Celebrity auction house Christie’s, one of the most renowned ones in the world, is not new to emerging and future technologies such as Web3 and blockchain. It was the company which auctioned Mike Winkelman’s piece of art as a non fungible token (NFT). It raised more than $69 million for the artist who is also known as Beeple. It has now started a venture firm called Christie’s Ventures that will invest in Web3 and blockchain.
The auction house known to sell luxury and artistic goods was also a partner with OpenSeas, an online marketplace for NFT auctions. On Monday, it announced the launch of Christie’s Ventures, an investment fund that will help emerging companies develop Web3 and blockchain with seed funding and more.
The Monday announcement said that Christie’s would offer financial support to Web3 firms that had “financial products and solutions” that were related to art. The auction house has been popular for selling high priced arts and art related products from decades.
Christie’s also mentioned that LayerZeroLabs would be the first emerging company to receive funds from them. LayerZeroLabs is a company which develops solutions that enable omnichain decentralized application. This facilitates a smooth transfer of assets between blockchains.
Devang Thakkar, who is the global head at Christie’s Ventures, said that the new firm would “focus on products and services” that were capable of solving “real business challenges.” They would also enhance “client experiences” as well as increase growth opportunities directly across the art market as well as “for interactions with it.”
This year blockchain has seen huge investments and several corporations as well as fashion, retail goods and tech companies have ramped up their investments in Web3 and blockchain. Reports say that investments worth about $14.8 billion and more have already been made in blockchain and Web3 in the early months of 2022.
Web3 and blockchain technologies and the metaverse continue to get capital and investments from a large number of corporations and companies. Every major company in the world and in the nation seems to want to have a presence in Web3 and blockchain and have started developing or investing in these emerging technologies.
(Photo Alena Veasey )
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