coincodex.com
Key highlights:
- Auction house Sotheby's will be accepting BTC and ETH for its auction of Banksy's Love is in the Air
- The cryptocurrency payments will be enabled through a solution provided by Coinbase
- Sotheby's estimates that the piece will sell for between $3 and $5 million
Sotheby's will aceept cryptocurrency for Banksy auction
Renowned auction house Sotheby’s, which was first established is 1744, is still keeping up with the latest technological advancements – they will be accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum as forms of payment for their auction of Banksy’s piece Love is in the Air. The auction will take place on May 12 and will be denominated in USD, but the winner will have the option to pay with crypto.
Sotheby’s partnered with Coinbase, which will provide a custom solution to help the auction house accept the cryptocurrency payment (if the winner decides to pay with crypto). Sotheby’s anticipates that Love is in the Air will be sold for between $3 and $5 million. According to Coinbase, it will also provide assistance with managing cryptocurrency price fluctuations.
Love is in the Air by Banksy. Image source: sothebys.com
Stefan Pepe, the CTO of Sotheby’s commented on the company’s collaboration with Coinbase:
"Leveraging the trusted exchange Coinbase is a natural progression and is in line with our dedication to enhancing our client buying experience and developing new ways to expand our client base by meeting them where they are."
According to a FAQ section about the cryptocurrency payment support, Sotheby’s will not accept payments made from self-hosted crypto payments. Instead, the buyer will have to use a wallet hosted by Coinbase or Coinbase Custody, Fidelity, Gemini or Paxos.
Sotheby’s is not new to blockchain and cryptocurrency tech, as it recently also teamed up with NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway to auction off a collection of NFTs by digital artist Pak. The sale brough t in around $17 million in total.
Cryptocurrency has also been accepted as a payment option by Christie’s, another prominent auuction house. It accepted ETH as a means of payment for Beeple’s The First 5000 Days, an NFT that sold for a whopping $69.3 million and became the most expensive digital artwork of all time.