Christie’s Shifts Focus Away from NFTs

United Kingdom-based auction house Christie’s is shutting down its dedicated non-fungible token department as part of a strategic decision to “reformat digital art sales.” This move comes after the auction house played a significant role in pushing digital collectibles into the mainstream.

Background on Christie’s Involvement in NFTs

Christie’s first entered the NFT market back in March 2021 and has since enabled some of the biggest sales in the history of the NFT market. Among them were two landmark works by digital artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann’s portfolio, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, which fetched $69.3 million, and Human One, which sold for $28.9 million.

Christie’s Support for the NFT Ecosystem

Beyond sales, Christie’s was also an active supporter of the NFT ecosystem during its formative years. It launched its own on-chain auction platform, Christie’s 3.0, partnered with crypto-native platforms like OpenSea, and even embraced emerging formats such as Bitcoin Ordinals, hosting its first Ordinals auction in October last year.

The Decision to Reform Digital Art Sales

According to a Sep. 8 report from Now Media, the news was confirmed by Christie’s former VP of Digital Art, Nicole Sales Giles, who was let go, along with another staffer, at the end of August. A Christie’s spokesperson added that the move was a “strategic decision to reformat digital art sales,” under the vision of the auction house’s new CEO Bonnie Brennan, who took charge in February this year.

NFT Sales Data

The exact reason why Christie’s has decided to put NFTs on the sidelines was not disclosed, but the crypto community speculates that it may have something to do with dwindling NFT sales and an overall slowdown across the global art market. NFT markets have had a sloppy last year, and the drawdown extended throughout the first half of 2025, with several popular NFT collections posting weak trading volumes and sales numbers.

Impact on the NFT Market

According to data from Crypto Slam, since the start of 2024, NFT sales volume alongside the number of market participants has continued to decline. Last week itself saw one of the steepest weekly drops in sales volume in recent months, with a 22.65% drop. Fanny Lakoubay, a digital art adviser and curator, speculated that Christie’s decision may have stemmed from the “current art market contraction.”

Future of NFT Sales at Christie’s

Although the auction house is winding down its core NFT team, it will continue offering digital artworks with the larger “20th and 21st-century art category,” the Christie’s spokesperson said. Further, at least one digital art specialist will also be kept on staff, and as of press time, its online auctioning platform remains live. Auction houses can’t justify a whole department when it brings in less revenue than the others, even with some recent successful sales, Lakoubay said. Christie’s will not stop selling NFTs, but rather integrate them into a broader category, a move that may signal a shift in the way bitpulse is perceived and sold in the traditional art market.