Sotheby's, a renowned auction house with a rich history spanning 279 years, has shaped the digital art market significantly this year. Art auction house Sotheby's estimates digital art sales will reach nearly $35 million in 2023, making it a record for the burgeoning sector.
On December 23, the company's vice president and head of digital art, Michael Buhana, summed up Sotheby's annual digital art results in X as "one of the most exciting years for digital art."
Notably, Sotheby's held its first live digital art auction with 300 participants and $12 million in sales. The auction house set a new record for digital artwork by selling Dmitriy Chernyak's "Ringers #879" NFT for $6.2 million.
In total, Sotheby's offers more than 25 auctions that focus exclusively on digital art or incorporate it into contemporary art sales. The company launched Sotheby's Metaverse, a secondary trading platform for NFTs.
Additionally, Sotheby's has launched a blockbuster NFT collection titled “Theme and Variations” in collaboration with artists Vera Molnar and 99-year-old Martin Grasser. This collaboration bridges the gap between generations and artistic media, proving that digital art can appeal to everyone.
Sotheby's made history earlier this year by auctioning off the manuscript of Neal Stephens' cult novel Avalanche, believed to be the first to use the term "metaverse." Going forward, Sotheby's plans to refine its core marketing strategy and support content creators.
The 279-year-old auction house entered the NFT space in April 2021 and has since achieved several record-breaking digital art sales.
The rise of the NFT space, coupled with Bitcoin's recent rise, has helped increase interest and trading volume in the digital art market.
Total transaction volume approached $1 billion in November and the average NFT transaction value increased by 114%. Trading volume increased by 125% in November, indicating that user behavior has decreased from previous NFT trading. This increasing trend reflects the increasing desire of consumers to carry out high-value transactions.
However, keep in mind that investing in crypto assets like NFTs is unregulated and may not be suitable for all investors. Such investments incur general losses and are not intended for or accessible to investors in Spain.
On December 7, Sotheby's announced that it would sell its 279-year-old Bitcoin regulatory collection to an auction house.
Sotheby's said the sale of items from BitcoinShrooms, a project by the eponymous artist Shroometoshi, is the first time a work from the collection has been made public.
The collection consists of a series of pixel art pieces related to the history and basics of Bitcoin, including memes and technical concepts.