Sotheby’s is expanding its non-fungible token art offerings through the release of a specially curated, peer-to-peer secondary marketplace.
Customers can purchase carefully chosen non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum and Polygon networks thanks to a system created by the premium auction house that is entirely on-chain.
The auction house seeks to set itself apart from other already-established NFT platforms that permit peer-to-peer trades of digital artworks by offering a “rotating, curated selection of leading artists handpicked by Sotheby’s specialists.”
According to a tweet sent by Sotheby’s on May 1, the website would launch with pieces by 13 renowned digital artists. These artists include Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, Hackatao, and the person solely known by the alias XCOPY.
On Sotheby’s Metaverse, smart contracts are used to manage all non-fungible token sales. Through these contracts, fans of digital art can buy the pieces of art and artifacts they desire and pay for them using either ether or polygon.
Additionally, it was stated that it would use smart contracts on the secondary sales platform to fulfill artist royalties. This implies that the royalty rate selected by the artists would be automatically paid to them.
Sotheby’s history with NFTs
The 279-year-old British-American clearing company made its NFT debut in April 2021 with the introduction of digital artist Pak. Since then, the gallery has been in charge of multiple digital art sales that have shattered prior records.
On June 11, 2021, Sotheby’s held an auction for the rare CryptoPunk work “Covid Alien,” which brought in an amazing 11.8 million dollars. Only three months later, on September 10, a Sotheby’s-arranged action of 101 Bored Ape NFTs brought in $24 million.
The largest non-fungible token (NFT) charity auction in the history of the event was hosted by Sotheby’s in November of 2021. 140 unique non-fungible tokens were auctioned off in order to raise money for the nonprofit healthcare organization Sostento.
