While Christie’s sold an NFT for a record 69 million last March, other historic auction houses seem to be joining the race for the non-fungible token. In this regard, look to multinational Sotheby’s, which has just launched its NFT auction platform: Sotheby’s Metaverse.
Sotheby’s strengthens its position in the world of NFTs
Sotheby’s was founded in the mid-18ᵉ century in London. This makes it one of the four oldest luxury auction houses. Now located in New York, it is a true institution in the art and collectibles auction business. Despite its historical existence, Sotheby’s has recognized the opportunity and attractiveness of non-fungible tokens (NFT).
Indeed, last April it held its first NFT auction in partnership with the digital artist known as “Pak. And last month, it held an auction with Yuga Labs of a collection of 101 NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club that fetched $24 million. Sotheby’s now seems to want to go further into the NFT field with the creation of its Metaverse-themed platform called Sotheby’s Metaverse. Thus, it is a real virtual art gallery that has just been created by Sotheby’s.
However, this is not its first time. Already in June, Sotheby’s used Decentraland’s Metaverse to create a virtual gallery similar to the New Bond Street Gallery in London.
In addition, the platform was launched in conjunction with the upcoming auction called “Natively Digital 1.2: The Collectors” organized by Sotheby’s from October 18 to 26, 2021. This auction will feature 53 lots of non-fungible tokens held by popular collectors. Finally, the platform accepts both Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) payments, as well as fiat payments (wire transfer or credit card).
A prestigious collection for the first auction on Sotheby’s Metaverse
Sotheby’s has taken care to create profiles of the leading collectors known in the business who hold the NFTs, which will be the subject of the upcoming auction. Notable collectors such as Pransky, 888 and celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Steve Aoki will be providing some of their NFTs for this first auction on Sotheby’s Metaverse.
This support from notable collectors allows us to offer lots attached to major NFT projects: Yuga Labs with the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Dapper Labs with the CryptoKitties or Poderware with the MoonCats. Given the craze generated by these NFTs, there is no doubt that the auction that will open next Monday will be a great success. Finally, the Sotheby’s Metaverse platform will then be powered by Mojito, a platform that develops and operates NFT marketplaces for brands and intellectual property owners.
Sotheby’s is not alone in its bet on the metaverse. Like Republic Realm, other companies like Facebook or Epic Games (the creator of Fortnite) are also betting heavily on this technology by investing fortunes.
