Phillips Willing to Sell $70M Worth of Art, Accepts Payments in BTC or ETH

In a further sign of cryptocurrency adoption in the art world, a leading U.S. auction house will accept cryptocurrencies as payment for a series of paintings. Phillips will auction off a piece from the collection of Jean-Michel Basquiat, with bitcoin and ethereum listed as payment options.

The 16-foot-long 1982 painting “Untitled” has an “estimated value of $70 million” (about 1,650 BTC or 25,513 ETH). It will go to auction in New York on May 18.

Scott Nussbaum, a senior international expert on 20th century and contemporary art from Phillips, told Cointelegraph that buyers are “interested in choosing cryptocurrencies as payment methods for traditional art.”

Baqueirat painting source: Phillips

Given that “the beauty of Basquiat is his ability to inspire seasoned new collectors,” expanding “the options for buyers to pay with cryptocurrencies” is a neat move. Ultimately, Nussbaum explained, the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as payment for other works “only continues to increase.”

Nussbaum told Cointelegraph:

“Interest in cryptocurrencies and NFTs in traditional art is growing rapidly. While the future cannot be predicted, we believe the intersection of the digital art world and the traditional art world will only continue to flourish.”

This is not the first time the auction house has explored cryptocurrencies, although previous auctions were an order of magnitude smaller. In June 2020, Phillips auctioned off a Banksy piece with Bitcoin and Ethereum as accepted payment methods. It sold for about $3.2 million.

Coincidentally, Basquiat's target price is around $70 million, which is what the famous Beeple NFT auction ended in March 2021. Auction house Christie’s managed the auction, which has inspired more cryptocurrency-related auction house activity.

In November 2021, rival auction house Sotheby's put live bidding on the Banksy auction. In May of the same year, Sotheby's partnered with Coinbase to manage the auction, which accepted payments in bitcoin and ethereum, and then took care of in-house crypto payments.

Nussbaum summed up the popularity of cryptocurrencies in the art world, explaining: “There are a lot of new collectors who are very enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies.”

"As a payment method, it's only a matter of time before it will attract interest."

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