Аукционный дом Sotheby’s впервые в истории выставит на продажу NFT-токены

Не проходит и дня, чтобы в новостных лентах не появилась аббревиатура NFT. Так, сегодня стало известно, что крупнейший в мире аукцион Sotheby’s вложил деньги в NFT-стартап Mojito. Для многих аббревиатура — пустой звук. Между тем, это цифровая технология, которая в будущем сделает невозможным подделку документов.

Что такое NFT

Многие люди знают о биткойне и других криптовалютах, но далеко не каждый знаком с NFT. Между тем, они «родственники». Во всяком случае «крутятся» в одной среде — блокчейне.

Кроме того, виртуальные валюты и NFT – токены. Только последние — невзаимозаменяемые токены (non-fungible tokens).

То есть, если биткойн, принадлежащий одному человеку, можно заменить на биткойн, владельцем которого является другой человек, то с NFT так не получится. Каждый из них уникальный и неповторимый.

Кроме того, любую виртуальную и обычную валюту можно разделить на части: биткойн на сатоши, рубль на копейки, доллар на центы. Невзаимозаменяемые токены по такому принципу не делятся.

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Sotheby’s big NFT auction went from $30 million to zero in the blink of an eye.

The auction house had planned the sale of a collection of 104 NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, for up to an estimated $30 million at its New York City location on Wednesday evening. But 25 minutes after the auction was scheduled to begin, the consignor backed out of the sale, tweeting that he decided to “hodl,” or hold on to the digital asset instead.

In the crypto world, rug pulls or rugging are when a developer abandons a project after taking an investor’s funds.

Это рекордная стоимость одного невзаимозаменяемого токена из данного набора цифровых аватаров в виде людей, обезьян, пришельцев и других существ

Аукционный дом Sotheby’s сообщил о продаже редкого невзаимозаменяемого токена (NFT) «Чужой» #7523 («Alien») из коллекции CryptoPunks за $11,8 млн. Это рекордная стоимость одного NFT-токена из данной коллекции. Sotheby’s проводит онлайн-аукцион Natively Digital: Curated NFT Sale, в рамках которого были выставлена на продажу еще 25 NFT-токенов. Среди них — старейший невзаимозаменяемый токен, который был создан в 2014 году.

CryptoPunks — это коллекция из 10 тыс. цифровых аватаров в виде людей, обезьян, пришельцев и других существ, созданная в виде NFT. До продажи токена «Чужой» на аукционе Sotheby’s самым дорогим NFT из коллекции считался CryptoPunk #7804, который был продан за $7,6 млн.

В мае аукционный дом Christie’s продал девять редких NFT-токенов из коллекции CryptoPunks за $16,9 млн.

— Художник Покрас Лампас представит на аукционе 10 NFT-работ

— Вторую картину Бэнкси продадут с аукциона за криптовалюту

— «Цифровая оболочка». Почему NFT не защитят от обвалов рынка криптовалют

Больше новостей о криптовалютах вы найдете в нашем телеграм-канале РБК-Крипто.

Для первой в истории продажи NFT-токенов площадка выбрала работы анонимного цифрового художника PAK

Впервые за историю своего существования Sotheby’s выставит на продажу NFT-токены, заявил в эфире CNBC генеральный директор аукционного дома Чарльз Стюарт. По его словам, невзаимозаменямые токены будут привязаны к работам анонимного цифрового художника PAK. Продажи NFT под названием The Cheap начнутся в апреле. Точная дата начала аукциона пока неизвестна.

Sotheby’s — один из крупнейших и старейших в мире аукционных домов, который был основан в 1744 году. Основная часть лотов аукционного дома — это предметы роскоши и искусства.

Ранее к продажам NFT присоединился еще один именитый аукционный дом — Christie’s, основанный в 1766 году. 11 марта на площадке завершились торги коллекции художника Beeple «Каждый день: первые 5 тыс. дней» (Everydays: The First 5000 Days), которая состоит из 5 тыс. изображений. Лот в виде NFT-токена был продан за рекордные $69,35 млн. Работа художника стала первым лотом в истории Christie’s, который был продан за криптовалюту.

NFT-токены уникальны и не поддаются делению. Такие токены используются для подтверждения права собственности на объект, их нельзя заменить без согласия владельца.

