By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 17th, 2024
Sotheby’s also noted that NFTs have expanded its audience while attracting a new demographic of collectors.
The 277-year-old British auction house Sotheby’s has been at the center of conducting several non-fungible tokens (NFT) sales. On Wednesday, Sotheby’s announced that it has hit the $100 million revenue milestone just from NFT sales this year.
Interestingly, Sotheby’s didn’t the NFT market pretty early. The auction house conducted its first sale from digital artist Pak during the time period April 12-14. The first sale itself brought $16.8 million in revenue from 3,000 buyers. Since then, Sotheby’s has sold some very popular NFTs like the original World Wide Web source code for $5.3 million, a collection of 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs for $24.4 million, a rare CryptoPunk worth $11.8 million, along with other NFT auctions.
Sotheby’s also noted that NFTs have expanded its audience while attracting a new demographic of collectors. The auction house also noted that it has seen an overall rebound with clients responding to seamless digital and physical experiences.
The Rise in Sotheby’s NFT Sales
Sotheby’s further noted that the “meteoric rise” of NFTs along with its new platform dubbed “Sotheby’s Metaverse” has attracted a new and wider audience. Of this, 78% of the NFT bidders are new to Sotheby’s and more than a half of them are under 40.
The Sotheby’s Metaverse also allows viewers to view digital artworks available at auction. It also allows visitors to learn about the collectors and artists behind these NFTs. To provide an immersive experience further, the auction house has created a virtual gallery in Decentraland to showcase these NFTs.
Sotheby’s also supports NFT projects as an investor. For example, in October 2021, NFT tech firm Mojito received an investment of $20 million and one of the companies that lead this funding round was Sotheby’s .
The Sotheby’s auction house has been one of the first historical institutions to cater to the blockchain-based digital asset explosion happening this year in 2021.