Successfully Auctioning For NFT with High Price, Christie's Launches On-chain Auction Platform

JAKARTA - After a series of successful high-priced nonfungible token (NFT) sales, Christie's has finally launched a dedicated NFT "on-chain auction platform". This platform allows auctions to be conducted completely on-chain on the Ethereum network.

The 256-year-old British auction giant, which is also the world's second-largest auction house by fine art auction revenue, said its "Christie's 3.0" platform allowed NFT auctions to be conducted entirely on the ETH network "from start to finish."

“All transactions, including post-sales, will be automatically recorded on the blockchain,” said a Christie's source, as quoted by Cointelegraph.

In previous NFT auctions, payments from the winning bidder were not always made on the blockchain, but the creation of the Christie marketplace allowed transactions to occur in a manner much like the popular OpenSea marketplace, which allows payments to be made in Ether (ETH).

Christie's said the new marketplace was developed in partnership with smart contract development startup NFT Manifold, metaverse development firm Spatial and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

The announcement was paired with the premiere of just one new market exclusive project by artist Diana Sinclair, featuring just nine NFTs viewable in the online virtual gallery built by Spatial.

Christie's has seen great success with NFT auctions in the past, such as Beeple's "Everydays - The First 5000 Days", which was printed exclusively for the auction house, which sold for a record 69.3 million US dollars (IDR 1 trillion) in March 2021. The auction became one of the most expensive NFTs ever sold.

At the time, the sale of NFT was conducted in partnership with MakersPlace's NFT marketplace.

The company also facilitated the auction of nine CryptoPunks in May 2021 with a winning bid of nearly 17 million US dollars (Rp 259.1 billion).

Christie's Web3 interest has moved beyond NFT auctions, last July they launched a venture fund aimed at supporting "art-related financial products and solutions" on Web3 with the initial investment going to LayerZero Labs. It is a company that builds decentralized applications that are compatible with multiple blockchains.

Rival auction house Sotheby's has also taken a similar interest in Web3 and NFT, launching its own metaverse in October 2021 and also having a share of expensive NFT sales.