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— Автор комиксов DC заработал $1,85 млн на продаже NFT-токенов

— Диджей 3LAU первым в мире токенизировал альбом и продал его за $11,6 млн

Аукционный дом устроит распродажу невзаимозаменяемых токенов с 3 по 10 июня. Для покупки будут доступны 27 лотов, в том числе, геометрическая анимация цифрового художника Кевина МакКоя, созданная в мае 2014 года

Аукционный дом Sotheby’s продаст старейший в мире невзаимозаменяемый токен, созданный в мае 2014 года. Речь идет о геометрической анимации «Quantum» цифрового художника Кевина МакКоя, пишет Reuters. Продажа NFT пройдет на онлайн-аукционе Natively Digital: Curated NFT Sale с 3 по 10 июня. Помимо анимации МакКоя аукционный дом продаст еще 26 работ, в числе которых, например, NFT-токен из коллекции CryptoPunk.

Стартовая цена лотов составит $100, оплатить покупку можно будет с помощью биткоина, Ethereum и фиатных валют. После завершения торгов NFT-токены будут отправлены на криптокошельки покупателей.

В мае Sotheby’s впервые в своей истории позволил оплатить покупку картины криптовалютой. Первым лотом аукционного дома, проданным за криптовалюту, стала работа художника Бэнкси.

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— Christie’s продал девять редких NFT из коллекции CryptoPunks за $17 млн

Last Friday, Sotheby’s launched its NFT exclusive marketplace, Metaverse. It’s the first of its kind among blue chip auction houses, and all NFT sales at Sotheby’s will now take place on this cutting-edge platform. Yesterday, the platform began its inaugural sale.

MoonCat, #183, 2017

Courtesy Sotheby’s

The platform offers new technical advancements that the traditional Sotheby’s site could not previously implement on their main website. The layout of the Metaverse website, similar in format to NFT-specific platforms such as OpenSea and Nifty Gateway, is designed to display the NFTs so that viewers can easily see the transaction history of any piece. Yet, unlike these other platforms, Metaverse offers a description of each piece’s significance, alongside the artist’s biography. Additionally, those who sign up for Metaverse are gifted a profile picture designed by well-known NFT artist Pak.

“We wanted to have a very diverse sale in terms of category but also in terms of price point,” Michael Bouhanna, co-head of Sotheby’s Digital Sales says. “We wanted collectibles, gaming NFTs, early NFTs from 2015, 2016, everything

The estimated bids ranges from $10,000 to $2 million. Bidding will end on October 26.

At Sotheby’s on Wednesday night, a single lot of NFTs — 104 digital art assets known as CryptoPunks — was expected to sell for as much as $30 million. But after a delay of 25 minutes past the auction’s expected start time, the sale was off. Audiences inside a packed Sotheby’s salesroom were shocked, according to two attendees. The evening began with people drinking Champagne and ended with a stunned shuffle back home.

“People were extremely upset,” said Kent Charugundla, a telecom investor and NFT collector who attended the event. “This is so bad for the NFT community,” he added, explaining that the market needed strong sales to continue its momentum. The NFT boom, which some estimate to have generated more than $25 billion in sales last year, has also raised questions of an eventual NFT bust as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies see their values drop.

Todd Levin, an art adviser who has worked for the auction house, said that auction withdrawals typically happen when there are legal concerns or a fear that a lot’s reserve price will not be achieved.

“Withdrawal is really the absolute last choice,” Levin said. “Auction houses do their very best to curate these sales in advance. ”When the auction was announced, Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s co-head of digital art, had described the sale in a news release as “a monumental occasion” that celebrated CryptoPunks as “one of the most recognizable visual styles that have become synonymous with the digital art movement. ”In the crypto industry, rug pulls are when developers intentionally siphon an investor’s funds and run away from the project.

Fine art and luxury goods auction house Sotheby’s enjoyed a record-breaking sales year in 2021, boosted by a younger, digital-savvy generation of collectors.

In a year-end report released on Wednesday, Sotheby’s recorded $7. 3 billion in sales this year—a 46% jump from 2020 and the highest sales figure ever in its 277-year history.

Although only a small percentage of Sotheby’s record-breaking sales, NFTs have proved to be a lucrative market for the storied auction house.

Sotheby’s brokered its first NFT sale this April—a three-day online event in collaboration with digital artist Pak—in which the creator’s artwork sold for $16. 8 million. The sale took place on Nifty Gateway, a digital art online auction platform for NFTs owned by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. In October, Sotheby’s launched its own marketplace for NFTs, called Sotheby’s Metaverse.

