Sotheby’s, Philips join NFT craze

LONDON: Sotheby’s and Phillips launched so-called NFT auctions on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), a month after Christie’s sold a digital artwork for $69.3 million, as traditional auction houses seek to capitalize on the craze shaking up the art market.

Three months ago, barely anyone had heard of a nonfungible token (NFT), a digital object such as a drawing, animation, piece of music, photo, or video with a certificate of authenticity created by blo ckchain technology. But that changed in March when a digital collage by American artist Beeple sold for $69.3 million at Christie’s, setting a new record for an NFT, and the first message posted on Twitter went for $2.9 million.