Legal Settlement Confirms Vignesh Sundaresan as Sole Buyer of Record-Breaking Beeple NFT

A lawsuit filed in 2023 in the Southern District of New York has been settled, establishing that Vignesh Sundaresan exclusively purchased Beeple's 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days' NFT at Christie's auction in March 2021 for $69.3 million. Sundaresan's company Portkey Technologies owned all related trademarks and made all decisions regarding the acquisition. Anand Venkateswaran, who had previously presented himself as co-founder of the purchasing entity MetaPurse alongside Sundaresan under pseudonyms Metakovan and Twobadour, has acknowledged in the settlement that he had no decision-making authority. The settlement requires Venkateswaran to correct public descriptions of his role and includes an undisclosed financial agreement. This legal resolution clarifies ownership questions surrounding the landmark NFT sale as the digital art market has significantly declined from its 2021-2022 peak.