Christie's has become the first global auction house to create an NFT marketplace where all transactions will be conducted on the Ethereum blockchain.
On Tuesday, the auction house introduced Christie’s 3.0, a blockchain-based NFT auction platform on the Ethereum network.
The new platform comes in the wake of the Ethereum Merge, which sliced the blockchain’s energy usage by more than 99%.
Check: Crypto live prices
It has been created with the help of Manifold, a startup focusing on the smart contract technology behind NFTs, as well as blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis and metaverse platform Spatial.
Christie’s director of digital art sales Nicole Sales Giles told NFT Now: "This new platform will enable the legacy auction house to conduct fully on-chain NFT sales, ensuring that all transactions, including post-sale processing, will be automated and on-chain."
Eric Diep, co-founder of Manifold said: “The launch of Christie’s 3.0 signifies an institutional expansion of the regulated market for digital assets, which both validates NFTs as an art form and provides incredible benefits for digital artists."
One of the first ranges to be launched on the new platform will be nine NFTs by artist Diana Sinclair.
Christie's has previously auctioned NFTs such as Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5,000 Days artwork which sold for $69.3m in March 2021.
However, previous NFT sales were not typically conducted fully "on-chain", as the artwork was purchased in US dollars and then converted to ether (ETH-USD) for the "onchain" NFT purchase.
In Christie’s 3.0 NFT marketplace the entire transaction process will be recorded in full on the Ethereum blockchain.
The move has been hailed as a big step towards the mass adoption of crypto-native art markets.
Read more: Bitcoin price surges over 7% as pound tanks
Christie's said it would also incorporate anti-money laundering, compliance and taxation tools within the new platform.
However, the news did little to bolster the price of ethereum (ETH-USD), which fell over 7% on Wednesday to $1,283.
Ethereum's fall was mirrored by bitcoin (BTC-USD) which also fell over 7% to $18,766, after an early week rally.
Considering the wider problems in global markets, as the pound (GBPUSD=X) plunged below $1.07 on Wednesday, bitcoin and ethereum are still showing a tendency to march in lockstep with equity markets, such as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq (^IXIC).
STORY: Christie’s is going digitalLocation: New YorkThe auction house is launching Christie’s 3.0a new platform that will specialize in NFT salesthat are fully on the Ethereum blockchain(Nicole Sales Giles, Christie’s business director of digital art)“Christie’s 3.0, this auction, is the first time a major auction house will be conducting sales completely on-chain.”Multidisciplinary artist Diana Sinclair is debutingan NFT collection on the platform titled “Phases”“With this inaugural sale of Diana Sinclair's remarkable art, we're able to bring the Christie's legacy brand of a 250 year plus organization to the true way that NFTs are really meant to be collected.”Sinclair, an 18-year-old based in New York, hasmade a name for herself in the digital art space(Diana Sinclair, artist)“I find it really interesting that our world in the past, like, decade has become so focused on Internet culture and how we share things online. So, I think that it's only natural that the arts, and us finding a way to sell our work digitally, is a natural part of that shift as well.”
(Bloomberg) — Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes reversed sharply lower after touching the highest since October 2008 as the Bank of England said it would carry out temporary purchases of long-dated UK bonds to help restore order to the market. Most Read from BloombergApple Ditches iPhone Production Increase After Demand FaltersGermany Suspects Sabotage Hit Russia’s Nord Stream PipelinesAlzheimer’s Progression Slowed by Drug in Major TrialPutin’s Mobilization Hits Russia’s Economy in Its Wea
Regina city council is set to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss issues including the city's amusement tax, its next city manager, a motion to upgrade all gravel alleys to paved alleys and suburban parking requirements. Last Wednesday, the city's executive committee voted in favour of reducing the city's amusement tax to five per cent from its current 10 per cent. The matter is going to city council for final approval on Wednesday. Cutting the amusement tax by 50 per cent comes with an estimate
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Tuesday of economic calamity if climate change is not addressed with immediate government intervention. Joined by local business owners and prominent Democrats in North Carolina, Yellen said the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters could create devastating short-term supply reductions of everyday goods that could cause prices to skyrocket. Supply chain disruptions like those experienced on a global scale during the
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Abortion laws in South Carolina almost certainly won't get more restrictive, after Republicans in the General Assembly could not agree on a total ban on the procedure during a special legislative session Tuesday. South Carolina was for decades at the forefront of more restrictive abortion laws that challenged Roe v. Wade even before the landmark case was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court this summer. The state requires ultrasounds, parental consent and 24-hour waiting pe
In a matter of hours early Saturday morning, post-tropical storm Fiona downed hundreds of power lines and thousands of trees, while washing away wharves and destroying buildings and livlihoods. Both the original shock and living with the grim new reality are taking a toll on some Islanders' mental health. UPEI psychologist Dr. Stacey MacKinnon spoke with CBC Radio's Matt Rainnie on Mainstreet Wednesday to offer some post-Fiona coping advice. MacKinnon said dealing with the stress of living throu
China signalled on Thursday no let-up in its combative approach to foreign policy in a third term for Xi Jinping as leader despite criticism from many Western diplomats that the so-called Wolf Warrior stance has been counterproductive. As relations with the West have soured over issues from trade and human rights to COVID-19, Chinese diplomats have often been confrontational on the public stage, including on social media, a stridency that some critics see as intended for a domestic audience that nonetheless hurts its foreign ties. "Going forward, Chinese diplomats will continue to overcome all obstacles, and always be the devoted guardians of the interests of our country and our people," said Ma, who is considered to be among contenders to replace Wang Yi as foreign minister in an upcoming leadership reshuffle.
