Damien Hirst is going to burn 4,851 physical paintings

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Estimated read time: 2 minutes 45 seconds

Table of contents:

• The Currency - NFT project by Damien Hirst

• Winners and Losers of the day

Damien Hirst is going to burn thousands of physical pieces because of NFTs

The Currency is a 10,000-strong NFT collection by the artist Damien Hirst. It gives holders an intriguing choice: burn an NFT and claim the corresponding Hirst painting, or hold onto the NFT and watch the real painting literally burn.

Running since last year, those who spent $2,000 on an NFT had until 3 pm UK time this Wednesday (27th) to decide whether to cash in their token for a painting.

All unclaimed paintings will be burned at Newport Street Gallery, London in the fall, where Hirst houses his own art along with his personal collection.

The redemption window closed with the final numbers coming in at 5,149 physicals and 4,851 NFTs. Meaning there will be a burn of 4,851 physical Hirst paintings....wow.

A few of Hirst’s paintings will be destroyed each day running up to a closing event at the well-known Frieze art fair in October.

More than a neat gimmick?

Anyone familiar with Damien Hirst will know he’s always been preoccupied with the speculation-crazy art market of recent decades.

Other famous Hirst pieces include the most expensive artwork ever made (in the form of a skull covered in 8,000+ diamonds) and Lullaby Spring, one of his medicine cabinet installations, which broke records for a work of art sold by a living artist.

Making people ask “is it art?” is something that Hirst definitely embraces, especially when it comes to blurring the line between artistic and monetary value.

So it’s interesting to see his longstanding artistic themes come into such sharp focus with NFTs – a technology where art and finance have never been more closely bound.

Talking about The Currency in interviews, Hirst says that the project is about “when art changes and becomes a currency, and when currency becomes art.”

Heni Analytics tracks the sales data for Hirst’s NFTs on the secondary market — with both sales activity and floor price having dropped significantly alongside Crypto’s general decline.

There were approximately 2,000 sales of Currency NFTs in the month after their release, totalling nearly $48 million. Last month, just $1.4m was traded in 170 sales.

Right now, it looks like choosing a physical painting over an NFT may have been the smart move. One of the originals was sold for 18,900 GBP in January at a London auction – but who knows which format will ultimately win out?

So maybe The Currency will serve as a useful barometer of physical vs digital asset value going forward?

Winners and Losers

The projects that have stood out to us the most in the past 24 hours, the good, and bad.

Winner: Allstarz Official - Floor price up 70% in the last 24 hours (0.033 ETH → 0.06 ETH)

Definitely aiming for that Gen X/Old Millennial nostalgia play, these full body PFPs are oozing with 90s flair. A cute play and they’re dirt cheap, so who knows how high they can go. For all my fellow old people, if you ever wanted something that represents your truth via a wallet chain and a yellow Sony walkman, this might just be for you!

Loser: Bad Influence 0x - Floor Price down 40% in the last 24 hours (0.24 ETH → 0.14 ETH)

Once again we’ve got a popular artist releasing a project and seeing some floor price volatility on mint day. I’ll be honest that the artist behind this, Jor Ros, his art kind of speaks to my soul and I think the PFPs are great. I want to see this project succeed, so hopefully the price action is just from flippers who got into the public mint at 0.1 ETH or the limited free mint from a few days ago and wanted to lock in some profit. Buy the dip! (or don’t, totally not financial advice)

Headlines of the day

• A16z Leads $50M Seed Round for Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT Project

• This MetaMask Ethereum Wallet Update May Help Thwart NFT Scams

• Charles Schwab to Launch Crypto-Themed ETF on New York Stock Exchange

Disclaimer: Nothing in this article/newsletter should be considered financial advice. The purpose is to inform readers of the current trends and news in the web3 space. We encourage every reader to do their own research and not act upon information put forth by Decentra Daily.