Sotheby’s, is one of the world’s oldest and most trusted auction houses for art. Established in 1744, the Sotheby brand has a long standing reputation within the physical art world, and are now turning their attention to the rapidly growing digital art scene. For many in the crypto art world of non-fungible tokens, there is a mixed sense that these large legacy art establishments are at odds with the new NFT renaissance.  The technology that underpins non-fungible tokens, removes the need for trusted third parties, like auction houses to facilitate the sale of digital art.

With Christie’s recent Cryptopunk NFT auction going for over $16.9 million dollars and Beeple’s $69 million auction Sotheby’s is throwing their hat into the digital NFT ring, despite the criticisms that crypto twitter has lobbied at Christies and how they handled the latest NFT auction.

Sotheby’s is attempting to bridge the gap between the old world and the new one, in a way that is inclusive of the NFT community.

 

How NFT artists can participate

From now until May 20th 2021 at 12:00 pm ET they are accepting nominations from the community for inclusion into the Natively Digital Online Auction.  This curated NFT sale will take place from June 3-10 2021 as an online auction.

 

The official twitter post and rules can be seen here below.

The collection of artists already being showcased includes some of the earliest NFTs that predate even the Ethereum blockchain, alongside newer works that demonstrate the more advanced technical innovations enabled by NFTs.

Robert Alice, a London based artist and trailblazer in the crypto art and NFT space is co-curating this collection along with other partners spanning the art and technology ecosystem.

Sotheby's Natively Digital: To the Young Artists of Cyberspace by Robert Alice x Alethea AI
To the Young Artists of Cyberspace by Robert Alice x Alethea AI

 

Some notable partners in this collection include the non profit Sevens Foundation, which is dedicated to elevating artists. 

The Mint Foundation, which helps international creators mint their first digital art NFTs and has already had over 33 Ether donated to provide gas fees for artists. 

The Regen Network that is working to align economics with ecology, to reverse climate change.

 

Who are the artist? 

The lots will include Larva Labs Cryptopunk 7523, works from Kevin Mccoy, Rhea Myers, Art blocks, Pak, Robert Alice, Ryoji Ikeda, Simon Denny, Anna Ridler, Mario Kingemann, LaJune McMillan, Sarah Zucker, Lethabo Huma, Serwah Attafuah, FVCKRENDER, Oseanworld, Xcopy, Mad Dog Jones, Ikaro Cavalcante, Brendan Dawes, Casey Reas, Sara Ludy, Addie Wagenknecht, Terrao, Matt Kane, Don Diablo and several others to be announced soon. 

If you are reading this before May 20th 2021, then you too, could possibly be included.

Be sure to check out the official rules posted on Twitter that are embedded at the top of this article.

Looking to the Future

Needless to say there are some very well known names and prolific creators taking part in this Digital Native NFT Sotheby’s collection. It will be exciting to see who else from the community gets nominated to join, as there is already a flurry of  interesting names being mentioned all over Twitter.

Taking into account the current volatility of the crypto markets, time will tell how well Sotheby’s will execute this online auction in terms of total sales. The real aspect to watch is, how well the old art establishment can build this new digital bridge into the NFT and crypto art world. Soethebys will be sure to draw mainstream media attention and lend additional credibility to digital art and NFTs in general, for the physical art collector community. 

Sotheby’s CEO, Charles Stewart was asked about the future of the art market and non-fungible token technology stating “This potentially has implications for physical art as well as digital art.”  Many in the NFT and blockchain community have been saying this for years now, and it must feel like validation for the pioneers who have been blazing the non-fungible trail. 

Sotheby’s NFT auction, will inevitably lead to further mainstream adoption and growth for this rapidly evolving and promising technology. 

Sotheby's Natively Digital : Shift by Fvckrender
Shift by Fvckrender

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Many people in the crypto and NFT space are looking for ways to innovate their philanthropic efforts – from individual artists, to groups to organizations. For instance, in April many artists got together in Club House to sell their NFTs to support a young child battling cancer and were able to raise $60k in one night to go towards medical bills. Rare Pizzas, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), are using the funds from their collectible NFT sales to support local pizzerias all over the world by paying them to offset the cost of pizza for the masses. Project Ark has gathered artists to raise money for the World Wildlife Foundation for a project that is rewilding buffalo in the Carpathian Forest in Romania. Leyline, a new nonprofit, is taking the idea of leveraging the blockchain, NFTs, collectibles and gaming for philanthropic efforts to a whole new level.

“We want to do everything we can to eradicate poverty and solve the climate crisis.” says Leyline founder Jeremy Dela Rosa, “…by focusing on the blockchain and NFTs, and bringing gaming and technology into the philanthropic space to innovate.”

Leyline is a membership platform that provides a loyalty program for doing good deeds. The ladder of engagement begins by first taking care of oneself and then scales to larger commitments. To start, Leyline Points (LLPs) can be earned from things like sleeping enough hours or doing some form of exercise. People can claim points for doing small local acts like donating blood, cleaning up a beach or volunteering at a soup kitchen. They can also have a global impact by donating computing power to cancer or climate change research through a partnership Leyline has with the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC). Interestingly, the community is about to break 200k hours in donated computing power. The promotional video below focuses on the BOINC partnership and how members can get involved.

The organization is preparing to integrate an NFT marketplace where creators donate works into a prize pool and members on the platform can use their Leyline Points to collect and trade digital assets. In the coming weeks they will be partnering with influencers and celebrities to raise the visibility of the platform and increase participation. Right now users are able to trade in their points for gift certificates from places like Burger King and Sephora, as well as redeem items from a variety of games like Fortnite and Lost Castle. Leyline is building on Klaytn, which does proof of stake, a more energy efficient blockchain and will make NFTs available on OpenSea. Ultimately, the goal will be to allow members to move their NFTS into different metaverses and operate on different blockchains.

Many of the people on the Leyline team come from some of the biggest video game companies in the world, which is no surprise since founder Jeremy Dela Rosa hails from Blizzard Entertainment, a well-known player in gaming. As a result, expect to see high quality NFT artworks for fans.

Leyline has been gradually building its community, so far it is made up of approximately 1700 people with over 70 volunteers from the crypto, gaming and philanthropic worlds. The core users are in North America and Western Europe with expansion happening in Latin America and Asia. The aspiration is to grow the platform and community with the anticipation that as the crypto/NFT space matures the platform will be positioned to further strengthen an ecosystem that is built on doing good and making a significant social impact around the world.

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