This Is the World's Most Expensive Piece of Crypto-Art
Art imitates life, as the saying goes.
For Andy Tian, Co-founder and Group CEO of Asia Innovations Group, that means leveraging the shift towards blockchain technology to produce a piece of virtual artwork: “The Forever Rose.”
“Just because you can’t really see it, doesn’t mean it’s no less valuable,” says Tian, whose company operates the GIFTO virtual gifting platform.
“The Forever Rose,” created by renowned artist Kevin Abosch, sold for $1 million worth of ethereum on Valentine’s Day, making it the most expensive piece of crypto-art so far. The token was split between 10 collectors who can resell their portion of the artwork.
Tian says any art, physical or virtual, derives its value from both the artist and “the significance of the artwork.” The medium it’s produced in doesn’t matter.
In fact, blockchain’s safe, decentralized nature makes it an ideal platform for the art world, he says. The market can’t be tainted with fake works, the art can’t be damaged or hacked, and it throws open the typically exclusive collector’s club to anyone who wants to buy or sell.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cryptocurrency-is-changing-how-we-view-art).
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
February 8 is Safer Internet Day, and Google has partnered with online education organization Khan Academy to release a courseload focused on internet safety. The partnership includes a $5 million donation towards content development from Google, with modules to be made available in various languages throughout 2022. Founder of Khan Academy, Sal Khan, joined Cheddar News to discuss the partnership. "We need to get to a world where everyone of all ages has a chance to learn and practice and feel good that they can navigate the internet in a safe way,” said Khan.
Big tech companies such as Amazon and Google are garnering criticism for failing at their proposed climate pledges, most of which rely on carbon offsets — a potential loophole where companies pay others to address their omissions. Gilles Dufrasne, policy officer at Carbon Market Watch, joined Cheddar News to explain the organization's negative evaluation. "The objective here is not to bash companies and say everybody is doing the wrong thing," he said. "The objective is to also provide lessons, and there are some companies that are doing the right thing."
U.S. markets opened lower as disappointing Meta earnings dragged down the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Today, investors will be watching for Amazon's Q4 earnings report set for release after the market close. Greg Swenson, Founding Partner, Brigg Macadam joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Markets opened mostly higher led by gains in the tech sector on strong Q4 earnings. It comes after a tumultuous January which saw stocks suffer one of their worst months since the early days of the pandemic. Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer, Wealth Consulting Group joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss early market activity.
CLMBR is hoping to become the next big thing in connected fitness. The brand offers a high intensity, low impact workout with on-demand, instructor-led classes. Avrum Elmakis, CLMBR's CEO and founder, joined Cheddar to discuss where the company is heading next.