Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
Onsite.Black SwanImage from: https://cointelegraph.com/news/tiny-artwork-sold-in-micro-crypto-auction-for-lowest-bid-of-1-millisatoshiTo celebrate the launch of the Lightning Network in 2019 — a Layer 2 solution allowing for faster transactions and greater scalability of Bitcoin — Cryptograffiti created a tiny artwork called Black Swan. Only 1.44 x 1.75 inches in size, the artwork is a framed black swan in front of pieced-together leaves, made from a single U.S. dollar bill. The size choice reflects Lightning’s possibility for micropayments, which Cryptograffiti also highlighted via a one-of-a-kind auction. Bids were placed using Lightning, until the artwork sold to the lowest micro-bidder, a complete inversion of traditional auction mechanics. Black Swan went for a millisatoshi, the smallest fragment of a Bitcoin transferable, equivalent to $0.000000037 at the time. It is therefore the “least expensive artwork in the world.” The winner also received a “counterfeit pen” — what merchants use to confirm a banknote’s legitimacy. In challenging the “absurdity” of traditional art auctions, Cryptograffiti also released an accompanying parodying video playing on their seriousness — all the more effective considering the art’s final price tag.On the potential of micropayments, Cryptograffiti told Artnome in 2018: “I’m excited about a future where micropayments are omnipresent. Artists paid by the view, writers by the poem, musicians by the listen.”Unlocking Bitcoin’s art valueBecause of Cryptograffiti’s dedication to Bitcoin, he’s refrained from actively taking part in the Ethereum-based marketplaces selling NFTs, such as OpenSea (his experiments with early marketplaces and projects like Curio Cards in 2017 were because of a lack of viable alternatives). Instead, he’s gotten involved with helping develop Bitcoin-based solutions, which align with his purpose and message.Speaking to Bitcoin magazine, he says: “I think the digital art movement is awesome. And I love that artists are getting paid through it (…) and there’s the innovation happening with royalties, the secondary sales, and how it
Add Comment