Last Updated on September 29, 2022 by Bitfinsider

Christie’s has already made a significant impact in the NFT market, most recently auctioning Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” artwork for $69.3 million in March 2021. The storied auction house has fully embraced Web3’s decentralized ethos by launching a new marketplace where auctions are held on the public Ethereum blockchain.

The Christie’s 3.0 marketplace, which was launched today, is designed so that all transactions are fully recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. The 256-year-old auction house says it will also offer compliance and tax tools.

Christie’s new platform was developed in collaboration with Manifold, a startup specializing in smart contracts, or the code that powers NFTs and other decentralized apps. Christie’s has also collaborated with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis and metaverse platform Spatial to add new features to its marketplace.

While previous Christie’s NFT auctions garnered attention, the actual transactions were not typically conducted on-chain—a process that provides transparency about the wallets involved and the flow of payments. Christie’s 3.0 changes that approach by introducing on-chain transactions similar to those found on marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible.

According to Nicole Sales Giles, Christie’s director of digital art sales, the new marketplace will “provide the public with the opportunity to collect exceptional NFTs in the way they are meant to be transacted, on-chain.”