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All EulerBeats 'Enigma' NFTs all sold for at least 15.5 ETH each, or $28,000, in an auction on OpenSea that ended on Wednesday.
Most of the NFTs went for between 25 and 30 ETH, and the highest bid for a single NFT was 131.25 ETH, or more than $243,000. (EulerBeats is backed by Treum, which is backed by Ethereum studio ConsenSys, which also funds an editorially independent Decrypt.)
EulerBeats’ NFTs have become buzzy investments in the burgeoning market for digital collectibles, thanks in part to a ringing endorsement from Mark Cuban.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are blockchain-based tokens that can represent the ownership deed to any digital or physical asset, from virtual trading cards to albums to visual artworks to sports highlight clips. They are verifiably unique, typically one of a very limited batch or in some cases one of one, which explains their appeal as investments.
The idea with EulerBeats specifically is that each NFT is attached to an algorithmically generated audio file. (The project is named after mathematician and music theorist Leonhard Euler, pronounced "oiler.") When you buy the NFT, you’re investing in something that may appreciate over time, but you’re also guaranteeing yourself a portion of future royalties: the EulerBeats site lets anyone create “prints” of each file (160 of each, in the ‘Enigma’ collection), which can be sold on the secondary market—a process that positions the original NFT as a kind of master edition.
Over 1,000 ETH has already been paid out in EulerBeats royalties so far, according to data from Dune Analytics.
‘Enigma’ is the second batch of EulerBeats NFTs released into the wild, following last month’s ‘Genesis’ collection.
Today’s EulerBeats sale suggests there’s still plenty of money to be wrung from the relationship between music and NFTs.
Kings of Leon attached NFTs to copies of their recent album, When You See Yourself, and artists like Grimes, Rico Nasty, Aphex Twin, Jacques Greene, 3lau, Yaeji, Mura Masa, and Toro Y Moi have all sold NFTs.
And with the hype has come backlash: some artists have sworn off Ethereum-based NFTs entirely, citing concerns about their ecological footprint. Marketplaces like SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, and Zora have all invested in dedicated carbon offsets—no word yet on whether EulerBeats plans to do the same.