$69.3m for digital collage

A digital collage by American artist Beeple sold Thursday for a record $69.3 million at Christie's auctioneers, as virtual art rapidly establishes itself as a new -- and highly profitable -- creative genre. 

"Everydays: The First 5,000 Days" became the most expensive ever "non-fungible token" (NFT) -- a collectible digital asset that uses blockchain technology to turn virtual work into a unique item.

Its buyer has not been publicly identified.

The collage is based on a project beginning on May 1, 2007, when Beeple was a bored web designer and started to create a work of art each day, without interruption, to improve his drawing and graphic design. After 5,000 consecutive days, "Everydays" brought together his daily pieces in digital form, beginning with a simple image of his Uncle Jim and ending on a detailed graphic portrait of characters from Donald Trump to Buzz Lightyear to Michael Jackson, depicted as dystopian muses around a child drawing.