Two Works by Banksy Auctioned for Ether at Sotheby’s

Before the ContitutionDAO’s defeat, a pair of paintings by artist Banksy together fetched 3,093 ETH, or about $12.5 million, in a historic first for the auction house.

article-image

SOLD! Banging the gavel on a Bansky at Sotheby’s auction, November 18; Source: Sotheby’s YouTube channel

share

key takeaways

  • The auction was the first time ETH pricing was used in a live auction at Sotheby’s
  • Banksy’s painting, ‘Love is in the Air’, sold for 1,696 ETH, ​​’Trolley Hunters’ was won for 1,397 ETH

“OK, ladies and gentlemen, we are moving now, of course, to the Banksys. We arrive at the two consecutive lots by Banksy where, as you know, I will be fielding bids in US dollars and ETH for the very first time in a live auction at Sotheby’s,” announced Oliver Barker, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe.

That was the prelude to two historic sales yesterday evening in New York, in an event “showcasing cutting edge works by the masters of today alongside the masters of tomorrow.” At the top of the live webcast, Barker explained that Sotheby’s currency converter board would display prices for all auctioned works in ether. But the two Banksy pieces would take the innovation one step further, as Barker would call out the live bidding in ETH as well.

“And how appropriate it should be for works by Banksy, the art world’s ultimate disruptor,” Barker explained.



Watch the auction replay


Bidding began on the first lot at 1,122 ETH or $4.5 million. It was estimated by Sotheby’s to sell for between $5 and $7 million. While the dual call evidently confused some participants and amused many of the staff handling the phone bidding in the live auction hall, the bidding ultimately escalated to 1,397 ETH or $5.6 million.

The currency conversion displayed online was not exactly matching the live call, but it was within a few ETH, reflecting the volatile nature of ether itself, which has dropped about -2.5% in the past 24 hours, along with a broader market sell off.

Banksy’s ‘Love is in the Air’ fared a bit better, as multiple bidders from as far as Hong Kong and London ran up the price to 1,696 ETH, gaveled in as $6.8 million.

Many crypto-enthusiasts, who were tuning in primarily to witness The ConstitutionDAO’s attempt to win a rare original copy of the US Constitution, were enamored by the spectacle of ETH being used as money in a live event setting.

Loading Tweet..

A version of the painting was previously sold by Sotheby’s in May, Blockworks reported, when cryptocurrency was also accepted for payment, but the auction was conducted in US dollars, and the work ultimately sold for $12.9 million.

The auction house also has a virtual property in Decentraland.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

Interchain Labs will focus on sovereign L1s and institutional demand, abandoning plans for smart contracts on the Cosmos Hub

article-image

Also, only three tokens have outperformed bitcoin so far this year: XMR, HYPE and SKY

article-image

The fund group has submitted proposals in recent months for other funds that would hold litecoin, solana, XRP, HBAR, Sui and others

article-image

Momentum’s back — BTC leads, risk assets follow

article-image

Ondo Finance’s acquisition of blockchain development company Strangelove follows its buy of Oasis Pro

article-image

Cryptocurrency and stock traders alike had a lot to unpack Wednesday