Sotheby’s Auction House announced the sale of two paintings of the world-famous street artist Banksy for cryptocurrency. Betting on the purchase of works “Love is in the air” (Love Is In The Air) and “Trolley Hunters) will be carried out in the Ethereum currency in real time, indicated on the website of the organization.
Sotheby’s became the first auction house that will use cryptocurrency as a standard currency for trading in physical works of art in real time during live trading, “says representatives of the auction house. Bidding will be held on November 18 and will be broadcast on the site and in Sotheby’s social networks, including the company’s channel in Discord.
The picture “Love Vital in the air” is dedicated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – it shows a protest member, throwing a bouquet of flowers instead of the Molotov cocktail. On graffiti “Hunters for trolley”, Bankxi captured primitive people who are hunting for trolleys from the supermarket. According to Sotheby’s website, the expected selling price of the work “Love Vital in the air” is 4-6 million dollars, and the pictures of “cart hunters” – 5-7 million.
In the auction house, explained why they chose the Ethereum cryptocurrency for trading. “Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency in the world’s market value is the preferred cryptocurrency for digital art and the NFT community, since the Ethereum blockchain is the main network in which NFT is created and transactions with them are being recorded, indicated on the company’s website. Although the members of the participants will offer in Ethereum, the bid winners will be able to pay for paintings in traditional currency, as well as using Ethereum, Bitcoin and USDC coins.
“love is in the air” has already changed several owners. In May 2021, Sotheby’s also sold the picture for cryptocurrency. Then the work of Bankxi became the first physical work of art sold at the auction for digital money.
In November, the cost of the crypton updated the historical record. By the morning of November 8, market capitalization exceeded 3 trillion dollars. It happened after the most popular cryptocurrency was rising – Bitcoin.