Bitcoin-Based Digital Art Image 'Genesis Cat' Sells for $254K in Sotheby's Auction
"Genesis Cat," a digital art image minted on the Bitcoin blockchain's Ordinals protocol by Taproot Wizards, sold for $254,000 in a Sotheby's auction. The sale exceeded the estimated price by over 12 times. The broader "Ordinals Curated Sale" at Sotheby's, featuring 19 lots from 11 artists, collectively earned about $1.1 million. The sale also included a record-breaking "Rare Satoshi" piece. The high prices of these Ordinals inscriptions have drawn comparisons to the NFT frenzy on the Ethereum blockchain. The Genesis Cat image is part of a series of 3,333 "Quantum Cats" minted by Taproot Wizards, designed to honor a Bitcoin improvement proposal known as OP_CAT. The sale price will be paid back to the project, including the artist, co-founder Francisco "FAR" Alarcon.
