Singapore
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It was pushing 4 a.m. when Vignesh Sundaresan bought one of the most expensive artworks in history. Wearing his favorite T-shirt for the occasion, he had stayed up through the night on his iMac, at home alone, watching rival bids trickle in. A row of Starbucks coffee cups lined the desk beside him; backup computers waited nearby, in case the Christie’s auction website stuttered at the crucial moment. It heaved under the weight of 22 million visitors who tuned in to watch the historic sale’s final moments.
Two weeks earlier, the auction had opened at just $100. Online bids moved slowly at first, but Indian crypto investor Sundaresan privately suspected they might eventually exceed…