NFTs and how Sotheby’s is courting a new generation

Business Extra

The future of ownership or a passing fad?

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, a digital object underpinned by the blockchain, have taken the digital art world by storm — and Sotheby's is taking note.

The storied auction house credited an “influx of younger, tech-savvy collectors” interested in luxury goods and NFTs for its success in 2021, when it reported its highest sales figure since it opened in 1744.

But the digital space is not without its grifters, spammers and scammers.

OpenSea, the world's biggest NFT marketplace by volume, said last month that 80 per cent of the NFTs minted on its platform are “plagiarised works, fake collections and spam".

To better understand the world of NFTs and art — and what still needs to be done to make the market less fraudulent — host Kelsey Warner is joined this week by Michael Bouhanna, the co-head of digital art sales at Sotheby's.

In this episode:

What are NFTs again? (0m 50s)
The digital art scene, NFTs and why Sotheby's wants to get involved (2m 24s)
Collector trends and tastes in the NFT space (7m 30s)
Security and investment in the NFT world (9m 19s) Read more on our website:

• Celebrities and NFTs: why your favourite stars are trying to sell you cryptocurrency

• John Lennon’s son Julian to sell his father’s Beatles clothes as NFTs

• Biggest auction sales of 2021: from Beeple's NFT record to the Macklowe Collection

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