Sotheby’s Launches On-Chain Peer-to-Peer NFT Marketplace

Quick take:

• Sotheby’s has launched a secondary NFT marketplace for its users.
• The new platform will allow collectors to sell NFTs directly to each other.
• The company said it will continue to honor artist royalties on its secondary NFT marketplace.

Sotheby’s is ramping up its web3 strategy with a new in-chain NFT marketplace that allows collectors to sell NFTs to each other. The 275-year-old art auction house turned to the world of non-fungible tokens in 2021 with the launch of Sotheby’s Metaverse.

It has since overseen the sale of some of the most expensive NFTs, including the pseudonymous Pak’s NFT collection, The Fungible Collection, which sold for $16.8 million in early 2022.

Sotheby’s Metaverse is one of the leading advocates for respecting NFT royalties. The company said its on-chain peer-to-peer NFT platform will continue to honor royalties to creators through smart contracts.

NFT royalties are fees received by the original creators of the non-fungible artwork or JPEG from each secondary resale of their work. Sotheby’s artists will have an opportunity to select their preferred royalty rate, which will be automatically paid to them when a sale is completed.

According to Sotheby’s Metaverse, their platform will curate work from some of the best artists, rotating every few months. The initial list of artists includes Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, XCOPY, Diana Sinclair and Pindar van Arman, among others.

In a press release announcing the launch on Monday, Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s vice president and head of NFTs and digital art, said the launch of the peer-to-peer on-chain marketplace marks an important step forward in the evolution of digital art and collecting space.

“To commemorate this event by opening our secondary market to a carefully selected group of artists, many of whom have been at the forefront of the movement and brought digital art to worldwide attention, further underscores Sotheby’s commitment to the NFT community and to creating a space for discerning collectors,” added Bouhanna.

Sotheby’s confirmation of its commitment to honoring NFT royalties comes amid a major debate between NFT marketplaces, creators and collectors on the subject.

While NFT traders seem to lean towards platforms that allow some flexibility in paying royalty fees, creators prefer marketplaces that have implemented measures to enforce payments.

****

Keep yourself updated:

Subscribe to our newsletter using this link – we don’t send spam!