Yahoo TV

Sotheby’s is wading into the NFT craze

with a digital art auction

Location: Manhattan, New York City

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SOTHEBY'S, VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTEMPORARY ART DEPARTMENT, MAX MOORE, SAYING:"Our traditional clients are very physical, you know, they're responding to the physicality of an artwork. And so we thought it very important to integrate a physical exhibition within what is considered a purely digital existence with these artworks."

"Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale" features work from 27 artists

including Kevin McCoy's "Quantum" - the first known NFT

The non-fungible tokens will be sent to the buyers' cryptocurrency wallets

so no physical artwork ever changes hands

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SOTHEBY'S, VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTEMPORARY ART DEPARTMENT, MAX MOORE, SAYING:

"As we move more and more into that type of society where technology is intertwined and intersected and more powerful in increasing ways that NFTs and digital assets will just be a reflection of our preferences and our values as a human society. So, you know, I think that, again, we're just at the starting point. There's been a huge trajectory over the past four months in terms of market and price discovery. We're coming back down to reality now, which I think is actually very healthy for the long-term growth of the market. But I do think that, you know, we're scratching something that's quite interesting and unique and revolutionary and reflective of the future in some ways."