In Scarce City, a marketplace for fine, Bitcoin-based goods, we have just sold a piece of artwork for 1 bitcoin at our first Lightning Auction.
Lightning Auctions is a first-of-its-kind online marketplace that parallels instant and anonymous merchandise bids using the Lightning Network.
Participants pay a Lightning invoice with each application representing a small percentage of the offer amount. At the end of an auction, the highest bidder has 24 hours to pay the amount due with a Bitcoin transaction on the chain. If they do not, they lose their collateral and the next highest bidder is given the opportunity to pay his highest bid. Once the item is paid for, the collateral is repaid to the rest of the participants by Lightning payment.
We drew a striking mosaic on the Bitcoin theme, “Relentless Optimism” by Chiefmonkey a mosaic.rocks. Featuring phoenix flying with physical bitcoin clutched in its clutches, the work is inspired by the January 1988 cover of The Economist, an edition entitled “Prepare for the world’s currency.”
Over three days, 19 participants placed 53 proposals, totaling nearly 7 BTCs. The gut wrenching finish included a bidding war that ended with a top bid of exactly 1 bitcoin by a mysterious participant who went by the name “MIKEZ.”
There were several moments when the auction seemed to be over and then a second and final bid would stretch the auction count down.
MIKEZ immediately paid off the rest of the bid, officially ending the auction. The resulting price tag for the artwork in US dollar terms was approximately $ 19,100.
The response from the Bitcoin creative community has been breathtaking. A solid Bitcoin-based auction platform has obviously been very rare.
Most importantly, the event demonstrated that Bitcoin-based creative works are in great demand when consumers are offered a good experience for a bid.
While we love the initial success, there are many opportunities to enhance our market with other tools in the Bitcoin pile. We are very excited to expand our offering to digital art with Bitcoin-based non-fun tickets (NFTs).
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This is a guest post by Chris Tramount. They are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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