Bitcoin Ordinals ‘Quantum Cat’ sells for over $250,000 at Sotheby’s

An article of Bitcoin Ordinals from the Quantum Cat project has sold for more than $250,000 at Sotheby's, the famous auction house announced Monday.

Digital artist FAR's “Genesis Cat” monogram received more than 50 bids, according to Sotheby's, with the winning bid reaching 6.31 BTC, or $254,000.

Earlier this month, Taproot Wizards announced the Quantum Cat collection of Bitcoin Ordinals articles. The 3,333 images project cost over $66,000 to create on the Bitcoin blockchain. A sale for the wider collection will take place on January 29.

The Quantum Cats collection, as Taproot Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer previously explained, is a tribute to an early code in the Bitcoin network called Connectnet, or OP_CAT.

“‘OP_CAT' is an ancient ‘op code' in Bitcoin that was first released by Satoshi but later disabled,” Wertheimer said.

“Congratulations to all artists and collectors!” Michael Buhana, head of digital and contemporary art at Sotheby's, said on Twitter. “Special thanks [FAR] Who helped organize this sale?

According to Buhana, more than 26 BTC—around $1,097,000—was generated from the sale of Natively Digital curated Ordinals, with 641 auctions and 100% of auction lots sold.

“About half of the sales are higher than expected,” he added.

While this is the first central sale of Bitcoin Ordinals from Sotheby's, the auction house has hosted several NFT sales on Ethereum in the past. For example, the institution has auctioned several NFTs once owned by bankrupt Three Arrows Capital, including the Art Blocks NFT nicknamed “The Goose” that sold for $6.2 million last June.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.