Christie’s moves on chain with NFT auction platform on Ethereum

by · September 28, 2022

Following a series of successful, high-priced nonfungible token (NFT) sales, Christie’s has launched its own dedicated NFT “on-chain auction platform”, enabling auctions to be conducted entirely on-chain on the Ethereum network.

The 256-year-old British auction giant, which is also the second largest auction house in the world in terms of art auction revenue, said Christie’s 3.0 allows NFT auctions to be conducted exclusively on the ETH network “from start to finish:”

“All transactions, including after-sales, will be automatically recorded on the blockchain.”

In its previous NFT auctions, payments from the winning bidder were not always made on a blockchain, but the creation of Christie’s marketplace allows transactions to take place in a manner similar to the popular marketplace OpenSea, allowing payments to be made in Ether (ETH) . ).

Christie’s said the new marketplace was developed in partnership with NFT smart contract development startup Manifold, metaverse development firm Spatial and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

The announcement was paired with an initial launch of just one project exclusive to the new marketplace by artist Diana Sinclair, with just nine NFTs viewable in an online virtual gallery built by Spatial.

Christie’s has seen great success with NFT auctions in the past, such as Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days, which was struck exclusively for the auction house and sold for a record $69.3 million in March 2021, becoming one of the most expensive NFTs ever ever sold.

At the time, the sale of NFT was conducted in collaboration with the NFT marketplace MakersPlace.

The firm also facilitated the auction of nine CryptoPunks in May 2021, with the winning bid coming in at nearly $17 million.

Related: Beyond the NFT hype: The need to recreate digital art’s value proposition

Christie’s Web3 interest has moved beyond NFT auctions, and in July it launched a venture fund aimed at backing “art-related financial products and solutions” in Web3 with the first investment in LayerZero Labs, a company building decentralized applications compatible with multiple blockchains.

Rival auction house Sotheby’s has taken a similar interest in Web3 and NFTs, launching its own metaverse in October 2021 and also has its share of high-priced NFT sales.