NFT created by 14-year-old Vietnamese artist sells for US$23,000

Pho Van An, who goes by the alias Xeo Chu, has been honing his craft for nearly a decade, producing over 200 pieces of art and showcasing his oeuvre in exhibitions at home and abroad. 

Back in July, 14-year-old Xeo Chu launched an online exhibition entitled ‘Pandemic Painting,' in which he showcased three inspirations for his work – flowers, terraced fields, and the sea.  

On July 18 and 20, he sold eight of these artworks in a live auction on his Facebook page, pulling in VND320 million (US$14,000) for one of the paintings and VND80-230 million (US$3,500-10,000) for each of the other seven.

He then donated the total proceeds of the auction – VND2.9 billion (US$127,000) – plus donations from failed bidders to the Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Center for support in purchasing medical equipment necessary to combat COVID-19.

On August 6, he put up ‘The Lucky Apricot Blossom,’ his very first NFT, for auction on Binance with the opening bid of 5,000 Binance USD (BUSD) – a cryptocurrency that is pegged to the US dollar.

The bidding topped out at BUSD22,899 in less than 24 hours, marking the highest sum a piece produced by a Vietnamese artist has yielded on the platform.

NFTs are a blockchain-powered digital signature allowing anyone to verify the ownership and authenticity of an item. In other words, the NFT makes each piece of digital content unique and, henceforth, appealing to collectors.

Various digital assets, including drawings, music, and even Internet memes, can be sold as NFTs, but a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital artwork on online platforms.

Aside from Xeo Chu, two other Vietnamese artists have also been selling their works on Binance. Artist Phong Luong’s highest sale was US$3,000 while artist Tu Na’s highest sale hit US$5,000.