NFTs are the latest hype on the art market and therefore far removed from the mountain bike world. Maxim Haefeli has made sure that Swiss mountain bikers get involved with these unique digital pieces. NFT stands for non-fungible token. Thanks to blockchain technology, physical or digital works can be marked as unique. If you want to know more, you will find plenty of explanations and references in the well-known reference works.

"I'm interested in sport, art and I've studied NFTs in depth," says Maxim, summarizing what gave him the idea to create three digital artworks and offer them for sale as NFTs. Until he was twelve years old, he rode his mountain bike in parcours races, the precursor to cross-country races. He then switched to gymnastics.

One of the three pictures shows his cousin Nick Burki, a member of the Bike Team Solothurn (BTS). Maxim drew a photo of the young athlete on the tablet with a digital pen. He was never part of the junior team himself. Nevertheless, he decided to auction off his cousin's picture for the benefit of the BTS. Haefeli has painted two other pictures: One shows him doing ring gymnastics himself, while the third depicts a bodybuilder posing.

Every bid is a donation

The bike picture will not simply go to the highest bidder. Anyone who is interested in it and wants to support the BTS pays an amount. The sum of all donations is the selling price of the NFT picture and goes to the Bike Team Solothurn, which also becomes the owner of the work. The three pictures can be viewed on the NFT auction platform OpenSea, but no bids can be placed there. You have to pay directly to Maxim. And trust that the money will end up where it belongs.

If an individual buyer wants the NFT picture for themselves, they simply have to outbid the donation amount, explains Maxim. In this case, the donations received beforehand and the purchase price would be transferred to the BTS. The auction runs until October 19. Anyone wishing to bid or donate can transfer their contribution via Twint to Maxim Haefeli on 077 403 62 27.

If you want to know more, you can contact the artist directly on this number. As the final step of his Matura thesis, the artist must write a report on how he created the artwork, connected it to a blockchain and sold it.