But Sotheby’s first NFT sale in April helped fuel a “dramatic expansion” of its audience, the auction house said. So far this year, Sotheby’s NFT sales reached $100 million, while the total amount of sales transacted online climbed to $800 million—its highest figure for online sales ever, and up 52% from 2020.

Notably in September, Sotheby’s “Ape In!” sale of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) NFTs sold for a cumulative $26 million—a record amount for a Sotheby’s NFT auction. The BAYC is one of the most popular NFT collections. Each “token” represents one of 10,000 stylized digital ape drawings, which owners can use as profile pictures or as a digital avatar. Owners of Bored Apes include talk show host Jimmy Fallon, rapper Post Malone and National Basketball Association (NBA) star Steph Curry.

In October, Sotheby’s sold a rare BAYC NFT depicting an ape with gold fur for a record-breaking $3. 4 million—the highest amount ever paid for a Bored Ape NFT. Less than 1% of all Bored Apes have gold fur, “making it an NFT with historical significance,” the auction house said at the time.

Sotheby’s delivered its year-end results the same day that Bloomberg reported Patrick Drahi—the French telecom billionaire and owner of Sotheby’s—is exploring taking the auction house public through an IPO in the U. as early as next year.

Sotheby’s isn’t the only fine arts broker getting in on the NFT action. London-headquartered Christie’s in March became the first auction house to sell an artwork that doesn’t exist physically: It sold a digital collage NFT by artist Mike Winkelmann, more commonly known as Beeple, for $69 million. It’s the highest-grossing NFT sale, ever.

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53 NFTs, including «Bored Ape Yacht Club #8817» by Yuga Labs, are up for auction at the Natively Digital 1. 2 sale on Sotheby’s Metaverse. As of 11 a. on Thursday, the highest bid for this piece was $2. 8 million.

Sotheby’s Metaverse — Yuga Labs

Sotheby’s, the world’s largest art and luxury auction house, is betting on the digital art world by joining a $20 million seed round investment in Delaware-based NFT studio Mojito, joining the likes of Future Perfect Ventures, Creative Artists Agency and NEA’s Connect Ventures.

The investment values the firm at $100 million, according to a statement, and Future Perfect partner Jalak Jobanputra will take a seat on the company’s board. Mojito plans to use the new capital to develop its engineering teams in order to continue building the Mojito platform, and to create more partnerships to launch brand-specific non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces that work differently from today’s standard of Amazon and eBay-type platforms.

Sotheby’s joins the increasing number of traditional art dealers and collectors adopting NFTs as part of their repertoire, as digital art keeps gaining momentum. But Sotheby’s is taking its relationship with digital art a step further by making its first investment in a crypto company, betting on the success and prevalence of NFTs and other crypto assets as serious marketable goods.

Sotheby’s NFT marketplace displays the lots on auction during the «Natively Digital 1. 2» sale.

Ready to move into its permanent cryptoart salesroom, the auction house unveils Sotheby’s Metaverse

The decision to invest longer term in the cryptoart space came after first partnering with marketplace platform Nifty Gateway. Max Moore, head of contemporary art auctions at Sotheby’s Asia, says the first NFT sale in April, with the artist Pak, took a total of $17 million. “We recognised from that sale that there was great opportunity; a really great demand from the collector side and great artwork from the artist’s side,” he says. “We realised we could play a very important role in this burgeoning market, given our current role in the contemporary art market and the physical collectibles world, where we bridge the gap between the two worlds

Sotheby’s in Decentraland. Courtesy: Decentraland

Sotheby’s Metaverse, then, will be another mode of bridging that gap – perhaps drawing in more traditional collectors as well as crypto-enthusiasts. “Sotheby’s is a curator, and I think the way it stages pieces, the way it communicates about pieces, the way different pieces are merchandised next to each other, all of these decisions are so crucial in terms of delivering Sotheby’s stamp of approval to this market,” says Matthew Iles, co-founder and COO at Mojito, the NFT platform company that powers Sotheby’s Metaverse. Sotheby’s announced a strategic investment in Mojito as part of its recent $20 million fundraiser which also included the world’s largest talent agency, CAA.

