LONDON — There’s a new gold rush. But this precious metal doesn’t actually exist.

The frenzy is for so-called cryptocurrencies — or encrypted digital money — and their value skyrocketed in 2017. The price of Bitcoin, the pioneer decentralized virtual currency, rose more than 1,300 percent last year, despite plunging 40 percent at one point in December. A Bitcoin rival, Ether, was up 8,000 percent. It is thought that the total worldwide value of cryptocurrencies could reach $1 trillion this year.

Bitcoin and its derivatives have, for the moment, proved too volatile and unwieldy for day-to-day transactions. Yet the cryptocurrency model, underpinned by decentralized blockchain ledger technology, is increasingly becoming a force in more specialized areas of the economy. The art world is one of them.

On Dec. 16, the nascent market for what might be called cryptoart appeared to reach a new level when the hitherto-unknown Distributed Gallery announced the auction of “Ready Made Token,” a unique unit of a cryptocurrency that the gallery said was created by Richard Prince using technology from Ethereum, the network responsible for Ether.

The online gallery describes itself as the first to specialize in “blockchain-based artwork and exhibition.” It invited bids for the work, starting at one Ether, equivalent to about $650 at the time. (As of Friday, one Ether was worth about $1,200, according to ethereumprice.org.) The timed auction ends on Monday.