Top Auction House Christie's to Accept Ether Cryptocurrency for Digital Art Sale

The sale gives Christie's a chance to "dip its toes" in crypto, said a New York representative.

By Tanzeel Akhtar

Feb 18, 2021 at 10:16 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 12:13 p.m. UTC

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British auction house Christie's has confirmed it is accepting ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, as a form of payment for a coming digital art auction.

Christie's told Bloomberg it will accept ether as a form of payment for a work by digital artist Mike "Beeple" Winkelmann, according to a Thursday report.
However, the premium – the fee an auction house charges on an artwork's sale price – must be paid in U.S. dollars.
The artwork being sold is a collage of thousands of pieces of art Beeple has posted online since 2007, as CoinDesk reported.
Called "EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS," the piece will be delivered to the buyer along with a unique nonfungible token encrypted with Beeple's signature.
“We’re at this precipice where crypto is going to be such a more established and mainstream mode of conducting business,” Noah Davis, a Christie’s art specialist in New York, told Bloomberg.
“With this [sale], I think it’s the perfect way to dip our toes in and give this a shot,” said Davis.

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