Sotheby’s To Host NFT-Art Sale by Anonymous Artist Pak

Sotheby’s Goes Crypto

Sotheby’s, one of the world’s most famous auction houses, is set to host its first-ever non-fungible token (NFT) sale. The planned sale, which features popular anonymous digital artist Pak, will take place next month.

The news was revealed during a CNBC interview with Sotherby’s chief executive officer (CEO), Charles Stewart. In the interview, Stewart revealed the auction house had been following the NFT space for “some time.”

He went on to say that although anonymity is common for artists in the art world, in the crypto-world, it is “one of many new things that is different and potentially disruptive when you compare it to the traditional art-world.”

Asked whether this sale might be the start of the auction house permanently entering the digital art space, Stewart responded:

“It’s still very early with crypto art in general, but there’s a lot here that’s really exciting and we think has staying power.”

Charles Stewart – Chief Executive Officer – Sotheby’s

The sale will feature both one-of-one works of art by Pak and open editions, which will allow multiple people to own the same piece. Steward also alluded to many surprises the auction house has in-store for its NFT experiment.

NFT-Mania Expands

Indeed, the news comes after Christie’s, another world-famous auction house, hosted in an auction including works by famous NFT-artist Beeple. Said auction raised a record-breaking $69.3 million, all of which came from a single individual buyer.

The auction not only broke the record for the highest amount raised in a single NFT sale but was the first such sale hosted by a major auction house.

The auctioned collection itself is even more impressive. It marks the culmination of a 5,000-day art creation marathon by artist Mike Winkelmann (also known as Beeple), in which he created an NFT-piece a day.

The collection includes each of those 5,000 pieces Winkelmann began producing over 13 years ago on May 1, 2007.

More widely, the NFT-space is surging in popularity. To date, over $400 million worth of NFTs (excluding the Beeple collection sale) have been sold, with Google searches for “NFT” overtaking “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain.”

The Future of NFTs

As this popularity continues to grow, the future looks bright for this niche, at least in the short-term. The NFT space continues to attract the A-list of cryptocurrency supporters such as Mark Cuban and Elon Musk.

Moreover, NFTs are receiving a warm welcome from the music industry, with artists such as Soulja Boy and Torey Lanez getting in on the action.

Interestingly, several experimental use-cases for NFTs popped up in the space, such as Genesis Shards, an idea to use NFTs to provide liquidity for pre-IDO (Initial DEX Offering).

Only time will tell whether this “NFT-mania” will continue in the long-term. Right now, however, its momentum doesn’t seem to be stopping.

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