The famous auction house, Sotheby’s alleges that it will become the first to accept crypto for a real-time auction of physical art. However, the other auction houses are not far behind this arrangement.
This prestigious auction house has confirmed that it will accept Ethereum (ETH) bids in real-time for its November 18 auction that comprises works by famed street artist Banksy.
Sotheby’s alleges that this will become the first time an auction house will accept crypto in real-time as a currency for payment in an auction on a physical work of art. The auction that is titled ‘The Now Evening Auction’ features Banksy’s Trolley Hunters and Love Is In The Air.
Though the bidding prices will get announced in ETH, the winning bidders have the chance to pay for the works using Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and USD Coin (USDC).
Sotheby’s first started accepting ETH and BTC as payment back in May for another Banksy auction. It has financially supported nonfungible token projects, including offering seed funding for NFT studio and blockchain technology platform Mojito.
It also launched a Metaverse-themed NFT platform that has Pranksy, Paris Hilton, PleasrDAO, and others who were serving as curators in October. Sotheby’s is not alone among auction houses involved in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Competing auction house Christie’s was the first to accept ETH payments in a CryptoPunks auction that it held last May. Notably, Christie’s famously auctioned off Beeple’s The First 5000 Days for more than $69 million.
The Phillips auction house accepted BTC and ETH in its auction for Banksy’s Laugh Now Panel A that went for more than $3 million in June 2021.
