Sotheby’s, the renowned digital art auction house, has announced a redo of its Glitch Digital Art Sale auction, “Glitch: Beyond Binary,” after facing criticism for being non-inclusive. The new sale, which will feature works by a diverse range of artists, will open on April 19th. In a statement released by the auction house, they stated that the sale would represent all walks of life, “These communities do not just identify as male or female but consist of people from every gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, language, neuro-type, size, ability, class, religion, culture, subculture, political opinion, age, skill level, occupation and background.”
Previously, Sotheby’s had paused its “Natively Digital: Glitch-ism” auction last month following criticism from NFT artist Patrick Amadon over a lack of female representation. However, the new sale addresses these gaps, highlighting the diverse artist communities that make up Glitch Art. It is curated by @letsglitchit and @thedinachang, and the introduction is written by @_menkman. The new auction aims to rectify the earlier non-inclusive approach and will be eagerly monitored by the art world and the wider community.
In other exciting news, a lucky player in Illivium stumbled upon the rarest Illuvitar yet, the coveted Holo Blazing Rhamphyre, and managed to sell it for $49,128.85 USD. The player found this rarer Illuvitar inside a D1SK, a type of digital loot box containing random Illiviators and Accessories. As these boxes cost only $32 USD, the player made a jaw-dropping profit of approximately 140,525%. This finding reaffirms the excitement of the NFT realm and showcases the potential for incredible returns.
Additionally, on April 9th, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed the first NFT in Ukraine for a collection called UACatsDivision, featuring cats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with all funds donated to the Ukraine Military services. At the time of writing, 3,026 NFT cats had already been purchased, out of the total 10,000 available. This initiative, driven by the Ukrainian government, shows their commitment to exploring the potential of NFTs and decentralization.
In more intriguing developments, Bitcoin (BTC) miners have created NFTs using the Ordinals protocol earning over $5 million. Dune Analytics data revealed that transaction fees for Ordinals transactions exploded 240%, from $1.5 million on March 10 to $5.2 million by April 12. Nearly 1.1 million Ordinals have been inscribed on the Bitcoin network, mostly consisting of JPEG images and text but included PDFs, video, and audio formats. This is yet another example of the growing popularity of NFTs and their potential to evolve the digital landscape.
However, it is not always sunshine and rainbows in the NFT space. Recently, an NFT collector mistakenly bid 100 Ether (ETH), worth approximately $192,000 at the time of writing, for an NFT from the Gemesis NFT collection, meant to be free to celebrate the launch of OpenSea Pro. Some members of the community propose that this transaction was a wash trade. Still, others believe it to be an honest mistake made while making a bid; regardless, it highlights the need for caution and awareness when dealing with digital assets.
It is evident that the NFT realm continues to expand and surprise the wider community with its potential. As it grows, it is vital that all members of the community advocate for inclusivity and diversity, ensuring that everyone can participate and reap the benefits. The future looks bright for NFT collectors and the broader community.
