Secondary NFTs see boost as auction house launches on-chain marketplace

• Auction house Sotheby’s announced the launch of a new on-chain marketplace for digital art enthusiasts to purchase secondary NFTs.
• Many traditional auction houses, including Southeby’s and Christie’s, are now substantially invested in NFT marketplaces. 

On 1 May, auction house Sotheby’s announced the launch of a new on-chain marketplace for digital art enthusiasts to purchase secondary NFTs.

As per the tweet, all sales on Sotheby’s Metaverse platform will take place using smart contracts. This will allow digital art collectors to pay for their art and collectibles in either Ethereum [ETH] or Polygon [MATIC].

Sotheby’s has stated that it will honor artist royalties via smart contracts on the secondary sales platform and will pay artists automatically based on the royalty amount they pick.

The auction house first ventured into the NFT space in April 2021, when it auctioned off the work of Pak, a pseudonymous digital artist. Sotheby’s sold a rare CryptoPunk known as “Covid Alien” for a whopping $11.8 million in June 2021.

Sotheby’s held the largest NFT charity auction in history in November 2021, auctioning off 140 rare NFTs to raise funds for nonprofit healthcare organization Sostento.

The corporation came under fire in April 2023 when it presented the newest incarnation of its Natively Digital series, a presentation honoring glitch artists in the NFT sector. However, it featured no female artists. Following public outcry, Sotheby’s paused the show and then re-launched it with a more diverse lineup.

Traditional auction houses invested in NFTs

Many traditional auction houses are now substantially invested in NFT marketplaces. In February 2021, the auction house sold Beeple’s “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” for $69.3 million. In Sep 2022, Christie’s launched an on-chain platform for NFT art. This made it the first global auction to permit entirely on-chain sales.

Christie’s, another prominent auction company, will debut Christie’s 3.0, a blockchain platform, in early 2022. Last year, Christie’s sold 87 NFT lots across all platforms for a total of $5.9 million.