[Digital Today Reporter Chigyu Hwang] Sothebys, a renowned auction company based in New York, joins the fever of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which have garnered explosive attention in recent weeks. Sotheby’s plans to sell NFTs next month.
In an interview with online media Chedder on the 17th (local time), CEO Charles Stewart Sothebys said, “NFT is something we’ve been considering for a long time.” And artists have been around longer than the NFT,” he said.
Sotheby’s is notable because it came a few days after Christie, a British auction company, sold the digital work NFT by digital artist Beeple for nearly $70 million. Biffle’s work is the highest in NFT’s history.
“NFT gives auction houses an opportunity to capture new audiences with a digital aesthetic that was born and raised online,” said Stewart. It was that digital native art was finally seeing its time.
Like others, CEO Stewart sees the NFT craze as closely related to the rise in the value of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. “The future of NFT is likely to be related to the growth of cryptocurrency,” he said.
NFT is created based on token technology such as Ethereum-based ERC-721, and is similar to existing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum in that it can be delivered to others. However, NFT cannot be replaced with the same value as Bitcoin or Ethereum. This is because each NFT has its own unique identifier. Until now, NFT has been used for a type of game that can be collected based on a block chain like CryptoKitty, but these days, the entertainment industry is also looking at NFT with interest.
The acceptance of the NFT can be interpreted as that buying and owning digital works that do not exist in the real world are supported by some people. This trend has emerged as both a challenge and an opportunity for Sothebys.
“NFT platforms and concepts have the potential to be destructive. Traditional gatekeepers and investigation processes can also be bypassed,” he said. “In some cases, NFTs could also be used to prove ownership and origin of physical art objects.”
“The transition to digital will make buyers increasingly feel more comfortable owning something in a fully digital form,” he added. “Already own tokens for works that are widely available online,” he added. He pointed out that the question remains as to what it means.
Author/ Translator: Jamie Kim
Bio: Jamie Kim is a technology journalist. Raised in Hong Kong and always vocal at heart. She aims to share her expertise with the readers at blockreview.net. Kim is a Bitcoin maximalist who believes with unwavering conviction that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency – in fact, currency – worth caring about.