Ethereum became the preferred blockchain to host renowned auction giant Christie’s fully on-chain NFT marketplace. In terms of wallets, Christie’s said it supports all major digital wallets, including the highly popular and user-friendly MetaMask.
The new Christie’s 3.0 marketplace, which just went live, is designed to fully record all transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. and also claims to also offer assistance for tax and compliance needs.
The 256-year-old British auction powerhouse has come a long way after a string of profitable high-priced nonfungible token [NFT] sales, including the $69 million NFT sale by artist Beeple in 2021 to finally launching its very own dedicated NFT platform on the Ethereum network.
In May 2021, nine CryptoPunks were auctioned off through the company, with the winning offer coming in at approximately $17 million.
The focus of Christie on Web3 has expanded beyond NFT auctions. In July, the company established a venture fund to support “art-related financial products and solutions” in Web3.
Its first investment was made in LayerZero Labs, a firm that creates decentralized applications that are compatible with various blockchains.
Meanwhile, Ethereum is basking in glory and attention for successfully completing its highly-anticipated Merge, a historic switch to a new “proof-of-stake” blockchain architecture intended to significantly reduce energy consumption by as much as 99%, according to some estimates.
Ethereum’s Merge Brought Greater Inflation Resistance
Now, it seems as though the second-largest blockchain is delivering on another promise made during the Merge: increased inflation resilience, a quality that is typically more closely linked to Ethereum’s bigger and more well-known rival, Bitcoin.
According to Lucas Outumuro, head of research at cryptocurrency analytics and analysis firm IntoTheBlock, the annualized net issuance rate of ether, the native token of Ethereum, has decreased to a range of 0% to 0.7% in the days following the Merge.
For those uninitiated, the new supply is divided by the current supply to determine the net issuance rate, often known as the inflation rate.
Ethereum’s lower issuance rate could increase its appeal to investors in both the crypto and traditional markets in a world where central banks are fighting to control inflation in the face of massive money printing and severe supply-chain bottlenecks.
