NFT's popularity gradually retreats, and the "encryption" of the top auction house

Source: Financial Times

Compilation: Kris

"The friends of cryptocurrency are gone. As soon as the music stops, they immediately run away." Art consultant Wendy Goldsmith said during the Paris Art Basel exhibition in October in the solemn environment of the Grand Palace in Paris. Essence But at present, as Bitcoin continues to break through new highs, Ethereum is approaching its peak in 2021, and people who have previously placed expectations on cryptocurrencies are also eager to try it out.

Early signs show that pioneering art industry changers have gained real hot spots. A few weeks after US President Donald Trump's re -election, cryptocurrencies rose rapidly, and Trump showed his determination to strongly support decentralized digital assets. And before, Sun Yuchen, the founder of the encrypted platform TRON, bought Maurizio Cattelan's "Comedian" (2019) at the Sotheby's Auction of New York at the Sotheby's Auction in New York. The sky-high auction of bananas stuck to the wall made it into the headlines of most media, and he used cryptocurrency to pay for the goods.

In this context, next month, Sotheby's auction house will accept ETH or BTC payment forms at the first auction in Saudi Arabia. This is the first time that traditional auction houses support cryptocurrency payment at the entire on -site auction of physical auctions Essence Sotheby's said the change could add an additional group of buyers to auction houses in areas where digital art and cryptocurrency activity are very active. A total of 119 auctions, including modern and contemporary artworks in the West and Saudi Arabia, luxury and football players Christiano Ronaldo, and the generation created by the leader Refick Anador "AI Data Painting". His huge work "Phantom of the Machine -Space | Chapter 2: Mars" (2021) uses the data of the Space Telescope to create surreal organic landscapes, valuations between 800,000 and $ 1.2 million.

In fact, before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, due to the conflict of styles, the art market was difficult to attract people in the technology industry. The rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has actually brought some new cryptocurrency millionaires and billionaires. NF is a unique digital asset that connects art with blockchain and can be used to make geometric abstract paintings and cartoons.

In 2021, Christie's and Sotheby began to accept some physical artworks with cryptocurrencies. Before that, Christie's auctioned Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5000 Days". All are ironic, even including the giant naked Trump sitting on the Capitol. Its final buyer is Vignesh Sundaresan, aka Metakovan, the founder of crypto investment fund Metapurse, who bought the artwork for a staggering $69 million.

Since then, physical works that meet the criteria have begun to tilt towards technological tastes, including a bright yellow painting created by Keith Haring in 1984, depicting a group of people fascinated by computers. This painting was at Christie's Auction House Sold for £4.3 million, but the auction house is reluctant to confirm whether it has accepted the offer to pay in cryptocurrency. Christie's' acceptance of other currencies is that the seller is willing to accept cryptocurrencies, and bidding is still conducted in local fiat currency, and the same is true for the auction house; Sotheby's itself does not hold cryptocurrencies. At present, each well -known auction house has exclusive NFT and digital art platforms, namely Sotaverse and Christie's 3.0, and sellers and buyers can use cryptocurrencies.

For the art market, practitioners hope to use NFT and their related alternative currencies, which can broaden the channels for new buyers to enter the general price of higher prices. Sun Zhengyi personally completed this journey -it spent more than $ 6.2 million in the process. In early 2021, he purchased the screen insured "cube" NFT work of the digital artist Murat Pak. These works were sold on the special Nifty Gateway platform through Sotheby's at $ 1,500.

A few months later, according to Sun Zhengyi's social media, he purchased "Untitled (Kings)" (2001) at a price of HK $ 2.5 million (about $ 300,000). This is a hot KAWS creation The paintings, the artist's cartoon characters, the eyes are painted as an X -shaped, and they are sealed in the foam packaging. Just five months later, Sun Zhengyi entered the field of heavyweight modern art and bought the "nose" sculpture of Alberto Giacometti at a price of $ 78 million. This is a carved work cast in 1965, depicting a long nose head in the cage.

But despite this, not everyone in the art market is not everyone embrace the impact of cryptocurrencies. God Smith evaluated the atmosphere during the Paris Expo, thinking that the market atmosphere was stable and far -sighted, and it undoubtedly got rid of the turmoil caused by cryptocurrency speculators. The reason is that the image of the encryption is that the image of young people buyers is also incompatible with the current situation of the lack of diversity in the art auction market. There is also a long -term objective fact, that is, new entrants are often suspected. After all, the art market is largely conservative and closed.

In this tricky market, doubt and concerns about the population are just surface reasons, and concerns about use is the core issue. The attractiveness of artworks—in a secret market that can convert unstable book profits into transferable tangible assets—is enough to greatly increase its attractiveness to money launderers, and crypto-monetized NFTs are more likely Become a new playground for money laundering.

In China, cryptocurrencies are prohibited. "The reason is based on many anti -money laundering cases." Angell Xi, a partner of the Chinese law firm, wrote in the 2024 Basel Art Exhibition and UBS Art Market Report. In the European Union, the latest anti -money laundering and terrorist financing rules tighten all companies that provide encrypted asset -related services, including prohibiting anonymous payment.

The auction house's compliance team is ready and has a relatively cautious attitude towards cryptocurrencies. In addition to the special NFT platform, only a few auction works meet the conditions until Sotes Fubi in Saudi Arabia on February 8th, and Christie's said that its NFT sales have so far reached 150 million US dollars, including Beeple and its cost.

As the market has developed to this day, NFT has been cold and the market has lost most of its popularity, but as the market improves, it will also usher in a turning point in the future. According to the "Global Art Market Outlook" released by Arttactic this week, 12% of experts are optimistic about NFT's performance this year. Essence

At the same time, Christie's said that the average age of its NFT buyers is 42 years, and the average age of all auctions is 54 years. This is in line with Christie’s strategy to position its business at the younger generation and a key strategy highlighted by Christie’s new CEO Bonnie Brennan last week, saying her plan is to “protect cultural heritage while focusing on innovation” ——The new audience, regional and technology ".

In fact, the art market has been in a significant downturn in the past two years and is in urgent need of the introduction of fresh blood. Total auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips auction houses fell 26% in 2024 and 19% in 2023, according to ArtTactic.

Against this background, perhaps any point of catchable traffic is beneficial, so as the cryptocurrency stage lights up again, the auction house that is fighting for the wrong side can only be prepared to join this drama.