Buyer of Beeple Digital Artwork Revealed
The buyer of the NFT digital artwork “Everydays: the First 5,000 Days” by Mike Winkelmann was finally revealed.
The NFT artwork was sold at Christie’s auction house for $69.3 million. The most expensive art piece ever sold to date.
In a tweet, the auction house announced the winning bidder who goes by the pseudonymous name “MetaKovan”. He is known as the founder and financier of Metapurse, a crypto-exclusive fund.
But surprisingly, the buyer revealed his real identity in a recent blog. He is Vignesh Sundaresan, a crypto investor based in Singapore. In his statement, he disclosed the reason behind his action.
“The point [of revealing himself] was to show Indians and people of color that they, too, could be patrons, that crypto was an equalizing power between the West and the Rest, and that the global south was rising.”
He won against Justin Sun in the last few minutes of the bidding for the NFT artwork.
Sundaresan further stated on his recent NFT Beeple purchase:
“When you think of high-valued NFTs, this one is going to be pretty hard to beat. “And here’s for $2.2 million.
Weil Leaves Diem for Planet Labs
Diem co-creator Kevin Weil leaves Diem for Planet Labs. He is also the vice president of product at Facebook’s digital wallet unit.
He announced his departure from Diem to Planet Labs in a recent tweet.
“Personal news! I’m beyond excited to be joining @PlanetLabs in the coming weeks as President, Product & Business. Planet builds and operates a constellation of nearly 200 satellites that images the entire Earth every day.”
Facebook’s Libra project has been under the scrutiny of regulators. It was also embroiled in an alleged lawsuit after its rebranding from Libra to Diem. It was supposedly set to launch in January this year but there was no further announcement made by Facebook as to when will be the final launching date.
Morgan Stanley to Acquire Bithumb
New York-based Bank, Morgan Stanley plans to acquire a major stake with the Korean crypto exchange Bithumb.
In a report by Naver News, the Wall Street giant is now in talks with Bident. The company is the largest shareholder of Bithumb with its shares comprised of 10.3% of the crypto exchange’s total stake. Morgan Stanley plans to invest about 300 to 500 billion won (between $250 million to $440 million).
Bithumb affiliate companies’ shares surge after news of Morgan Stanley’s acquisition came out. Bident shares went up by 17% while T Scientific recorded a 5% increase.
According to previous reports, Nexon, a South Korean gaming firm also planned to buy a 65% stake in the crypto exchange. But in an update by Naver News, the deal between Bithumb and Nexon was already canceled.
On Dec. 31, Morgan Stanley also acquired 792,627 shares in the business intelligence firm MicroStrategy. This is equivalent to a 10.9% stake in the company. Microstrategy and its CEO and founder Michael Saylor have invested heavily in BTC (bitcoin).
In a recent tweet by Joseph Young, a Cointelegraph markets analyst, he stated that Bithumb is eyeing a $2 billion valuation.
The influx of institutional investors in the crypto space further drives crypto adoption to the mainstream.
Ripple Welcomes Ex-Uber Exec as New Managing Director
In line with its Southeast Asian expansion, Ripple appoints Brooks Entwistle as its new managing director. Before joining Uber in 2017, Entwistle was formerly the Chairman of Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia for twenty years.
In his recent statement, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that Ripplenet’s operation in Asia continues to grow and remained unaffected by the US SEC lawsuit.
Entwistle also shared his appointment as Ripple’s managing director in his recent tweet.
“Super pumped to share I’ve joined @Ripple to lead and scale operations in Southeast Asia-a pivotal region that’s accelerating payments innovation globally. Looking forward to leading this talented team to fuel the future of finance with #RippleNet!”
The price of XRP slumped after the filing of a lawsuit by the SEC against Ripple. But since Ripplenet is a financial network and payment processor, its operation is not in any way disrupted by the XRP price dip. Business as usual for Ripplenet.
As of writing, XRP price is now at $ 0.473135 which is a far cry from its price slump at $0.171 on Dec. 29.