“The Metaverse will be your one-stop-shop to really allow for a lot of different options through Sotheby’s”

“There’s a real need for education in the NFT space, and not just education in a didactic sense, but conversation and collective imagination about the NFT phenomenon, and what it means for the reimagination of power structures in the arts,” Whitaker says.

The involvement of MCA Denver in the initiative represents something of a shift, as public institutions engage more and more with NFTs. Whitaker notes that MCA Denver is unique partly because Adams has been a particular champion of innovation and new modes of supporting artists, but also that more museums were starting to become interested in the space.

Molly Nelson, assistant vice-president, Sotheby’s Advisory, says Sotheby’s wants to be part of jumpstarting conversations, not just among the collectors who were excited about NFTs off the bat. “There was an enormous response to NFTs taking off in the art world, with new audiences coming in, but of course, we also have an audience of traditional art collectors at Sotheby’s,” Nelson says. “That includes people who are skeptical, and people who are interested but don’t know how to enter this space. Our approach has been to take a step back and focus on education

Sotheby’s Metaverse and the educational series are evidence that Sotheby’s is thinking long-term about NFTs as a series of collectibles that will have a long lifespan rather than part of a speculative bubble. “We realised that there was a big frenzy last spring, and we wanted to understand how and where this excitement would lead, and where the market will start to be more stable,” Sotheby’s deputy director and contemporary art specialist Michael Bouhanna said. “But it’s even stronger today. Every day there are more actors in this market, trusting this market as much as in terms of innovation and art

It is also, Moore says, both a bold entry into a totally new world of digital art and a clear continuity with the kinds of things Sotheby’s has always done. “The same way our traditional market explores jewellery, watches, wine, furniture and design, I think we are going to start exploring not just the fine art of NFTs but also different verticals such as music, entertainment, sports. The Metaverse will be your one-stop-shop to really allow for a lot of different options through Sotheby’s

Cover image: An NFT titled SHIFT// by Mad Dog Jones on display during a press preview of Sotheby’s Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale, which took place 4 June 2021 in New York. Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Preceded by Live Panel Discussion on History of NFTs & CryptoPunks Estimated to Achieve $20/30 Million,

Preceding the live auction on 23 February, Sotheby’s will host a special live panel discussion on the history of NFTs and CryptoPunks, focusing on how Punks have gained mainstream recognition, with notable celebrity collectors such as JAY-Z and Jason Derulo adopting Punks as profile pictures. The panel will be livestreamed from Sotheby’s New York saleroom and feature speakers to be announced at a later date. An exhibition will take place at Sotheby’s New York galleries 18 – 23 February, as well as a virtual exhibition at Sotheby’s HQ in Decentraland.

Larva Labs launched CryptoPunks in 2017 as a series of 10,000 24 x 24, 8-bit-style algorithmically generated avatars, each with their own distinct characteristics in which no two are exactly alike. The signature pixelated style of CryptoPunks characterizes the early NFT aesthetic and is now a symbol of the meteoric rise of the NFT movement. Inspired by punk spirit, CryptoPunks are reflective of the crypto-anarchist philosophy that defined early Ethereum culture. At the vanguard of digital art, Punks challenge the traditional perspective of artistic production, as well creating a whole new audience for collecting art with digitally native collectors.

Each of the 10,000 Punks has a unique set of attributes, with anywhere from 0 to 8 distinguishing characteristics, which were ascribed by the algorithm that defines their visual style. Among the 10,000 Punks, there are only 8 Punks with no attributes at all, which have been dubbed the ‘Genesis Punks,’ while CryptoPunk #8348 exists as the only one to boast a full set of eight features — donning a top hat and classic shades, puffing a cigarette through his buckteeth and big beard whilst also sporting an earring and a mole.

The present group of 104 CryptoPunks represents the wide variety of different traits that are associated with Punks, from mohawk haircuts to sunglasses to cigarettes to a range of hats and other accessories that differentiate them and give their unique identities. This group of CryptoPunks also showcases the diversity embedded in the original algorithm.

Established in 1744, Sotheby’s is the world’s premier destination for art and luxury. Sotheby’s promotes access, connoisseurship and preservation of fine art and rare objects through auctions and buy-now channels including private sales, e-commerce and retail. Our trusted global marketplace is supported by an industry-leading technology platform and a network of specialists spanning 40 countries and 50 categories, which include Contemporary Art, Modern and Impressionist Art, Old Masters, Chinese Works of Art, Jewelry, Watches, Wine and Spirits, and Interiors, among many others.

