It was only a matter of time before someone got their hands on a piece of artwork by the infamous Banksy and turned it into an NFT. Well, it has finally happened. On July 7, it was announced that Banksy’s ‘Spike’ artwork would be auctioned on the up-and-coming NFT platform, Valuart.
In December 2020, NFT art sales reached an all time high. Since then, the space has continued to gain momentum and sales have continued to climb, and more and more collectors and investors are taking notice.
While many auction houses are eager to get a piece of the pie when it comes to NFTs, many of them unfortunately do not have the infrastructure required to create top quality digitization for the art, or the ability to securely create NFTs for them. This is where Valuart is making a difference.
In case you haven’t already heard of it, Valuart was created by Etan Genini, Michele Fiscallini, and famous operatic tenor Vittorio Grigolo. Together, the team is committed to producing a unique, value-adding product for the art collection industry.
“We wanted to support the NFT revolution by creating a platform that would represent the safe haven for artists and their art, art collectors and art lovers in general,” says Grigolo.
‘Spike’ is a famous masterpiece by Banksy that was released as part of a treasure hunt that the artist set up in Palestine back in 2005.
To make matters even more intriguing, the original ‘Spike’ is owned by Grigolo himself. To make sure this sale establishes their brand properly, Valuart have put in a lot of effort to ensure that NFT is a perfect 1:1 digital clone of the original piece. This means it is an exact replica.
To add extra value, Valuart has enhanced the NFT by crossing it over with a vocal soundtrack by Grigolo himself in order to really bring the piece to life. The artwork has been validated by tokenizing the certificate of authenticity on the blockchain.
In true Banksy style, the platform has also announced that 50% of proceeds from the auction will be donated to charity.
“I’m very excited about this new project. After months of hard work we can finally share with everyone what we created. I’m convinced that this is the future of how we perceive, admire and give value to art and artists,” says Grigolo.
This auction will be the very first one ever hosted on Valuart’s Ethereum-based platform, which has received a lot of interest from investors. So far, the platform has raised 1.5 million CHF from investors.
The Valuart team are also excited for the drop, and have dropped hints that their next drop will be equally as exciting. Rumor has it that it’s a product from the Vatican.
“This first drop is just a stepping stone that will pave the way towards a very exciting future!” says Grigolo.
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