Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) remain controversial, but like it or not they have been the biggest growth engine within digital assets in 2021. NFTs have sold for millions of dollars. The Beeple NFT sale of “Everydays – The First 5000 Days” by Christie’s in early 2021 commanded a whopping $69 million. Many outsiders have questioned the motive behind such a sale, but a new sale of NFTs has been reported to fetch $91.8 million.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. We do not opine about what drives the interest of certain collectibles as an alternative asset class. The sales of NFTs have been difficult enough to explain as is, and this situation is left for our readers (and NFT critics and supporters) to debate over. That said, did Beeple just get his record smashed or is this a new way of looking at a sale of NFTs? That is for you to decide.

As of 1:30 Eastern Time on this date, the sale was not reported on the NonFungible.com recent sales site.

We have included a link to the current activity within NFTs on the Nifty Gateway, which is owned by Gemini, as well as the Marketplace the platform shows. Pak’s ‘Merge’ was shown on Nifty Gateway’s curated drop schedule.

A press release was issued by Nifty Gateway on December 7, 2021 showing that the renowned digital artist Pak set the highest NFT sale in history, and that it was the first drop of its kind on Nifty Gateway. Pak’s auction of ‘Merge’ set the sales record for single artwork sold publicly by a living artist, while also debuting a new mechanic that rewards collectors for multiple purchases, at $91.8 million in sales.

According to the Nifty Gateway release, the previous auction record for a single artwork sold publicly by a living artist is $91.1 million for Jeff Koons’ 1986 sculpture, Rabbit, set in 2019.

According to the release, patrons who bought into the project during the sale period unlocked access to an exclusive NFT. This expanded in size as patrons added to their collection. Nifty’s representation is that 28,983 collectors spent a total of $91,806,519 to purchase 312,686 total units of mass in just 48 hours.

Users were able to collect as much mass as they wanted during the period of from December 2 to December 4, 2021. The release specified:

At the end of the sale they will receive a dynamic NFT that merges all the mass they accumulated during the auction. Collectors who acquire more mass on the secondary market “merge” purchased mass with their own to grow their NFT. The mechanism allows for mass available on the market to consolidate, lowering the number of tokens over time while the total units of mass remain constant. This innovative mechanic highlights the social nature of art collecting and market scarcity, while utilizing NFT technology in an innovative way.

The release also noted that Pak had previously innovated the idea of “Open Editions” on Nifty Gateway. This allows collectors to purchase as many NFTs as they wish during the sale period for a fixed price in parallel to the collection, revealing itself over the course of the sale.

Nifty Gateway recently became the first NFT platform which offers collectors significantly reduced GAS fees (70% less) due to a unique custodial infrastructure. The company also began listing NFTs from other marketplaces as well. It also allowed users to list NFTs in ETH directly from their wallets and to buy directly from other user’s wallets in ETH.