* Estimates do not include buyer’s premium or overhead premium. Prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium and overhead premium and are net of any fees paid to the purchaser where the purchaser provided an irrevocable bid.

Stream live auctions and place bids in real time, discover the value of a work of art, browse sale catalogues, view original content and more at sothebys. com, and by downloading Sotheby’s app for iOS and Android.

sebastian fahey, ceo sotheby’s europe

Why are you passionate about NFTs?To me, NFTs represent an exciting new evolution in the history of art, in which purely digital art now has a technology, a tool, that can be used to buy and sell in a way that is secure and trackable. What’s more, there is such a strong community that supports digital art and NFTs, one that has created a whole new style in their art that I think is really energising to the art world. NFTs have also provided an outlet for many artists who have made a name for themselves with physical art, such as Urs Fischer, Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami, to name a few, with a way to explore a new digital medium and expand their practices in exciting ways. And thinking beyond the application of NFTs to digital art, I think the technology behind NFTs has a tremendous amount of promise for the future, with widespread use across entertainment, luxury, music, film, gaming and much more. We have only really just begun to explore the ways in which NFTs can revolutionise collectibles and pop culture.

Last June, Sotheby’s held its first ‘Natively Digital’ NFT sale, co-curated with Robert Alice. How did you source the artworks? In what ways did the sale differ from those of other departments?The first iteration of Natively Digital was designed to be a curated sale and marked the first time a major auction house brought together a group survey of the leading NFT artists to sale. The unique retrospective showcased a remarkable collection of early, genre-defining artworks alongside the latest conceptual and aesthetic developments in the space. Alongside Robert Alice, Sotheby’s Co-Head of Digital Art Michael Bouhanna provided an essential curatorial eye to build a sale directly with the artists that told a story about NFTs for the broader public, giving them a closer look at the history and context of NFTs, as well as the aesthetics and themes that had driven NFTs to global prominence and were driving the movement. While careful curation applies across Sotheby’s sales, Natively Digital was different, since we worked directly with many of the artists involved and built the sale together to present a community-first vision that was also educational to the wider art world who were not as familiar with NFTs at the time.

Why do you think Larva Labs’ CryptoPunk #7523 went under the hammer for $11,754,000?The sale of Punk #7523 was truly a landmark moment for NFTs – when it sold for nearly $12 million it was the most valuable single Punk ever sold and remains the most valuable single Punk ever sold at auction. It was an astonishing figure and to me, represented the power of NFTs to galvanise the crypto and digital art community. It cemented the place of NFTs as a serious collecting category that had staying power.

How would you describe your intended strategy for developing NFT sales across the EMEA region?Our NFT strategy is designed to be global, because the NFT market is inherently global. The NFT community is built upon the concept of decentralisation, and since the community is digital by nature, there is no region that takes precedence. Our goal is to meet this digital community of collectors where we can, including launching a channel on Discord, creating a virtual gallery space in Decentraland and understanding how peoples’ tastes and preferences are defined by their digital-first mindset.

How are you developing the Sotheby’s Metaverse and its LFC Heroes Club?The recent launch of LFC Heroes Club was a major moment for Sotheby’s Metaverse, as it marked a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Sotheby’s and a sports club, greatly expanding the audience of Sotheby’s Metaverse into Liverpool FC’s passionate supporter base, around the world. Our collaboration with Liverpool FC was also the first time we’d worked so closely with a brand to provide a full-service creative concept, from the sale structure (auction and limited editions) to artwork development, and much more. In doing so, LFC Heroes Club was our first opportunity to expand on how we’d been offering NFTs by tapping directly into the club’s community base and charting a path forward for the future possibilities of how Sotheby’s Metaverse could work with other brands to develop unique sale concepts that fit their audience. The success of LFC Heroes Club will also undoubtedly help set the tone for how we can collaborate across a variety of different brands and franchises in the future.

‘I see NFTs as a once in a generation opportunity to create a bridge between the world of digital art to the physical art world and vice versa’

What are your predictions for the NFT market in the next five to ten years?I see NFTs as a once in a generation opportunity to create a bridge between the world of digital art to the physical art world and vice versa. And while it’s difficult to say exactly where the NFT market will be in five or 10 years, we’ve only been actively involved in the NFT market for a year, and I see much more potential in the coming years as widespread adoption of NFTs continues to change not only the art world, but other areas of interest across entertainment and pop culture.

