The secondary market will offer direct transactions between collectors on the platform. Sotheby’s Metaverse uses an integrated sales system, where transactions happen fully on-chain via the Ethereum and Polygon networks. Digital art collectors can pay for the new NFT piece in either native token ETH or MATIC.

As for the artists presented on the resale marketplace, they will continue to receive royalties through smart contracts that automatically pay creators according to their selected on-chain royalty rate.

At launch, the platform presents the works of 13 leading digital artists, including Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, XCOPY, Diana Sinclair, and Pindar van Arman. However, the collection will update with new artworks and creators every few months.

Sotheby’s has hosted NFT auctions since April 2021, making over $120 million in total NFT sales so far. Some illustrations of the auction house’s record-breaking NFT sales include a “Covid Alien” CryptoPunk?sold for $11.7 million in June 2021, the World Wide Web source code that brought $5.4 million in July 2021 and a rare Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT?sold for $3.4 million in October 2021.

Another major British auction house Christie’s, which deals with antiques and works of art, has also embraced new technologies. In September 2022, Christie’s launched a proprietary dedicated NFT “on-chain auction platform” on the Ethereum network, allowing the British auction giant to conduct NFT auctions “from start to finish”.