Sotheby's, the auction house founded more than 270 years ago in London, is reinventing itself in the digital world, launching the world's first smart NFT and opening a new home in the limitless digital universe offered by Decentraland.
The former London auction house Sotheby's came into the world of Blockchain and digital artworks for the first time in March, through anonymous crypto artist Pak, with whom he linked up to hold the first auction of non-fungible tokens (NFT).
Although Sothebys' arrival in the world of blockchain technology and NFTs occurred after its rival Christie's, now it is this auction house that is taking the lead within this industry, with the launch of the first Smart NFT (iNFT) of history, called “Alice”, and with her arrival in the metaverse Decentraland, where it offers a digital replica of its famous gallery in London.
Sothebys announced via its Twitter account the launch and auction of Alice, an intelligent avatar powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), with self-learning capabilities that will learn as it interacts with people and that has become the first intelligent NFT that exists in the world. Alice is a project made possible by the firm Alethea AI and the artist Robert alice, the auction house said.
At the time of this writing, the iNFT has a bid for $42.000 and will be one of the main elements of the exhibition that the artist is preparing in the new Sotheby's digital gallery in Decentraland.
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From traditional auctions to a world of opportunities in blockchain
Sotheby's arrival in the Decentraland metaverse shows the appetite that blockchain technology and NFTs are awakening across industries. The auction house is betting big on new technologies that are building the next frontier of art, it said. Michel Bouhanna, head of sales at Sothebys.
The digital replica of Sotheby's gallery on London's New Bond Street is located in the Voltaire art district, one of the most exclusive areas in Decentraland.
The digital gallery debuts with the auction of “Natively Digital”, a collection of unique arts co-curated with Robert Alice; the auction of the Cryptopunk No. 7523, a strange alien called the “Covid Alien” and, as mentioned, the iNFT Alice auction.
Native Digital features a series of unique NFTs from 27 digital artists including Pak, Kevin McCoy, and many others, which are considered to be the world's first known NFTs.
Digital art and cryptocurrencies
At the beginning of May, Sotheby's announced that it would auction the first physical artwork with cryptocurrency as a means of payment. The auction house chose the iconic work “Love is in The Air”, created in 2003 as a graffiti by the anonymous artist Banksy, which sold for a value of 13 million dollars using bitcoins and ethers as a means of payment. Sotheby's initially estimated the value of the artwork between 3 million and 5 million dollars, a value that almost tripled during the bidding.
For the auction house, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and, in particular, NFTs are leaving an indelible mark on the art world, so its participation in the cryptocurrency ecosystem helps pave the way for greater use and adoption of these digital assets and their technology.
Continue reading: Bitcoin and Ethereum to make history at Sotheby's with physical Banksy artwork
