Revolutionising the Multi-Million Pound Art Market with Blockchain and Andy Warhol

Startup, Maecenas aims to transform the art market with blockchain technology, beginning with a multi-million pound Andy Warhol work of art to be sold in a tokenised auction sale, taking place in London later this month.

Ownership of a work of art will be placed onto the blockchain, utilising it’s immutable ledger technology to create tamper proof certificates of authentic art pieces, that can be bought and sold in fractions, or shares.

Marcelo Garcia Casil, founder & CEO of Maecenas Fine Art blockchain company, described its aim as:

“democratising access to fine art”

Fine art is considered a reliable and safe store of value.  According to Maecanas’ white paper:

“There is an estimated $3 trillion worth of fine art in safe storage, of which circa $65 billion are traded annually through auction houses and art dealers.”

Partnering with the London based Dadiani Fine Art Syndicate, 49% of Andy Warhol’s 1980 work “Fourteen Small Electric Chairs” will be put up for sale on the ethereum-based platform.

The work of art is currently valued at £4.2 million ($5.6m) and buyers will be able to pay with bitcoin or ethereum cryptocurrencies.  Successful bids will be recorded on the blockchain platform and digital certificates will be  distributed to the purchasers.

The sale of the piece in this way is part of a growing trend of tokenisation, whereby the rights to real-world assets are placed on an immutable blockchain ledger, enabling the secure transfer and sale of such assets.

Fourteen Small Electric Chairs is part of Warhol’s 1980 Reversals series and is regarded as one of the pop artist’s most hard-hitting pieces.  Eleesa Dadiani, founder of Dadiani Syndicate said:

“For the first time ever, high-value, blue-chip art works will be available for everybody to own, utilising the unique technology platform developed by Maecenas, you can now own a piece of history,”

Maecenas looks to transform the art market using blockchain technology, to create a new way of investing and purchasing shares in prestigious and valuable paintings, otherwise unobtainable by the general public.

The sale will take place on 20th June in London Mayfair.