A Banksy mural worth $1 million is set to be made available through a new NFT.
Banksy's Red Heart Balloon
The unique piece is yet to be unveiled but will be awarded to holders of the 'Gorilla in a Pink Mask' - which was created two decades ago in Bristol, where the mysterious artist grew up and started creating street art in the early 1990s - NFTs.
Exposed Walls - which specialises in preserving and renovating street art - is offering fragments of the mural which will allow people to own part of an historic work.
The people who hold those NFTs will then be given the chance to own another one-off Banksy piece with a potential value of $1 million.
In a press release, Exposed Walls explained: "This work will be announced when the ‘Gorilla’ edition is sold out and be awarded randomly to one of the holders of the NFTs. "They will have the choice of having the physical artwork or a unique NFT depicting it."
Owners of the 'Gorilla in a Pink Mask' NFTs will receive a certificate of authentication which shows the segment of the mural on which the artwork appears.
The artwork itself dates to 2001, and it's believed to be the first instance of Banksy - who is also known for pieces like 'Red Heart Balloon' - portraying a primate in his work.
By the time he created 'Devolved Parliament' - which shows chimpanzees and orangutans debating in the House of Commons - eight years later, he'd frequently starting uses monkeys as a motif in his work.
Other examples include the likes of 'Laugh Now' and 'Monkey Queen'.
'Gorilla In A Pink Mask' was first seen on the wall of what was the North Bristol Social Club, which later became the Jalalabad Cultural Center (Mosque), and it was painted over in 2011.
Last year, Exposed Walls - which now owns the work - removed it.
A spokesman has now said: "Exposed Walls tends to focus on works that are on the verge of being lost to history, as was the case with Gorilla in a Pink Mask.
"Our intention is for this piece to one day be housed in a museum."
Meanwhile, a proportion of the proceeds of the sale will be split between The Gorilla Organisation and Developing Health and Independence (DHI).
Tagged in BANKSY