Since the beginning of 2021, the revenue of one of the largest and oldest auction houses in the world from its transactions amounted to $ 7.3 billion.One of the largest and oldest auction houses in the world, Sotheby’s, which was founded in 1744, raised $ 100 million from the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFT) in 2021.
At the same time, about 78% of bidders on NFT used Sotheby’s for the first time, and more than half of the participants such tenders are under 40 years, according to a report of the auction house.
Excluding those auctions that are planned to be held before the end of this year, Sotheby’s has already raised $ 6 billion in 2021, which is 71% more than last year. Another $ 1.3 billion came from private transactions.
Sotheby’s first put up for sale NFT in April this year. Non-fungible tokens were tied to works by anonymous digital artist PAK. More than 3 thousand people took part in the auction. All NFTs were sold for $ 16.8 million.
New this morning: @Sotheby's announces upcoming sale with anonymous digital artist PAK
"It's still very early with crypto art in general," says CEO Charles Stewart on #NFTs. "This has the potential to bypass a lot of the traditional gatekeepers." pic.twitter.com/D0F4pppkmT
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) March 16, 2021
In May, Sotheby’s, for the first time in its history, allowed to pay for the purchase of a painting with cryptocurrency. The first lot of the auction house sold for cryptocurrency was the work of artist Banksy.
#AuctionUpdate: Following a 14-minute bidding battle between 4 bidders, Banksy’s iconic protest image ‘Love is in the Air’ achieves $12.9 million. The sale marks the first time #cryptocurrency was accepted as a payment option for a physical artwork. #Banksy pic.twitter.com/uKIYeUu3IU
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 12, 2021
In June, Sotheby’s announced the sale of a rare NFT token “Alien” # 7523 (“Alien”) from the CryptoPunks collection for $ 11.8 million. This is a record price of one NFT token from this collection.
Moments ago in our #London saleroom, an extremely rare “Alien” CryptoPunk #7523 from the collection of @sillytuna sold for $11.8M as part of our #NativelyDigital NFT auction – setting a new world auction record for a single CryptoPunk. pic.twitter.com/PDVUSttI3o
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 10, 2021
Also in June, the auction house also held an auction for the world’s oldest NFT token, Quantum geometric animation by digital artist Kevin McCoy.
Sotheby’s In 2021 Proceeds From The Sale Of NFT $ 100 Million
