Christie's expands its services on-chain after launching a new NFT marketplace

In the NFT space, Christie's is recognised as the agency that sold Beeple's ground-breaking 'Everydays: The First 5,000 Days' in March 2021. Now, the British auction house is making a bigger push into Web3 after launching a platform for 'on-chain NFT sales' on Tuesday.

Named 'Christie's 3.0,' the platform is built entirely on the Ethereum blockchain, where all the auctions will take place – previous NFT auctions by the firm were done without blockchain. The marketplace also provides regulatory compliance and taxation tools to ensure secure transactions for its users.

Christie's 3.0 was developed in collaboration with other Web3 companies, Manifold, Chainalysis, and Spatial, and all partners showed appreciation for the opportunity to work on Christie's new project.

To mark its launch, the new NFT marketplace is hosting an inaugural auction of Diana Sinclair's collection – featuring nine NFT artworks - between September 28 and October 11, 2022. Sinclair's work is the only listing on Christie's 3.0, and each artwork's prices range from 4 to 8 ETH.

Sinclair is an 18-year-old artist and was on Fortune's list of the 50 Most Influential People in NFTs in 2021.

Nicole Sales Giles, Christie's Director of Digital Art Sales, said during the announcement, 'We are thrilled to launch our on-chain platform – and particularly excited to be debuting Christie's 3.0 with the phenomenal works from Diana Sinclair. Bringing the highest level of curation to the NFT and Digital Art market, Christie's continues to be the venue for collectors to discover the best artworks of this emerging category.'

Aside from conducting the sales of Beeple's 'Everydays' – one of the most expensive NFT sales in the world – Christie's also held an auction for nine Cryptopunks in May 2021, which sold for a total of almost US$17 million.

Meanwhile, British-founded American auction house and Christie's competitor, Sotheby's, already launched its NFT marketplace, called Sotheby's Metaverse, last October.

Photo: Christie's