Christie’s Goes Digital, Launches A Virtual Art Auction Platform On Ethereum

Christie’s new digital endeavour will facilitate all auctions to be conducted entirely on Ethereum, including all transactions and post-sales, which will be automatically recorded on the blockchain.

The concept of NFTs and Blockchain is not new for Christie’s, as the British auction house giant has already explored the NFT artwork domain by selling prominent NFT artworks to its clients. However, by officially launching Christie’s 3.0, the auction house is amping up efforts to become fully digital, enabling users to conduct payments in ETH. The move will also facilitate Christie’s shedding its traditional auction outlook to embrace a digital-savvy auction platform.

In addition, Christie’s has collaborated with metaverse platform Spatial, NFT smart contract development firm Manifold, and blockchain analytics company Chainanalysis to launch Christie’s 3.0 on the Ethereum blockchain.

Furthermore, Christie’s will be conducting its first inaugural sale on its virtual art platform by auctioning the works of Diana Sinclair. Sinclair is a prominent 18-year-old artist who was listed as one of the 50 most influential people in the NFT space. Sinclair had previously collaborated with Whitney Houston’s estate on an NFT drop that raised $1 million. Bidding for Sinclair’s artwork will commence from September 28 to October 11, with prices ranging from 4 to 8 ETH (US $5,280–$10,560).

Image: Christie’s/ Twitter