After nearly 300 years of doing business in old-fashioned ways, the venerable auction house rewrote its playbook during the pandemic—and kept going, going.

In the fall of 2020, a young staffer in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art department made a bold pitch to explore a new asset class, hoping to score points with Charles Stewart, the company’s new CEO. Stewart hadn’t heard of NFTs—nonfungible tokens, now famous for birthing Bored Apes and CryptoPunks—but he was intrigued. Maybe there was something in it for the venerable auction house founded in 1744.

“I certainly didn’t anticipate what was going to happen over the next 12 months,” says Stewart, 52.

Indeed, few could have predicted that within a year NFTs would become as coveted as a Picasso or a Porsche to a new generation of young, crypto-obsessed collectors. Sotheby’s sold nearly $100 million of NFT art and other digital collectibles in 2021—admittedly a small portion of the $17. 6 billion purchased worldwide last year—and less than the roughly $140 million sold by its chief rival, Christie’s. (Though about half of that came in one record-setting sale, the $69. 3 million auction last March of a collage by the artist known as Beeple

Dual forces have pushed Sotheby’s to modernize: the pandemic and fresh ownership. In 2019, French telecom magnate Patrick Drahi (net worth $6. 6 billion) took the house private in a $3. 7 billion deal. The transaction concluded a two-decade period in which Sotheby’s stock dropped over 40% from June 2018 to June 2019 (while the S&P 500 stayed flat), revenue fell 4% in its final year as a public company and a price-fixing scandal sent its chairman, Alfred Taubman, to prison in 2002.

QUITE A LOT

The picture for Sotheby’s is considerably brighter these days. Much of that is thanks to Stewart, a former investment banker who left the CFO job at Drahi’s Netherlands-based telecom, Altice, to join Sotheby’s. Since his arrival, the house has shifted some of its focus to NFTs and other nascent markets—luxury sneakers, rare teas—and made greater use of big data to guide how it manages sales and clients.

Sotheby’s rang up $7. 3 billion in sales last year, up substantially from 2020 (a 38% increase) and 2019 (22%). “The pandemic allowed us to rethink the conventions of the art market, which run deep,” Stewart says.

One of the first things Sotheby’s needed to do in the age of Zoom was change how it conducted its auctions to avoid the perils of other in-person events. (“Like the opera,” Stewart says. ) While phone bidders have long been a staple of most sales, the highest-profile auctions had largely viewed the internet as “an afterthought,” he says. “It would’ve been like a high school production with a webcam

When Sotheby’s auctions went online in June 2020, their livestreams felt like a cross between Downton Abbey and an energetic CNN broadcast. (With Covid restrictions easing, live audiences are returning. ) Sotheby’s chief auctioneer, Olly Barker, was fitted with a newscaster’s earpiece to ensure the production booth could relay the latest bids to him. The set featured six flat-screens showing rooms in New York, Hong Kong and London fielding bids over the phone, the telecast switching back and forth from Barker and the phone rooms as a news anchor might with reporters in the field. Sotheby’s highest-profile auctions now attract close to 2 million views online, up from a few thousand in recent years. Last year, 92% of all bids came via the web, roughly triple the portion from 2018.

What are those experts selling? Some of it is quite traditional. Last year, Sotheby’s scored big with a $676 million sale of blue-chip 20th-century art (Rothko, Pollock, Twombly) from New York real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife; a second portion of their collection, including pieces by Andy Warhol and Gerhard Richter, will go under the hammer in May and could break the $832 million record for a single-owner collection set by the David Rockefeller estate in 2018.

Much of Sotheby’s revamped business is less conventional, though. Last October, it sold a pair of Michael Jordan–worn Nikes for $1. 5 million (a record for sneakers). Two months later, it moved more than $1 million worth of rare tea in Hong Kong, its first such auction and one of several concerted efforts to cater to Asia’s increasingly moneyed clientele.

NFTs, of course, remain a big part of winning over the next generation of collectors. Sotheby’s might have missed out on the Beeple sale in March 2021, but it countered a month later, selling $16. 8 million worth of work by the anonymous artist Pak that attracted some 3,000 buyers. Then came record-setting prices for two of the most popular cartoon NFTs: $11. 8 million for a single CryptoPunk (a rare alien) in June 2021 and $3. 4 million for a Bored Ape (a golden-fleeced primate) that October.

