Sotheby’s Expands into Digital Art Market with NFT Marketplace Launch
Sotheby’s, the prestigious 275-year-old auction house, has announced the launch of its own secondary NFT marketplace along with its metaverse. The platform will exclusively feature fine art NFTs, with a rotating selection of leading artists hand-picked by Sotheby’s specialists. This move marks the company’s further expansion into the digital asset world and sets it apart from other pre-existing NFT marketplaces.
The Sotheby’s secondary marketplace features works from 13 leading digital artists, including Refik Anadol, Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, XCOPY, Diana Sinclair, and Pindar van Arman, among others. The artists will be featured on the platform rotating every few months. All NFT sales on the Sotheby’s Metaverse platform occur through smart contracts, with digital art collectors having the option to pay for their art and collectibles in either Ethereum (ETH) or Polygon (MATIC).
In addition, the company has stated that it will honor artist royalties through smart contracts on the secondary sales platform, automatically paying artists according to the royalty rate they select. Sotheby’s commitment to honoring artist royalties comes amidst a larger debate about royalties within the NFT community, signaling Sotheby’s artist-first ethos as one of the only major NFT marketplaces committed to artist resale royalties.
Sotheby’s first ventured into NFTs in April 2021 and has since generated over $120 million in total NFT sales, facilitating several record-breaking NFT sales, including a “Covid Alien” CryptoPunk that sold for $11.7 million in June 2021, the World Wide Web source code that sold for $5.4 million in July 2021, and a rare Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT that sold for $3.4 million in October 2021.
By launching its own NFT marketplace, Sotheby’s takes a bold step into the rapidly expanding digital art market. The company’s extensive history and expertise in the traditional art world will likely attract more collectors, including those who may have been earlier hesitant to participate in NFT sales on other platforms. The rotating selection of leading artists on the platform offers a unique feature that could entice collectors looking for exclusive and high-quality NFTs.
The Sotheby’s Marketplace platform represents a significant development in the NFT market, highlighting the increasing acceptance and recognition of digital art as a legitimate form of collectible. With the launch of its own NFT marketplace, Sotheby’s is poised to solidify its position as a major player in both the traditional and digital art worlds.