British auction giant Christie’s reportedly has shut down its division that handles impossible token sales amid a global decline in the art market, putting it under a wider range of divisions.
In “Strategic Decision,” the UK auction house 258 years ago continues to sell digital art, including Digital Art (NFTS), according to a report from Now Media on Monday, which quoted a statement from Christie’s spokesman.
At the same time, the media reported that the auction giant fired two employees, including the vice president of digital art, but at least one digital art specialist will be kept on staff.
Christie’s has a huge presence in the NFT space, selling multiple artwork, including Mike “Beeple” Winkelman’s everydays: The first 5,000 days.
The Auction House is also a supporter of the Web3 space, launching the NFT auction platform in September 2022 and in July it launched a crypto-only real estate team.
Market conditions may have spurred a shift
Digital art advisor, curator and collector Fanniera Covey said in an X post Monday that she suspected Christie’s move was linked to “a contraction in the current art market.”
According to Art Basel & UBS Art Market Market Market Market Report 2025, the wide art market fell 12% to $57 billion in 2024, with public and private sales by auction houses falling by $23 billion.
“Auction houses can’t justify an entire department when they produce less revenue than others, even with their recent successful sales,” says Lakoubay.
“It’s definitely not a great public signal, but you need to remember. The auction house is already focusing solely on secondary sales of famous artists and brands. It’s still too early for that model to actually work/scale with digital art,” she added.
Lakoubay said it could be a good time to focus on key market developments and introduce traditional collectors to new digital artists.
Christie’s could have a “Kodak moment”
Meanwhile, posted under Handle Benji, a member of the decentralized autonomous organization of NFTs and destined, autonomous organization, Christie’s move to shut down the digital art division either does not reflect weaknesses in digital art’s demand or “institutions don’t come because of JPEG.”
He speculates that the decision will likely be blamed because the business model was “flawed and unsustainable,” and this new direction may be Christie’s “Kodak moment.”
“How can I charge a 25-30% commission for something that doesn’t need to be certified/preserved/insured/shipped for Gondi exactly the same sale?” Benji said.
“I hate seeing good people lose their jobs, but Christy leaves the space net. A low-value extractor means more value for collectors and artists.”
Christie’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Cointelegraph.
Mixed results of NFT market records
There have been turbulence in the NFT market for several years. Last year was flagged as the worst year on the market in terms of volume and sales since 2020. This is due to increased volatility and token prices.
Related: When Ether Rally loses steam, NFT’s market capitalization will decrease by $1.2 billion
Showing signs of life in 2025. In August, the sector skyrocketed to a market capitalization of over $9.3 billion.
The market has shown signs of cooling in recent weeks, but its current market capitalization has grown by 2% in the past 24 hours to $5.97 billion.
Some of the largest NFT collections by market capitalization also benefit. Cryptopunks has grown by 1.9% over the last 24 hours, trading volumes at $208,319 on three sales.
Yuga Labs’ boring APE Yacht Club has grown by 3.7%, with trading volumes of over $1.2 million and 30 sales, while Pudgy Penguins has risen by 2%, trading volumes of $905,526 and sales of 20.
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