“It’s quite funny,” says Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s co-head of digital art, “but sometimes when I sell an NFT, they ask, ‘What should I do with it?’ ”

Now Sotheby’s is planning a third iteration of what it calls its Natively Digital sales, a name meant to recall the industry’s stately, semiannual evening sales.

Eventually, Sotheby’s hopes to convert these cryptopians into collectors of fine art, wine and jewelry, creating a flywheel effect. To some extent, the strategy is already working. After amassing a sizeable NFT collection, Justin Sun, the 31-year-old founder of the Tron crypto platform, purchased a $78. 4 million Giacometti sculpture in the Macklowe sale. “I’m open to all the trophy art,” he says. “Sotheby’s is definitely trying to be our best friend. Their philosophy is, basically, that they’ll do whatever they can to be the frontrunner

While NFTs are a great way for Sotheby’s to reach the young and newly rich, they are also high-risk. In February, a much-publicized Sotheby’s sale of 104 CryptoPunks was expected to fetch as much as $30 million. But the evening ended before it ever really began—with the seller canceling the auction 30 minutes after its set start time, probably triggered by a 35% drop in Ethereum’s price in three months. When the auction house announced that the sale wouldn’t go forward, several people in attendance audibly gasped. Sotheby’s tried to make up for the embarrassment with more trays of champagne and a rambunctious after-party featuring a DJ clad in a CryptoPunk helmet, Marshmello-style.

What really happened to the sale?

People in the NFT community are hurt and worried about credibility damage.

Dude just delisted 104 punks and rugged Sotheby’s. Wtf is happening?

Others argue that Sotheby’s wasn’t rugged at all, but instead the collector 0x650d couldn’t clear the minimum reserve so he pulled out to save face.

Bro you suck stop acting like you rugged Sotheby’s lmao you made everyone look stupid. Even the press here is laughing at us because of you stop hiding the guilt behind dumb ass memes.

Farokh. eth tweeted afterward, “It was embarrassing. For all of us in the space

Others think this is a time of bubbles imploding.

Uh oh, is the MASSIVE speculative bubble in NFT jpegs imploding?

And others made references to the approaching doomsday and whether or not any of this matters at all.

NFTs | The Power of Avatars

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0n0V_dwdqu0%3Fenablejsapi%3D1

• The Art of Burning Man at Chatsworth
• MontereyIn the Driver’s Seat of Sergio Scagliette’s 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider

Are you noticing that NFT collectors are starting to collect contemporary art and other forms of art?There is a growing crossover between digital art collectors expanding their collections with physical works of art, as well as traditional collectors accustomed to paintings and sculptures becoming more comfortable with collecting digital art and NFTs. Looking across our NFT sales to date, we’ve seen a tremendous number of new bidders and buyers in those sales. Yet, more than one-third of all buyers are existing clients, collectors who have crossed over from the physical art world to embrace the digital.

‘There is a growing crossover between digital art collectors expanding their collections with physical works of art, as well as traditional collectors becoming more comfortable with digital art and NFTs’

Pak The Fungible Collection Fungible Open Edition Single Cube (Courtesy Sotheby’s & Pak)

What is your response to critics who liken the surge of interest in NFTs to crazes such as ‘tulip mania’ in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century, who see NFTs merely as unpredictable assets or investments?The NFT market over the past year has certainly had an unprecedented rise in terms of the art market. But, I would caution against comparisons to ‘tulip mania’, or criticism that it is purely a speculative market. Digital art has been a part of the art world for decades, since the earliest computers of the 1960s, and the technology of NFTs has only finally caught up with the conceptual practices of the pioneering artists who helped us get here. So, the market is still relatively young, and will continue to grow and stabilise as NFTs find wider adoption and more artists become accustomed to digital art.

What concerns do you have about the NFT marketplace and what challenges does this present for Sotheby’s?With so much activity over the past year, this period of rapid change will undoubtedly present some growing pains. For one, the market has an incredible amount of digital art available at any time. But, for Sotheby’s, our approach is always from a curatorial mindset, and we want to present our clients with the best possible works of art and sale opportunities that are unique and different from others.

