The cryptocurrency market is currently worth over £110b and there are cryptocurrency millionaires who now want to use this wealth to buy assets.
According to BBC News, parts of the art world is slowly accepting the use of cryptocurrencies – creating a more streamlined process for art dealers and buyers. Austrian Museum of Applied Art/Contemporary Art was the first museum to buy art using Bitcoins. With the cryptocurrency market it does not mean we are going to change the art market out of all recognition – the value of artwork has been created over centuries and they will always be an exclusive market – but perhaps we are giving more people the potential chance to buy and to do it in a different way. The old world remains but is powered by new world technology.
However, the majority of the art market is still not accepting this new form of currency. For example, Sotheby’s auction house has stated that they have no plans in the future to incorporate cryptocurrency in any part of their business.
Needless to say, the use of cryptocurrency globally is currently mixed, according to Joe Pinar, director of cybersecurity at Gemalto. The main downfall of using Bitcoin is that it takes time to settle a payment and its value is highly volatile. Only time will tell if cryptocurrencies will become an integral part of the art market.
*article extracted from the finance-monthly and BBC news