Christie’s launches venture capital alert, Targets Blockchain

The British art auction house Christie’s is launching a venture capital alert to invest in startups that make the exchange of art easier, including blockchain companies.

Christie’s Ventures aims to invest in startups that are considered risky by traditional venture capital companies. Financing flowing to startups fell by $ 109 billion in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter. Christie’s first investment will be in LayerZero. This Canadian company helps digital asset holders spread their holdings across multiple blockchains.

Christie’s was ushered in the era of digital art and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) when an NFT of Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” sold for $ 69.3 million in 2020, after having an initial estimated value of $ 100 dollars. The company has been eager to embrace art and its digital expression, and has hosted the annual two-day Art + Tech summit since 2018.

We want to be ahead

As the first art auction house to record sales of artwork on the blockchain, Christie’s hopes to continue this technological momentum through future investments.

The global head of the auction house’s venture capital alert said the company wants to invest in companies with solutions to problems that have plagued the art industry. These include verification of the authenticity of a work of art, registration of art owners on the blockchain and secure storage and sale of NFTs.

The new initiative will also promote new forms of meeting art. In the spring of 2022, the company sent a hologram of a bronze statue of a ballerina to the show floors of Hong Kong and San Francisco, which was later sold for $ 42 million.

The venture capital manager, Devang Thakkar, said it was time for Christie’s to go further than hosting the annual two-day Art + Tech summit, which will start on Tuesday 19 July 2022. He added that it is time for the company to at the innovation litter where it has quick access to innovative technologies that shape the future of art.

New tools are needed to help people open and use digital wallets and to protect their belongings from theft, he added.

LayerZero’s CEO is confident in the company’s ability to streamline art trade across multiple blockchains.

Hard times for NFT art

Christie’s sales of NFTs fell after the 2021 boom, falling from over $ 90 million in the first six months of 2021 to a paltry $ 4.6 million in the first quarter of this year as the cryptocurrency market experiences a longer winter.

The long-standing bear market saw total sales of NFTs fall, with some exceptions such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club and the CryptoPunks collections which experienced good sales volumes in recent weeks.

At a charity sale in June, Christie’s business director for digital art sales said that NFT buyers are more selective with the choice of artists, and create a catalog of artists who want to survive the bear market.

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