‘The environmental impact of NFTs is one that we have been aware of from the outset and have actively sought to remedy as best we can’

Which cryptocurrencies can collectors buy NFTs with at Sotheby’s and why?We currently accept Ether (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC) and USD Coin (USDC) as our cryptocurrency payment options. The decision to accept these three currencies is that they are among the most popular and widely accepted, so we wanted to ensure that our offerings could meet a wide swath of the crypto community.

Когда появились NFT

NFT были придуманы для того, чтобы перенести в цифровую среду уникальные предметы: изначально, артефакты геймеров — игровое оружие, впоследствии — произведения искусства. По сути, это цифровой сертификат, прикреплённый к уникальному предмету, и обладающий некой стоимостью. Хотя владение токеном картины Леонардо да Винчи «Мона Лиза» не означает владение самой картиной.

Для понимания можно провести аналогию между NFT и марками. Хотя бы потому что обоими интересуются коллекционеры.

Сами NFT были придуманы в 2010-х годах, но первые проекты появились только в 2017 году. До 2020-2021 годов о них знали лишь геймеры, потому что токены использовались исключительно в играх. После о NFT заговорили во всём мире. В основном благодаря тому, что их начали выпускать знаменитости — Илон Маск, Пэрис Хилтон и другие.

Кроме того, токены стали создавать художники, музыканты и даже СМИ. В частности журнал Times решил продать три свои обложки в этом формате, а The New York Times — колонку с названием «Купите эту колонку на блокчейне!».

Российские NFT-проекты

В России можно выделить два NFT-проекта. Один из них был запущен Государственным музеем Эрмитаж в партнёрстве с крипто биржей Binance. NFT-токен некоторых картин, которые находятся в музее, можно было купить на бирже.

Второй мини-проект запущен «Газпром-нефтью». Компания опубликовала NFT-релиз. Интерес представляет не только сам формат материала, но и содержание. В нём говорится о первой в России блокчейн-платформе Smart Fuel по заправке самолётов. Благодаря ей время расчётов между поставщиками топлива и авиакомпаниями сократилось с 4-5 дней до 15 секунд.

Создать NFT, а потом продать, может любой человек — был бы уникальный предмет, например какая-нибудь особенная фотография или музыкальный трек. Есть множество специальных площадок. Самые известные из них — OpenSea, Rarible, Niftygateway и SuperRare. Услуги сервисов платные. Какие-то берут комиссии при загрузке файла, другие — при продаже.

Нужно ли инвестировать в NFT

Невзаимозаменяемые токены получили признание не только потому, что их стали выпускать знаменитости, но и то, что они представляют собой определённую ценность. Взять хотя бы NFT-картину Майка Винкельманна, которая была продана на всемирно известном аукционе Christie’s за $69,3 млн.

В 2020 и 2021 годах многие люди по всему миру, оставшись дома из-за пандемии наедине с компьютерами, начали обращать внимание на новые финансовые инструменты. К тому же на фондовых рынках появились новые, свежеиспечёные инвесторы (да-да, приток «новичков» — не исключительно российское явление).

Но, увы, рассматривать покупку NFT как инвестицию довольно сложно. Дело в том, что стоимость токена напрямую зависит от курса криптовалюты. То есть, если эфир год назад стоил $414, а сейчас — $4 063, означает ли, что купленный ранее токен обложки Times подорожал почти в 10 раз?

Будущее NFT

Впрочем, у невзаимозаменяемых токенов определённо есть будущее. Когда блокчейн только появился, некоторые эксперты предлагали использовать его в банковской системе как хранителя банковских вкладов. Поскольку изменения в блокчейне невозможно удалить, это могло бы решить проблему «забалансовых» вкладов. Но от идеи отказались из-за риска раскрытия банковской тайны.

Тем не менее, блокчейн, а именно NFT, могут в будущем пресечь фальсификацию документов. Если выпускать паспорта, дипломы и другие важные для человека бумаги в NFT-формате, то подделать их будет невозможно.

Sotheby’s sold nearly $100 million of NFT art and other digital collectibles in 2021 —admittedly a small portion of the $17. 6 billion purchased worldwide last year—and less than the roughly $140 million sold by its chief rival, Christie’s

NFTs can be sold and bought on NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea, Rarible, and Foundation. Some of these are open to everyone while others can only be used by invitation. Some are just for art and there are some for video games