Bitcoin, Altcoins Meet London Art As ‘Gray’ Artsy Nets $50 Million

London’s “tradition-bound” Cork Street art empire is getting an innovation injection as customers meet Bitcoin and even Monero as payment options.

As the BBC reports Tuesday, one gallery, Dadiani Fine Arts, has begun accepting cryptocurrency in what its owner describes as an “intuitive” move.

"This is not a demand-driven decision at all, it's intuitive based on the way things are going," Elena Dadiani told the publication.

With the global art market worth around $60 bln and average purchase amounts high, the benefits of additional payment channels are obvious.

The gallery is not stopping at Bitcoin; Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Dash, Litecoin, and soon Monero will also be featured.

"For me, the Blockchain is going to be the biggest thing since the Internet,” nonetheless hinting she intends to convert at least part of the payments to fiat currency as a matter of course.

Like Blockchain, meanwhile, the art industry itself is undergoing rapid change. Artsy, the online art marketplace seeing huge expansion, this week announced the closure of a $50 mln funding round, something already causing suspicion in a manner strikingly similar to some recent Ethereum-based ICOs.

“The news has left many in the industry with two questions,” industry news resource Artnet reports describing the platform as a “gray market.”

“First, since Artsy has chosen to keep its actual valuation pitch-black to the public, how much is the company really worth? Second, and just as important, how is that valuation justifiable?”

By William Suberg