London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Banksy print destroyed by fire (goes up in value by $300,000)

Banksy print destroyed by fire (goes up in value by $300,000)

Work by street artist sold for more than four-times gallery price after being incinerated

How do you make a $95,000 screen-print by street artist Banksy four times more valuable? The answer, it would seem, is by incinerating it.

Three years after the artist rigged up a painting to self-shred itself as it was being auctioned, a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts have gone a step further.

A 2006 print by the artist - number 325 of an edition of 500 - was bought from a New York gallery in January by a group known as Injective Protocol for $95,000.

It was scanned and transformed into a unique digital asset known as a non-fungible token (NFT) which was uploaded and stored in the digital ether of blockchain. The physical print was then slowly torched on camera in a Brooklyn park.


The moment of destruction was live-streamed on the twitter account of its owner, a collective using the name BurntBanksy.

The NFT - effectively the artwork’s digital remains - was then offered for sale on the OpenSea auction platform and, after a bidding war involving more than 70 different parties, reached a closing price of 228.69 units of cryptocurrency Etherium - today worth around $400,000.

While anyone can view or display the image, only the new owner - listed on the site as ‘Galaxy’ - can trade the digital original: their ownership is hardwired into its mathematical code, certifying ownership until it is again sold on.

The bizarre, destructive method of buying and selling art has been gaining ground among the crypto communities in recent months.

What started with bad cartoons and flying poptart kittens encoded by enthusiastic amateurs into the vast strings of binary code that makes up blockchain is now attracting serious players.

Other moments in time captured in digital kryptonite as NFTs and now being traded include Jack Dorsey’s first tweet (‘just setting up my twttr”), video clips of major sporting moments, Wiliam Shatner trading cards, and tracks on the new Kings Of Leon release.

The Banksy purchase is thought to be its first venture into the verified works of a mainstream artist.

"Our aim is to bridge the world of traditional art with the world of NFTs"


BurntBanksy explained: “We specifically chose a Banksy piece since he has previously shredded one of his own artworks at an auction. We view this burning event as an expression of art itself.


“We are generating a new form of artwork via the creation of this unique NFT that is a direct representation of the physical.”

Their argument is effectively, that the digital token is of greater value than the original work because it is safe from loss, theft, damage or vandalism - by people such as themselves.

Mirza Uddin, a spokesman for Injective Protocol, said the group planned to give the proceeds from the NFT sale to a Covid-19 based charity: “We’re already planning our next event in collaboration with a prominent artist.

“Our aim is to bridge the world of traditional art with the world of NFTs. So, we’ll definitely be doing more to uphold this ethos,” he told CoinDesk.

Ali Raza, of inside bitcoins, said: “Sadly, the new trend of burning paintings to ash after they were tokenized as an NFT is becoming alarmingly more common.


“Granted, it’s a good way to boost the value of the NFT, making it the true “one and only” art piece but it’s a sad sight to see for many to witness the destruction of art just to validate another piece of art.“

Adding an extra layer of irony to an already tangled tale, the 2006 Banksy original was a critique on madness in the art market.

An auctioneer points at framed paintings amid a crowded auction room: next to him stands a framed image with the words: “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this s**t.”


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×