Cryptocurrencies are reaching places and now they have knocked at the doors of a leading United States auction house- Phillips. The upcoming auction presenting a Jean-Michel Basquiat collection has added Bitcoin and Ethereum in its payment options.
According to the announcement, the 16-foot painting, Untitled, 1982, has an estimated value of $70 million, which would be equivalent to 1,650 Bitcoin or 25,513 Ethereum. The painting will be available for auction on 18th May. While non-fungible tokens [NFTs] were a hype now, as per Senior International Specialist at Phillips, Scott Nussbaum buyers “are interested in the option of cryptocurrency as a method of payment for traditional artworks.”
Nussbaum told to Cointelegraph,
“The interest in cryptocurrency and NFTs from the traditional art world is growing rapidly. And though it’s impossible to predict the future, we believe the intersection of digital and traditional art worlds will only continue to flourish.”
With timeless art like Basquiat’s, both seasoned and new collectors were eager to get their hands on it. Adding cryptocurrency as a mode of payment just pushes the artwork to a modernized timeline and helps it co-exist with NFTs. While NFTs are growing, that did not mean the contemporary, traditional art forms will perish. Rather, adding cryptocurrencies offers art lovers to pay using the new technology and have a collection of modern art and NFTs, at the same time.
Phillips has previously auctioned a Banksy work for roughly $3.2 million, accepted in Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment. The amount compared to the Basquiat piece was small, however, did provide a chance to test the market for crypto payments.
With interest in art and technology growing hand in hand, Nussbaum noted the interest of new collectors in crypto. He added,
“It was only a matter of time before it would be of interest as a method of payment.”