Ethereum becomes a ‘first-class currency’ on Sotheby’s for Banksy auction

For the first time ever, Ethereum was listed as a payment option on Sothebys price table during the auction of two Banksy paintings.

While the auction house has been accepting cryptocurrency payments since May this year, this was the first time ETH has both been listed as a first-class currency and used as payment.

Two legendary Banksy paintings, “Trolley Hunters” and “Love Is In The Air”, have been bought with Ethereum on Sotheby‘s this Friday. And while major art purchases made with cryptocurrencies have long stopped being news, Banksy’s latest auction was rather unique.

This was the first time Sothebys, the 250-year-old British-American auction house, accepted Ethereum (ETH) as payment. The company officially began accepting payments in cryptocurrencies in May this year, but the Banksy auction was the first time ETH was used in an auction.

Sotheby‘s also made history by listing ETH as an official payment method on the auction’s price table, with the cryptocurrency joining the ranks of the USD, EUR, GBP, HKD, and other fiat currencies. The two pieces, called “Trolley Hunters” and “Love Is In The Air”, sold for 1,696 ETH ($6,698,400) and 1,397 ETH ($8,077,200), respectively. The sale was part of the newly-conceived “The Now Evening Auction” held on November 18th, which offered 23 lots of contemporary artworks executed in the past 20 years.