On March 3, a group of anonymous art lovers decided to burn an original Banksy screen print worth about £ 70,000, or around $ 95,000, and then convert it to a non-fungible token (NFT). The art now exists as an NFT and was auctioned for 228.69 Ethereum, or $ 394,000 using today’s ether exchange rates. Not everyone was impressed with the NFT transformation, however, as the myartbroker.com co-founder says the NFT sale raises the idea that “the only idiots in this transaction are the buyers and stunt performers themselves.
A burned Banksy turned into an NFT sells for nearly $ 400,000 in ether
Just recently, a collective of unknown art lovers and NFT (Non-Fungible Token) fans decided to convert a physical Banksy screen print into an NFT. News.Bitcoin.com covered the group that burned the original Banksy piece called “Morons” and explained why the collective called @burntbanksy chose this route.
“The reason for this is that if we had the NFT and the physical piece, the value would mostly be in the physical piece,” said one of the members before setting fire to the Banksy artwork. “By taking the physical part out of existence and only the NFT is there, it ensures that due to the smart contract in the blockchain, the NFT ensures that no one can change the part and it is the real part that is in the world exists. “
After the burn, the NFT was listed on the Opensea marketplace and contained a description of the product for sale. “This 1 of 1 NFT was created by burning the original Pest Control certified Banksy ‘Morons’ print No. 325 of 500,” the Opensea listing reads. “This is the first authentic Banksy piece to be turned into an NFT.” OpenSea visitors viewing the NFT list can also view the original COA in the Interplanetary File System (IPFS).
After listing, the Banksy “Morons” NFT was added to Opensea by @burntbanksy team sold to an individual called “galaxy”. The NFT was auctioned on Monday, March 8th, 2021 for 228.69 Ethereum or USD 394,000 at ether exchange rates. The contract for the non-fungible token, which is tied to the Pest Control-certified Banksy print “Morons”, can be seen here etherscan.io.
Although sales are well above the value of the physical Banksy print, some critics are skeptical of this new concept.
“Burnt Banksy NFT sells for $ 380K in ETH“.
But the profits do not go to the artist (since the artwork has already been purchased).
The profits go entirely to the resellers.
What problem do we fix again? pic.twitter.com/7HQvTu2k0T– Roxana Nasoi (The Hat) (@roxananasoi) March 8, 2021
NFT skeptics are multiplying
First, many believe the new NFT is no more valuable than a mere screenshot of the famous “Morons” art ripped off the open web for free. There is also evidence of an actual cremation as the @burntbanksy team conducted the cremation via livestream. This begs the question for skeptics, how can people legitimately verify that the team actually burned the legitimate pressure. Another possible scenario is the fact that notorious street performer Banksy from England did not approve the incineration and subsequent NFT sale. What if notorious prankster street performer Banksy recreated the silkscreen from # 325 out of 500?
With regard to Bansky NFT, there is a loss of information in the digital realm. In 100 years, a scientist could have examined the original ink or performed a chemical analysis of the ink or paper – but not with the copy. NFT are interesting, but not a fan of burning art. Hope no trend starts.
– BeyondBacktesting (@BBacktesting) March 8, 2021
However, proponents of non-fungible tokens (NFT) believe that the team at @burntbanksy was a turning point in the history of digital art. Some NFT proponents have compared the recent incineration transformation from Banksy “Morons” to an NFT to Banksy’s most recent “Morons”.Girl with a balloonStunt when he shredded half the pressure at a live auction. After Banksy did this stunt at the live auction, the tattered art “Girl with a Balloon” became even more valuable than the original.
“At first I was shocked, but I realized that in the end I would have my own piece of art history,” said the unnamed buyer of “Shredded-Girl with a Balloon” after the remarkable Banksy stunt.
The co-founder of myartbroker.comJoey Syer disagrees with the people comparing the two events.
“Last week we lost a real unsigned Banksy pressure to a stunt that can only be described as brave yet risky,” said Syer in an email to news.Bitcoin.com. “Although the NFT hits a record price and sells 300% more than the physical valuation of the print, the question arises whether art can still be art when it no longer exists in its physical form,” added Syer. The executive at myartbroker.com also compared the NFT with simply saving an existing image on the Internet for free.
“The irony behind the stunt isn’t that an original Banksy was burned, digitized, and sold for £ 206,292 ($ 285,000) more than its original value,” said Syer. “But you could right click on the same picture flooding the internet and have your own version for free. To us, using Banksy’s Moron print means the person (s) willing to pay £ 275,102 ($ 380,000) for the same art standard as a £ 10 Banksy print from Etsy. “
“Burned Banksy NFT is no different from other publicly available images on the Internet”
In terms of comparing the burned Banksy NFT event to the shredder “Girl with a Balloon,” Syer believes the two events are not the same. “The relationship between the NFT Morons stunt and Banksy’s crushing” Girl with a Balloon “doesn’t exist and the two events shouldn’t be compared,” he said.
Syer’s scathing criticism added:
Although Banksy’s Girl with a Balloon was considered destroyed, it became a work of art in its own right, still in its physical form. As for the burnt Morons print, the NFT version doesn’t matter to any other publicly available image on the internet, which raises the idea that the only idiots on this transaction may be the buyers and stunt artists themselves.
The NFT ecosystem has come under fire from many crypto advocates who criticized the space. More recently, Jack Dorsey’s sale of an NFT version of his first tweet sparked controversy. Despite the scathing criticism and NFT infidels, the environment for non-fungible token assets continues to grow relentlessly. It will be interesting to see how Banksy’s latest burning stunt affects the art industry in the future.
What do you think of the team that burned the Banksy screen print “Morons”? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Photo credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
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