” Uddin said, adding, “We specifically chose a Banksy piece since he has previously shredded one of his own artworks at an auction.” “Morons (White)”, the Banksy painting acquired and digitized by Injective Protocol Image: Banksy The original print, a black-and-white depiction of an […]