Sold! CryptoKitty gets auctioned for $140,000 at the Codex Art Auction

Ethereal Summit 2018 was a two-day event filled with blockchain-inspired wonder and ended with an exclamation point.

The live auction for Celestial Cyber Dimension is starting. This 1 of 1 Exclusive CryptoKitty features a physical statuette that spans the divide between analog and digital art. Designed by @guilegaspar & @ricmoo.
Live stream: https://t.co/fVw4hAl9Sk
Bid: https://t.co/3CNQQJqpl1 pic.twitter.com/w4S110o54L

— CryptoKitties (谜恋猫) (@CryptoKitties) May 12, 2018

Saturday night featured a live art auction put on by Codex, a blockchain title registry, and Rare Art Labs, a platform for artists to sell rare copies of their digital art. The art auction featured works by various artists in the industry such as Kevin Abosch, an artist who creates physical pieces of art (some made from blood) and tied to the Ethereum blockchain, as well as the belle of the ball, a CryptoKitty.

The belle of the ball.

The auction for the Kitty started at $10,000, and was expected to go for 25 to 50 Ethereum (around $37,500), but was ultimately sold for $140,000.

The exclusive CryptoKitty was made by the Cryptokitties’ Director of Art, Guilherme Twardowski and was inspired by cyberspace, blockchain, and the Cryptokitties universe. The digital cat’s private key was also implanted in a physical statuette, which was a fully functioning hardware wallet.

Some readers may find themselves astounded by a digital image of a cat provoking a bidding war that ended in a $140,000 sale, but it’s important to put this all into perspective. For starters, the incredibly subjective art world is no stranger to artworks being sold for exorbitant amounts. Recently, Instagram art has been getting sold for $100,000+. CryptoKitties, was launched as a game, but is positioned to be a leading pioneer in the blockchain art realm, an industry expected to receive massive amounts of attention in the next few years.