In this regard, the firm’s CEO Charles Stewart has stated that the company will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as payment in the forthcoming auction of “Love is in the Air,” which is Banksy’s signature stencil style reaching back to his beginnings as a graffiti artist. The latest addition in the mode of payment will be enabled through collaboration with Coinbase, which is the largest crypto exchange in the US. The details were provided by Steward while talking to CNBC’s Squawk Box.
The CEO said “It’s something we have been thinking about for quite some time,” detailing that Sotheby’s recent initiative paves way for the next initiative of accepting cryptocurrencies as payments for physical art after the company introduced auction of nonfungible tokens (NFT) a month before.
“Love is in the Air” is a popular revolt-themed painting by Banksy, an anonymous English street artist. According to Esquire, on May 12, the work will be offered in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York. Even though the bidding will use the US dollar as the basis, the successful bidder will have the opportunity to pay the amount in cryptocurrency. The artwork is estimated to fetch between $3 million and $5 million.
Global auction houses have been adopting crypto in a vigorous manner in recent times. Back in February, the British auction house Christie’s conducted an auction of Mike Winkelmann’s digital artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” in the form of NFT.
Sotheby's will accept cryptocurrency via $COIN for Banksy's "Love is in the Air" at auction.
"It's something we have been thinking about for quite some time," says CEO Charles Stewart. "What better combination to introduce crypto than an iconic Banksy painting." pic.twitter.com/4ZbYhtugaO
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) May 4, 2021
The auction garnered a record amount of about $70 million. Back in October 2020, Christie’s had successfully conducted an auction of a Bitcoin-themed artwork and NFT for more than $130,000.
Sotheby’s decision has come at a time when top altcoins are seeing sharp price rallies, with Ether recording a fresh all-time peak above $3,500 Tuesday.