TORONTO — Ontario will need more than 138,000 new workers in the public sector, long-term care, home care and child care over the next five years and may need to increase wages to attract enough people, the province's financial watchdog says. The Financial Accountability Office released a report Wednesday on public sector compensation and said Ontario is already facing high vacancy rates in those sectors — 8.5 per cent this year in nursing and residential care — and will need to both address t
A man has been declared missing by RCMP after his overturned boat was found in the Queenstown area in southern New Brunswick. RCMP spokesperson Jean-François Martel said search and rescue crews, an underwater recovery team and a search helicopter are in the area Wednesday to search for 54-year-old Chris Pittner from Kars, N.B. Martel said the Oromocto RCMP received a call at around 2 p.m. Tuesday saying Pittner's boat was found on the St. John River shore near Long Island, about 70 kilometres no
Defence Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday that approximately 150 Canadian Armed Forces members have been deployed in each of the three Atlantic Provinces impacted by post-tropical storm Fiona. Anand said the focus of the military differs in each province, with soldiers in Nova Scotia tasked with removing debris to repair transportation links. In Prince Edward Island, the military is focused on restoring the power grid, and in Newfoundland and Labrador, members are carrying out wellness checks.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian lashed Florida's southwest coast Wednesday with heavy winds and rain after strengthening to a catastrophic storm that was likely to deliver devastating floods. The center of the massive Category 4 storm lingered offshore for hours, which was likely to mean more rain and damage from a hurricane that was trudging on a track that would have it making landfall north of the heavily populated Fort Myers area. Catastrophic storm surges could push 12 to 18 feet
The City of Toronto is cancelling about five per cent of its fall recreation programs, citing an "ongoing nationwide labour shortage for such positions." About 540 courses out of a total 10,000 offered for the fall session will be cancelled due to instructor unavailability, the city said in a news release Monday. Starting Monday, the city says it began contacting about 3,800 registrants affected by the changes, which impact programs ranging from swimming, skating, arts, fitness and sports. Those
Concern is growing among the international community about food insecurity and disease in Pakistan after deadly flooding this spring and summer.
(Reuters) -Unexplained leaks in two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea are spewing out greenhouse gas emissions, raising fears that the disruption could cause a climate calamity – although to what extent is still unclear. Neither pipeline was in operation, but both contained natural gas – which is largely composed of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is the second biggest cause of climate change after CO2. "There are a number of uncertainties, but if these pipelines fail, the impact to the climate will be disastrous and could even be unprecedented," said atmospheric chemist David McCabe, who is senior scientist at the non-profit Clean Air Task Force.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The lawyer for Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, on Wednesday asked a judge to free him and played a recording of her client saying he is now dedicated to nonviolence and wants only to “return home to my brother and live the rest of our days in peace.” Sirhan, 78, has spent 54 years in prison. In a 3 1/2-minute message played during a news conference held by his lawyer, he said he feels remorse every day for his actions. “
A libertarian group in California filed a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan for student debt cancellation on Tuesday, calling it an illegal overreach that would increase state tax burdens for some Americans who get their debt forgiven. The lawsuit, believed to be the first targeting Biden’s plan, was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento law firm. It was filed in federal court in Indiana, one of several states that plan to tax any student debt canceled by Biden’s plan.
The Canadian Space Agency has posted satellite photos that dramatically illustrate how post-tropical storm Fiona changed Prince Edward Island's coastline. "This comparison of satellite images of Prince Edward Island and the Northumberland Strait, taken on Aug. 21 and Sept. 25, 2022, shows the extent to which the extreme wind and wave action of the storm has churned up the seafloor and eroded the coastline," the agency said on Twitter Tuesday. The space agency said the images were from the Europe
Police say the investigation into the killing of an 85-year-old woman at a care home in Prince Albert, Sask., has concluded because the 76-year-old suspect has also died. The victim was assaulted on Aug. 14, 2022, at a care home on the 700 Block of 28th Street E. in Prince Albert, police said. She was taken to hospital because of her injuries and died five days later. Police identified a 76-year-old woman as the lone suspect, although she was never arrested or charged. On Tuesday, police said th
Alberta's COVID-19 death toll climbed by more than 30, while hospitalizations spiked by nearly 140, provincial data shows. Since the pandemic began, 4,905 Albertans have died from COVID-19 as of Monday, an increase of 33 from a week ago. Meanwhile, 980 people are in hospital with the illness, including 39 intensive care unit patients. Last week, there were 843 hospital patients, including 26 in ICU. The province's seven-day PCR test-positivity rate is 18.75 per cent, down slightly from 19.52 per
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) is reporting an increase in COVID-19 cases, according to wastewater data gathered by the health unit. The health unit's new data portal shows an increase in the number of cases found in wastewater data from Sept. 5-19, 2022. Updated information is expected to be released Thursday. "The indicators suggested the burden of the disease is greater now than it was two weeks ago," said WECHU Interim Medical Officer of Health Dr. Shanker Nesathurai in the hea
