Major auction house Christie’s is going to accept Ethereum bidding in an upcoming auction for Art Blocks Curated, which is a very popular series of NFTs. This will make it possible for ETH holders to participate in the auction without using fiat currency in any way.
Christie’s isn’t the only major auction house to offer NFTs, and as prices in the NFTs space continue to rise, many more may look to offer the asset class.
While many major companies are still on the sidelines with crypto, auction houses like Christie’s have been more than willing to enter the NFT space. Christie’s has its own section for NFTs, called Christie’s Encrypted.
We’re proud to announce the sale of Art Blocks Curated: Sets 1-3, as part of the Post-War to Present auction in New York on 1 October. Bidding for this lot will be conducted live in ETH—a first for any leading auction house. #NFTs #digitalart #onlineauction @artblocks_io pic.twitter.com/jDNK6VviYi
— Christie’s (@ChristiesInc) September 7, 2021
The auction house also made an impact earlier this year when it auctioned off a work by Beeple for almost $70 million.
These moves into digital art do appear to be making more people aware of digital assets, and demonstrate that a relatively small part of blockchain technology can have a massive impact on the global art market.
Christie’s isn’t Alone in Offering NFTs
When an NFT sells for almost $70 million, other auction houses are going to start paying attention to the NFT space. Sotheby’s will be auctioning off a range of memorabilia from Hong Kong film director Wong Kar-waim including an NFT of never before seen footage from the feature, “In the Mood for Love”.
In the world of decentralized auctions, Bored Ape NFTs continue to command higher and higher amounts of money in online auctions.
A Bored Ape NFT recently sold at the Sandbox, which is an online marketplace, for $2.9 million. This is the highest price paid so far for a Bored Ape NFT, although given the direction of the marketplace, it may not be able to hold the title for very long.
Ethereum Continues to Show Strength
Despite taking a tumble in recent days, Ethereum prices appear to be well-supported above the $3,000 level. Ethereum remains the world’s second most valuable token by market cap, and is gaining wider use, as the recent move by Christie’s shows.
In addition to being supported by the market, Ethereum has a powerful development community behind. it. With the recent London Hard fork, the potential for Ethereum to become an interest bearing asset that is also deflationary is very real.
With that said, if there were to be an overall move to cut riskier assets in a macro environment where liquidity is falling, Ethereum would likely be sold alongside any other popular token, Bitcoin included.
While we may see more fluctuation in the medium term, the longer term picture for Ethereum is very positive. It is already being used as the most popular platform for NFTs, despite the fact that other networks are cheaper to use, and may be much faster.
If Ethereum devs are able to keep transaction costs under control, Ethereum could cement its position as the most valuable blockchain platform over the next few years, and even overtake Bitcoin.
Decentralized Platform Pack a Punch
It would have been hard to think that Cryptokitties would lead to a new era in digital art – but that is exactly what happened. Now NFTs are selling for millions of dollars, and drawing collectors from all walks of life.
As more people see the potential for how decentralized platforms can create new assets, and connections, there will likely be a move to do more with the capacities that these platforms have.
With the advent of wider DeFi adoption, we may see this aspect of decentralization hit in the same way that NFTs have. Ultimately these platforms offer an incredible value proposition, which can be used almost anywhere.
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