Prestigious auction house Christie's opens a new Fintech and Web3 venture arm


On Monday, Christie's the renowned British auction company that was
created 256 years ago, in 1766, announced the opening of a brand-new
venture fund called Christie's Ventures. The company's venture arm intends to
concentrate on technologies that enable seamless consumption of art, including
Web3 innovation and financial goods and solutions related to art according to
the release.
A new startup investment fund has been
announced by the British auction house Christie's with the mission of assisting
developing technology and fintech enterprises hoping to revolutionize the art industry. The
company stated that in order to expedite growth and steer Christie's activities
in novel areas, it intends to collaborate with the companies in its portfolio.
According to Christie's Ventures stated on July 18, it will support firms and
would start by investigating three general categories which offer Web3
innovation, financial products and solutions relating to the arts, and tools
and technology related to art and luxury goods to facilitate seamless
consumption of the arts.
The company
stated on Monday that Christie's multi-site auction live streaming, augmented
reality capabilities, support for NFT digital art, and award-winning digital
marketing have improved accessibility and resilience. Ben Gore, Christie's
chief operating officer, said in a statement that the company had "both a
motivation and a responsibility to expand innovation and enrich experiences for
our clients." "The nexus of financial goods and technology is
becoming relevant and pervasive, and we strongly believe in the potential
ahead."
The firm Layerzero
Labs is the auction house's first portfolio company under Christie's new
venture arm. In line with Christie's, Layerzero is a cross-chain
interoperability company with a clear mission and viable business plan. The
business lowers obstacles that clients have while transferring assets between
blockchains.
Gore stated that
the Christie's Ventures value proposition combines the strength of the brand
and capital with their network and knowledge. It is another indication of the
formidable Christie's advantage for the firms the company they select to
collaborate with as well as for their clients.
Along with
Christie's, rival auction houses, Sotheby's and Phillips have also entered the
cryptocurrency and NFT arena.
About
Christie :
Christie's auction
house was located in London, New York City, and Hong Kong, and is the
second-largest auction house after Sotheby's and ahead of Phillips and China
Guardian. According to a news release from Christie's, was among the first
worldwide auction house organizations to offer online auctions.
Christie is interested
in Digital currency and blockchain technology.
The first
bitcoin artwork was ever sold by the auction house when Christie's exhibited
Block 21 of "Portraits of a Mind" in September 2020. The auction
house accepted bitcoin (BTC) for a $6 million painting the next year. Keith
Haring created the picture, which was purchased at the London Christie's
"20th/21st century" sale.
Christie's has
been holding high-profile non-fungible token (NFT) auctions for some time, and
it was the auction house for Beeple's "Everyday: The First 5,000
Days" NFT, which fetched $69.34 million. Christie's has organized auctions
that have included a complete set of NFT Curio Cards as well as Cryptopunks,
Meebits, and Bored Ape NFTs.

Indrani bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA