Auction house 'Christie's' closes dedicated NFT sales department

The global auction house 'Christie's' has reportedly closed the department responsible for non-fungible token (NFT) sales.

On the 9th (local time), Cointelegraph reported that Christie's recently closed its dedicated digital art department and decided to fold NFT auctions into the 20th- and 21st-century art departments. In the process, some staff, including the vice president of the digital art division, were reportedly also laid off.

This move is analyzed as being due to the recent slump in the art market. According to the 'Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2025', last year global art market sales amounted to 57 billion dollars, down 12% from the previous year, and the combined sales of auction houses also fell 20% to 23 billion dollars.

In particular, weak sales in the digital art sector appear to have had an impact. Digital art consultant Fanny Rakubei said, "Due to the nature of auction houses, if a particular department generates lower profits than other departments, it inevitably must be closed."