Christie’s closed her digital art department, ending a short but influential experience that has seen non -fungible tokens (Nft) Have a place alongside paintings, sculptures and other works in the sales of the auction house, according to a report by Now Media.
Two staff members were released at the end of August, including the vice-president of digital art Nicole Sales Giles, while the specialist Sebastian Sanchez will remain in New York.
Giles played a leading role in the Christie’s Art + Tech summit in Hong Kong last year, which took place alongside Hong Kong Fintech Week.
Giles had been a leading face of Christie’s digital thrust, especially at the Art + Tech summit in Hong Kong last year, which took place along Hong Kong Fintech Week.
There, she argued that Christie’s brought the same discipline of evaluation to the NFT as paintings or sculptures, but with a critical difference.
“What is unique with digital art is the Community engagement aspect, which comes into play in a way that he has never had with traditional art,” she said at the time.
Others at the top recognized that the category was still far from mature.
“I don’t think at the same time, we have a very standardized understanding of [digital art’s] Value, “said Angelle Siyang-Le, director of Art Basel Hong Kong last year.” This is why you suddenly see it, then obviously created this excitement. This excitement created this consciousness. And now by the next phase … How do we align these standards of values? »»
A year later, the figures show how fragile this foundation was.
NFT’s volume of exchanges fell 45% in the last quarter to $ 867 million, even if the number of sales increased by 78% to 12.5 million, according to Dappradar.
The soil prices of Blue Chip NFT collections have slipped well below their peak levels: Cryptopunks Exchange around 46.6 ETH ($ 210,000),, Boring monkeys Hover at 9.1 ETH ($ 41,000)And Moon birds Sit at 2.8 ETH ($ 12,600). On the other hand, Ethereum himself has joined 76% in the last three months to $ 4,509, exceeding the NFT market.
On X, some observers have argued that Christie’s decision reflects a simple economy rather than capitulation, noting that NFTs are increasingly absorbed in traditional contemporary sales rather than treated as a distinct “collective” category.
This retreat by Christie’s suggests that without firmer and clearer standards, NFTs may remain a complementary module to contemporary art rather than maintaining their own market.
