Christie’s will support startups creating financial instruments for the art market

LayerZero Labs will be the first company supported by Christie’s Ventures.

Christie’s has announced the launch of a new direction that will support technology startups that create financial instruments for the art market. In 2021, Christie’s brought the advent of NFT art to the mainstream with a $69 million sale of digital artist Beeple’s The First Five Thousand Days.

Today, he continues to build his presence at the intersection of art and technology with a new initiative by Christie’s Ventures.

“As a global art market leader, Christie’s recognizes its responsibility to innovate to enhance the collecting experience of our clients. The relationship between technology and financial products is becoming more relevant and widespread. We are confident in the success of this direction,” – said in a statement by the chief operating officer of Christie’s Ben Gore.

The first company Christie’s Ventures plans to support is LayerZero Labs. It helps clients transfer assets from one blockchain to another. In practice, this provides an opportunity to transfer the Ethereum-based NFT work to a more sustainable alternative.

As follows from Christie’s report for the first half of 2022, against the backdrop of a general decline in the cryptocurrency market, NFT sales at Christie’s during the reporting period amounted to less than $5 million, while the same indicator for the first half of 2021 was $93.2 million .