ICA Miami Makes Early NFT Acquisition

Artwork · North America

CryptoPunk #5293, a pixel figure with dark hair, purple lipstick and a mole, on a gray-blue ground. — Larva Labs, CryptoPunk #5293, 2017. Acquired by ICA Miami in 2021. Artwork: Larva Labs (Matt Hall and John Watkinson). ICA Miami, gift of Eduardo Burillo. Image published with ICA Miami’s acquisition announcement by ArtDaily. Image source.

In July, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami (ICA Miami) acquired its first NFT, CryptoPunk 5293, as a gift from trustee Eduardo Burillo. The acquisition marks one of the very first by a museum anywhere, although the first was likely the Whitney several years earlier with Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’s Public Key / Private Key. Predating even this was MAK in Austria’s 2015 purchase with Bitcoin of the Harm van den Dorpel proto-NFT, Event Listeners.

Created by Larva Labs in 2017 and covered extensively in this chapter and the previous one, the acquisition further solidified the CryptoPunk series as culturally relevant. The acquisition marked a significant moment for the museum, highlighting its commitment to exploring contemporary art’s most emerging landscape. This early adoption of NFT art reflected an ongoing interest by ICA Miami to recognize the growing influence of blockchain technology in the art world.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.