Beeple's $69.3M Everydays Sale and the $6.6M Crossroads Resale

In March 2021, Christie's auctioned a digital work by the artist Beeple called 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days'. It was a collage built from 5,000 daily images that Beeple had made since 2007, and it was sold as a non-fungible token, an NFT. The final price was reported at about $69.3 million, which made it one of the largest sales of a living artist at the time.

The sale was notable for three reasons. It was run by a traditional auction house rather than a crypto-native platform. The buyer paid in ether, the native asset of the Ethereum network, so the dollar figure moved with the price of ether. And the headline number was widely shared, which pushed NFTs into mainstream news.

The headline price is one buyer's bid at one moment. It included the auction house's buyer's premium, and the dollar value reflects the exchange rate on the day. Readers should treat it as a record of a transaction, not a valuation that can be applied to other pieces.

If you want to read the original auction details, look for Christie's own sale records and reputable press coverage from March 2021. Those sources will show the lot, the currency and the reported total.

A separate sale often gets mentioned alongside the Christie's auction. Beeple's work 'Crossroads' was resold on the secondary market for about $6.6 million in 2021. A secondary sale means the piece changed hands between collectors after its first sale, rather than being sold directly by the artist.

The resale figure is reported as a single price. Secondary sales can involve private deals, marketplace trades or auction results, and the price a buyer pays is not always disclosed in full. The $6.6 million figure is best read as a reported price for one transaction.

Some coverage noted that Beeple was reported to earn around $660,000 from that resale. That amount would match a 10 percent creator royalty, if the contract paid one at that rate. Royalties depend on how the token was created and where it was sold, so confirm the terms on the specific contract before treating any creator payment as certain.

The lesson is that a single NFT can have several recorded prices over time, and each one reflects a different sale in a different market.

EulerBeats is a generative music NFT project on Ethereum. It appeared in coverage from the same period, when NFT culture was growing quickly, and it is sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Beeple's sales. The two are not the same kind of asset, and the $6.6 million figure refers to Beeple's Crossroads work, not to EulerBeats.

Generative music NFTs typically link a token to an audio output produced by code, with the rules set by the project's creators. Collectors of these works often care about the rarity of specific outputs, the community around the project and the status of the smart contract.

The results used for this guide do not give a current price, holder count or activity level for EulerBeats. Those figures change often, so check them directly. Look at the project's contract on Ethereum, the collection's page on a marketplace and the sale history for individual tokens.

If you come across an article that combines EulerBeats with the Beeple prices as if they were one event, read it carefully and check which asset each price refers to.

Most of the headline numbers in 2021 coverage were given in US dollars, but the sales were paid in cryptocurrency. For Everydays, the price was set in ether, and the dollar amount was calculated from the exchange rate when the sale was reported. If the ether price rose or fell after the sale, the dollar figure in later articles could look different.

Auction totals can also include fees. A buyer's premium is added on top of the hammer price, so the total paid is higher than the winning bid. Marketplace sales can include platform fees, gas costs on Ethereum and, in some cases, creator royalties. None of these details appear in a single headline figure.

When you compare sale prices across articles, check four things. Confirm the currency. Confirm whether fees are included. Confirm the date of the sale and the date of the exchange rate. Confirm whether the sale was a primary sale from the artist or a secondary sale between collectors.

If a report leaves these out, treat the number as an approximate headline rather than a precise comparison point.

Royalties are a clause that can be written into an NFT's smart contract so that the creator receives a share of later sales. Some early NFT contracts had this built in, and some marketplaces enforced it, while others did not. The result is that royalty payments have varied by platform and by era.

The basic idea is simple. A creator sets a royalty percentage when the token is minted, often in the range of a few percent to ten percent. When the token is sold through a marketplace that honours the setting, part of the sale price is sent to the creator's wallet. Whether the creator receives anything depends on the contract, the marketplace and the buyer and seller's choices.

Some platforms have changed their royalty policies over time. Some sale routes, such as direct peer-to-peer transfers or certain automated pools, may not pay the royalty at all. Before assuming a royalty applies, check the token's metadata, the marketplace's current royalty policy and the recent sale history.

If you are a creator, read the royalty terms of any platform before you mint, and keep a record of which marketplaces support the settings you chose.

A sale at a record price does not establish a stable market value. NFT prices can swing sharply with crypto markets, shifts in collector interest and news coverage. A piece that sold for a large amount in one month may sell for far less in another, or may not sell at all.

Liquidity matters as well. Many NFTs have few active buyers at any given time. Even a valuable work can take a long time to sell, and the price a seller can get may be well below the last recorded sale. Listing prices are not the same as the price a buyer will actually pay.

There are also costs to consider. Transaction fees, marketplace fees, gas costs and any storage or custody costs reduce what a holder keeps. Tax treatment varies by country and can be complex for trades involving crypto.

Before buying or selling, compare recent sales rather than headline records, check the current floor or listing data on a marketplace, and work out your total costs in advance. Consider speaking with a tax professional in your jurisdiction.

Sale history is public for most NFTs on public blockchains, so you can check a piece's record without relying on a single article. Start by finding the token's contract address and token ID. Verify the address through the official creator's channel or the collection's documentation, not through a link sent to you by someone else.

Next, open the token on a marketplace such as OpenSea, which displays listings, offers, and past sales with dates and prices. Cross-check the sale history against a block explorer for the relevant network, which shows the underlying transactions. Note the currency and whether fees are included.

For works sold through auction houses, check the auction house's own records. For works that were resold privately, the public record may be incomplete, so treat the figures as reported prices.

Finally, look at the creator's royalty settings and any recent changes. This gives you a fuller picture than a single headline number, and it helps you judge whether a sale price reflects a typical transaction or an outlier.

If you are curious about collecting NFTs after reading about these sales, start with a clear budget and a plan. Decide how much you can afford to lose, and treat any purchase as a high-risk activity. Keep your spending separate from essential money.

Security comes first. Use a wallet you control, store your recovery phrase offline and never share it. Be cautious of messages, posts or sites that ask you to connect your wallet or sign a transaction you do not understand. Check the contract address and the marketplace domain before you approve anything, and revoke token approvals you no longer need.

Study the market before buying. Look at recent sales, listing volume, the artist's track record and the project's long-term plans. Be wary of anything that promises guaranteed returns or pressures you to act quickly.

Finally, check local laws. Rules on digital assets, taxation and consumer protection differ by country and can change. If you are unsure how the rules apply to you, seek advice from a qualified professional before trading.