Sotheby’s enjoyed a record year in 2021, helped by its foray into non-fungible tokens.
The nearly 300-year-old auction house reported $100 million in sales from its new NFT category, with first-time bidders flocking to its virtual gallery Decentraland and looking for Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunk collectibles, according to an annual review. Report published on Wednesday.
The launch of Sotheby’s Metaverse, a web3-enabled NFT marketplace, helped attract a broader audience this year, as 78% of NFT bidders in the auction were new to Sotheby’s and more than half were less than 40 years, showed his report. The sales helped contribute to the company’s consolidated sales of $7.3 billion.
Sotheby’s entered the NFT ring in April with its first sale in collaboration with digital creator Pak, where a three-day sale of a collection known as “The Fungible” generated $16.8 million.
Among his other notable sales, a NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club bundle, one of the most popular NFT collections, fetched $24.4 million and set a record for the largest single lot sold online at the auction house. Banksy’s “Love is in the Bin” also broke a record after tripling its highest estimate, while Kanye West’s 2008 Nike Air Yeezy “Grammy wear” sampler became the best-selling sneaker ever.
