A single two-CD copy was pressed in 2014 and stored in a secured vault at the Royal Mansour Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, then sold through auction house Paddle8 in 2015.

In March 2018, following Shkreli's conviction for securities fraud, a federal court seized assets belonging to him, including Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

[6][7] Inspired by musical patronage during the Renaissance,[8] the Wu-Tang producer Cilvaringz decided to create Once Upon a Time in Shaolin as an art object.

Contemporary art is worth millions by virtue of its exclusivity ... By adopting a 400 year old Renaissance-style approach to music, offering it as a commissioned commodity and allowing it to take a similar trajectory from creation to exhibition to sale ... we hope to inspire and intensify urgent debates about the future of music.Wu-Tang deleted the master files of the album.

[4] A single copy, on two CDs, is held in a silver jewel-encrusted box with a wax Wu-Tang Clan seal and leather-bound liner notes.

[7] Once Upon A Time In Shaolin was auctioned through Paddle8 in 2015,[10] which had previously sold works by artists including Jeff Koons, Julian Schnabel, and Damien Hirst.

[12] The auction gained significant attention, and an unfounded rumor spread online that the purchase agreement stipulated that members of the Wu-Tang Clan, or the actor Bill Murray, would be allowed one attempt at stealing the record back in a heist.

[15] On December 9, Bloomberg Businessweek identified the buyer as Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, who had paid $2 million.

[19] In January 2016, Shkreli told Vice that he had considered destroying the record or "installing it in some remote place so that people have to make a spiritual quest to listen".

[21] In September 2017,[22] Shkreli attempted to sell Once Upon a Time in Shaolin on the online auction site eBay, with the winning bid passing $1m.

[25] In March 2018, following Shkreli's conviction for securities fraud, a federal court seized assets belonging to him worth $7.36m, including Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

[26] In August 2020, it was announced that Paul Downs Colaizzo was set to direct a film for Netflix based on the story of the album, produced by Plan B Entertainment.

[27] On July 27, 2021, Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced that the US Department of Justice had sold the album in connection with the approximately $7.4 million forfeiture judgment entered against Shkreli at his March 2018 sentencing.

PleasrDAO had previously purchased NFTs related to the American whistleblower Edward Snowden and the Russian punk band Pussy Riot.

[35][36] Reporting from the exhibition in Queens, Complex described Once Upon a Time in Shaolin as "rich, layered, and sonically bombastic", with a "rugged, hard-hitting sound" reminiscent of early Wu-Tang Clan albums.

[20] The Rolling Stone critic Christopher Weingarten wrote that, based on the 13 minutes played in Queens, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin had the potential to become the Wu-Tang Clan's most popular album since 1997.

[37] Shkreli played the record during his interview with Vice writer Allie Conti, who said: "From what I heard, it was definitely better than their last album, although I wouldn't say it's worth $2 million necessarily.

The Wu-Tang member Method Man was supportive of the single-copy concept, but spoke out against the 88-year commercial ban, blaming RZA and Cilvaringz.

RZA replied that the ban was necessary to maintain the integrity of the album as a work of art and to deflect notions of a publicity stunt.