Two well-known auction houses generated millions this week via cryptocurrency-related auctions. The first involved an auction for nine rare CryptoPunks, early non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that launched in 2017, which collectively went for nearly $17 million. The CryptoPunks that were sold in the auction all were among the first 1,000 minted by creator Larva Labs, and they were sold from the company's own collection. The second involved the sale of seminal artist Banksy's protest piece "Love is in the Air." The physical artwork sold for $12.9 million, and bidders had the option to bid in bitcoin or ether, with transactions to be effectuated through Coinbase Commerce. According to reports, the sale "marks the first time cryptocurrency was accepted as a payment option for a piece of physical artwork."

Also this week, Merriam-Webster added to its dictionary a definition of "non-fungible token" and commemorated the announcement by auctioning an NFT version of the definition on OpenSea, a popular NFT marketplace. The auction ends today, with proceeds being donated to Teach For All, "a network of organizations from 60 countries aiming to tackle educational inequality around the world."

One of the world's largest online peer-to-peer marketplaces has begun experimenting with NFTs as well, for the first time allowing sellers to peddle NFTs on its platform. A select number of sellers will be provided with NFT inventory, with plans by the marketplace to expand its NFT offerings over time, according to reports.

With "Bitcoin Pizza Day" just around the corner, customers of a large pizza restaurant chain in the U.K. will have an opportunity to receive bitcoin for purchases that reach a certain threshold of value. Customers will be able to claim their bitcoin through the Luno cryptocurrency exchange. Bitcoin Pizza Day is a commemorative "holiday" that celebrates May 22, 2010, the day that is generally recognized as the first time a person engaged in a commercial transaction of cryptocurrency in exchange for two pizzas.

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