Bitcoin Becoming Preferred Payment Method of $60 Billion Art Market

Since mid-2017, the art market, worth more than $60 billion, has seen an increase in Bitcoin as an alternative payment method to wire transfers.

Despite the correction of the crypto market, the adoption of Bitcoin as the preferred currency for large transactions has significantly increased.

In an interview with BBC, Eleesa Dadiani, owner of a major art gallery in London, said that more art distributors and brokerages are beginning to integrate cryptocurrencies because of their efficiency and ability to process transactions without the involvement of intermediaries.

Dadiani emphasized that the decision of her art gallery to accept Bitcoin was not driven by an increase in demand for cryptocurrencies or the exponential growth rate of the cryptocurrency market.

Rather, Dadiani noted that it was an intuitive decision, given the trend of the global market, predicting that cryptocurrencies will be used like cash and credit cards in the near future.

Previously, speaking to CNN, Dr. Garrick Hileman, an economic historian at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics, said that Bitcoin can be considered an economic miracle because of its capability of processing payments in any size.

Hileman explained that in the world of art, where buyers usually are charged tens of thousands of dollars by banks to process multi-million dollar payments, Bitcoin has the potential to evolve into the preferred method of payment.

"If you're only paying a $2 transaction fee on a piece of art that's worth tens of thousands, the fee is basically zero. But if you're paying two or three percent on a piece of art of that value, then the numbers can go up quite a bit."

Currently, the $60 billion art market is dominated by a few auction houses in the likes of Christie's and Sotheby's, which have controlled the market for several hundred years.

Marcelo Garcia Casil, the founder, and CEO of Maecenas - an online art auctioning platform for art collectors to sell high profile artworks worth more than a million dollars, said the progression from banks to cryptocurrencies will lead to the emergence of independent art brokers and galleries, competing against major auction houses and distributors.