In a recent press release, Christie’s, one of the oldest British auction houses, has gone through a recap of what 2022 has delivered in sales, along with achieved milestones.
While mentioning a record year in art market history at $8.4B, the company also emphasizes its Web3 commitments.
Among the Web3-related initiatives is Christie’s Ventures, an in-house investment organization launched in July to provide financial support to FinTech companies focusing on three categories: Web3 (including NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and blockchains), art-related financial products, and technology that makes art consumption seamless.
LayerZero, Manifold.xyz, and ProtoHologram were among the first companies in which the auction house invested.
Christie’s extended its Web3 commitment in September by unveiling Christie’s 3.0, a new platform for fully on-chain NFT auctions.
The new NFT auction platform enables auctions to start and run entirely on the Ethereum blockchain network. This means that every transaction, including those that occur after the sale, is recorded on the blockchain.
In terms of outcomes, Christie’s sold 87 NFT lots across all platforms in 2022 for a total of $5.9M from artists like Diana Sinclair, Mad Dog Jones, and Fewocious.
Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer of Christie’s, attributes the company’s sales results to a combination of the art market’s resilience, several major collection successes, and the expertise of the company’s teams around the world.
