Crypto art by Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland sold for $150,000 during a silent Nifty Gateway auction on Tuesday.
The blockchain-powered piece, titled The First Ever Edition Of Rick And Morty Cryptoart, is part of Roiland’s The Best I Could Do collection.
Other works in the collection include The Most Thoughtful Parasite…, bought for $67,777 — and the ironically-named 100% Complete, which went for a relatively modest $21,000.
However, these prices are set to be eclipsed by Roiland’s Simpsons-inspired doodle The Smintons. At press time, that piece has garnered a top bid beyond $188,000.
The Smintons auction will finalize Wednesday, with all proceeds pledged to help Los Angeles homeless encampments.
Crypto artworks like these are represented by unique “non-fungible” tokens (NFTs) stored on Ethereum’s blockchain. Just like in the ‘real world,’ art speculators consider some NFTs valuable collector’s items.
A collaborative piece called Block Heater by artist Mad Dog Jones and musician Deadmau5 recently sold via Nifty Gateway for nearly $67,000.
[Read more: Deadmau5 scores crypto-art stored on Ethereum]
Monthly NFT sales hit an all-time high in December when $8.2 million worth of crypto art was sold via auction houses — and demand shows no sign of slowing.
And earlier this week, Japanese crypto entrepreneur Miss Bitcoin announced a charity initiative to raise funds from tokenized art sales for teens affected by COVID-19.
However, those NFTs will be kept on a smaller blockchain, Enjin.
[H/T: Cointelegraph]