For the first time, British artist Damien Hirst recently accepted Cryptocurrency including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) for his Cherry Blossom print run which sold for a record-breaking $22,443,000.

In an NFT auction last week, American artist Beeple sold a single JPEG image for $69m as 22 million people jumped online to follow the final minutes of the auction on Christie’s website.

Hirst is also planning to jump on the NFT bandwagon with ‘The Currency” – a new project that has been 5 years in the making. Hirst is aiming to sell artworks later this year with the same technology used by Beeple –

“Ever since I made the diamond skull I’ve been thinking about wealth and value. I have been working on a secret art project for the last 5 years. It’s been blowing my mind. It explores and challenges the concept of value through money and art. For the past 3 years, the project has been expanding into the blockchain and NFTs. I have been working on this project closely with HENI, who have partnered with the leading tech company in the crypto world. It involves 10,000 original works of art on paper, which I call “The Currency”.  I made them all 5 years ago, and they are in a vault but about to come to life through their launch on the blockchain. They also exist as NFTs and a related cryptocurrency. The whole project is an artwork, and anyone who buys “The Currency” will participate in this work, it’s not just about owning it. It is the most exciting project I have ever worked on by far.”

– Damien Hirst