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Winklevoss Twins Launch a Marketplace for Blockchain Digital Art

Winklevoss Twins Launch a Marketplace for Blockchain Digital Art

(Bloomberg) -- Crypto entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are launching a marketplace for nifties, the tradable digital art that can sell for thousands of dollars.

Nifty Gateway, a startup that the Winklevoss’s Gemini Trust Co. bought last year, is debuting a website Tuesday where consumers will be able to buy and sell digital collectibles from artists including Michael Kagan and Lyle Owerko. Kagan, known for his space exploration-themed work, has collaborated with singer Pharrell Williams on t-shirt designs and recently sold a work through Christie’s for $40,000. Works of photographer Owerko have graced the cover of Time magazine and been collected by the likes of Beyonce. Niftygateway.com will also sell a collection of digital art from MMA fighter Cris Cyborg.

“I haven’t done anything like this before, which is all the more reason to do this now,” Owerko said in a phone interview.

For the Winklevoss twins, who have been two of the earliest supporters of cryptocurrency, the marketplace is a way to tap into an emerging and potentially lucrative market for digital art. Unlike other digital renderings, these pieces are kept track of via digital-ledger technology called blockchain that’s similar to that underpinning cryptocurrency Bitcoin. That means artists can issue limited-edition pieces. The twins predict that the market will eventually be as big as the ones for art, collectibles and gaming digital items combined.

Until now, the best-known nifties have been digital breeding cats from the popular game CryptoKitties. But potentially, stamps, comic books and other types of digital art could be sold in the same way, they said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Rita Nazareth

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