Bitcoin NFT Mania Hits Sotheby's: Super Mario-Style Mushroom Character Fetches $200k

• Sotheby's Initial Sale of Bitcoin Blockchain Ordinal Inscriptions Proves Successful
• Details of the Auction
• Reflection of Past Digital Asset Market Craze
• Bitcoin's Ordinals Inscriptions
• Information on the Digital Images

Sotheby's Initial Sale of Bitcoin Blockchain Ordinal Inscriptions Proves Successful

The inaugural sale of inscriptions created using Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64% blockchain's Ordinals protocol by Sotheby's fetched approximately $450,000. This is around five times higher than highest echelon estimates, thereby revealing a potentially mainstream zeal for digital images facetiously referred to as Bitcoin NFTs.

Details of the Auction

The auction was concluded on Wednesday and comprised of three images from a pixelated collection known as BitcoinShrooms. Among the sold images was a pixelated avocado garnering more than $100,000 and a design seemingly derived from a Super Mario franchise mushroom garnering over $240,000, as per Derek Parsons, spokesperson for the auction house. The three lots attracted a total of 148 bids, with more than two-thirds of all bidders being newcomers to Sotheby's. Plans for more soon, Parsons conveyed via email.

Reflection of Past Digital Asset Market Craze

The auction results evoke memories of the frenzy that swept across digital asset markets a few years ago when digital art and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, began to attract staggering sums and public attention. A striking instance was an NFT by artist Beeple fetching $69 million at Christie's auction house. However, many of these collections were built on the Ethereum$2,315 -2.42% blockchain.

Bitcoin's Ordinals Inscriptions

Launched late last year with cutting-edge technology by Casey Rodarmor atop Bitcoin, Ordinals inscriptions have witnessed popularity surges this year sufficient to cause congestion and heightened fees on the distributed network. Introduced in 2009 as a form of peer-to-peer payment network, there is ongoing intense debate among Bitcoin users and developers concerning the feasibility of filtering NFT type inscription transactions minted using the Ordinals project. These aren't considered a core financial use according to many advocates of the original blockchain. The notion that some of the images could be construed as erudite art might tip the debate scale towards lucrative interests.

Information on the Digital Images

The three digital images hail from the BitcoinShrooms collection of Ordinals inscriptions, by pseudonymous artist Shroomtoshi, according to Sotheby's website. The digital avocado, dubbed BIP39 SEED, was initially estimated to fetch between $20,000 and $30,000 but ended up being sold for $101,600.

Source: Sotheby's website. (Shroomtoshi/Sotheby's)

Edited by Jonathan Stoker