Pseudonymous NFT investor Metakovan was behind the $70 million purchase of digital artwork from Beeple. British auction house Christie, which hosted the sale, revealed the identity of the buyer. Metakovan’s real identity is not known, but he is the co-founder of crypto investment firm Metapurse.

Mysterious Buyer for $70 Million Beeple NFT Art Revealed

An NFT artwork by the artist Beeple sold at Christie’s for over $70 million, making it the most expensive NFT ever to be sold at an auction. The artwork called “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” is a collage of 5,000 individual images made over the last 13 years every day.

Metakovan paid Ethererum approximately 42,329.453 ETH total. Accepting cryptocurrency was a first for the 254-year-old auction house.

The pseudonymous buyer is based in Singapore, saying he’s a Y Combinator alumnus. He also hinted that “it’s not that hard to find out who I am IRL.”

Metakovan is the founder of Metapurse, a crypto-based investment firm. Reportedly, that their fund outbid dozens of rivals over the course of the 15-day online contest to win Beeple’s artwork.

Metakovan said on Beeple’s NFT art:

“Techniques are replicable and skill is surpassable, but the only thing you can’t hack digitally is time. This is the crown jewel, the most valuable piece of art for this generation. It is worth $1 billion.”

Metakovan Previously Bought Beeple’s Artwork

This isn’t the first time that Metakovan has bought an artwork by Beeple. In a December auction of original Beeple’s art on the online marketplace Nifty Gateway, Metakovan purchased 20 images for a combined $2.2 million.

He even fractionalized the ownership of one collection of Beeples with a special token called the B.20 Coin. Currently, those works have a market cap of $163.5 million.

Metapurse also collects NFTs to display in the metaverse through virtual museums. In January 2021, Metapurse announced the launch of three virtual museums in which it will exhibit acquisitions from the fund, through virtual reality.