NFT Tied to Rare Whiskey Cask Auctions for $2.3M
Specialty NFT marketplace Metacask said the sale sets a new record for the whiskey barrel auction block.
Oct 22, 2021 at 10:09 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/RX7O2BVOXFGULLK5CTN6W5WBQI.jpg)
A non-fungible barrel of 1991 Macallans Scotch set whiskey auction records Friday, nabbing $2.3 million in the form of an non-fungible token (NFT).
The sale, hosted by NFT marketplace Metacask, surpasses the previous cask sale record price of $574,000 for a similar barrel at auction house Bonhams last August. This edition came bundled with digital art from Trevor Jones.
A pseudonymous buyer who goes by “oldcask” outbid two other bidders active in digital whiskey investments, a PR representative told CoinDesk. The company declined to identify the buyer.
The NFT serves as a digital title for the cask of the whiskey. It was minted on the Ethereum blockchain.
Co-founder Nim Siriwardana said the cask NFT was minted and auctioned to showcase the appeal of digitally transferable rights.
“Buyers don’t need to go to a physical auction house to acquire rare and valuable real assets like whisky,” Siriwardana said in a statement.
NFT sales have become increasingly mainstream and popular during the coronavirus pandemic. Sales volumes surged to $10.7 billion in Q3 of 2021, more than eight times more than the second quarter, according to data by DappRadar.
:format(webp)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/coindesk/6d05e6ca-ca9b-44d0-97e6-b6bdceee3d6f.png)
Helene is a New York-based reporter covering Wall Street, the rise of the spot bitcoin ETFs and crypto exchanges. She is also the co-host of CoinDesk's Markets Daily show. Helene is a graduate of New York University's business and economic reporting program and has appeared on CBS News, YahooFinance and Nasdaq TradeTalks. She holds BTC and ETH.