March 02, 2021

A new series of prints by Damien Hirst. COURTESY HENI 

Damien Hirst has launched a series of eight cherry blossom prints called The Virtues with contemporary art platform HENI Leviathan. The artworks are each titled after one of The Eight Virtues of Bushidō: Justice, Courage, Mercy, Politeness, Honesty, Honour, Loyalty, Control. According to the announcement, “For the first time, both HENI Leviathan and the artist Damien Hirst will be accepting Cryptocurrency for payment of editions, payments can be made by either Bitcoin or ether, as well as by credit or debit card.”

HENI stated in a description, “In 1900 Nitobe Inazō published a book, Bushidō: The Soul of Japan, which narrates for Western audiences the samurai code of ethics known as Bushidō. According to Nitobe, Bushidō literally translates to ‘Military-Knight-Ways’ and lists the ways in which fighting Japanese nobles were expected to maintain themselves in their daily and vocational lives.”

“It’s hard for any of us to trust anything in this life but somehow we manage it and we even find love and I love art and I love the crypto world and I am happy and proud to put my belief into Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) and accept them for this drop,” the artist wrote on Instagram over the weekend.

Damien Hirst, Loyalty © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd 

HENI Leviathan accepting cryptocurrency payments is also a sign of growing adoption from the institutional art world. The printmaker is among the most widely respected among fine artists and collectors and has featured runs from other artists of historical significance such as Gerhard Richter.

Over the past year the speculative market for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs—digital files authenticated by blockchain—has exploded, with its value tripling in 2020, according to the NFT Report 2020, which tracks the value of the market.

Collectors have to act fast. Prints are available from today and will sell until March 3. Each print is priced at $ 3,000 (or 0.058 BTC / 1.8 ETH, depending on price at time of publication), and each coin will be signed by Hirst. Those interested are able to purchase a complete set or less. However, purchases are limited to one edition per person.