If you thought you’d never be able to own a Picasso; think again. Sygnum Bank makes it possible through NFT shares.
Sygnum, the world’s first digital asset bank, has partnered up with art investing pioneer Artemundi to tokenize Pablo Picasso’s signed 1964 painting “Fillette au béret,” which was created in collaboration with the artist’s estate.
Owning A ‘Tokenized’ Picasso
Investors may now purchase “shares” in fine art ownership on the blockchain, allowing them to diversify their portfolios. Sygnum says it is the first bank to give tokenized digital ownership to a fine art piece through the use of blockchain technology, according to the bank’s announcement on Thursday. Art Security Tokens, which are essentially “shares” in works of art, will be available for purchase by investors (ASTs). As soon as the digital ownership rights have been greenlit to the public blockchain by the bank, those rights are swiftly and legally recognized under Swiss law.
The first work that Sygnum will make available in this manner is Picasso’s painting “Fillette au béret” (Little girl in beret), one of three paintings that Picasso completed on the same day, December 12, 1964. Significant in this work is Picasso’s signature, clearly visible in the upper right quadrant of the painting, which adds to the value.
4,000 NFT Shares Made Available
Every one of the 4,000 NFT shares will be worth around $1,087, and the painting will be divided into 4,000 NFT shares. Owners will then be able to exchange the tokens on Sygnum’s digital asset trading platform, SygnEx, once they have purchased them.
No matter which blockchain is used, NFTs are more usually seen on the Ethereum blockchain, which was not specified in this press release. The bank anticipates that tokenizing fine art will cut investment barriers and broaden the appeal of the market to a broader range of investors. Mathias Imbach, CEO and co-founder of Sygnum, provided the following statement in response to the move:
“From the beginning, Sygnum’s objective has been to provide investors with greater direct access to ownership and value. Tokenizing the Fillette au béret is an example of how we bring our vision to life by opening up a universe of unique investment options that may be made available to the general public.”
You Control Unique NFT Rights
When you buy or sell NFT art, you control the rights to the unique token on the blockchain, not the content or the piece. You don’t own the rights to copy or distribute it.
Crypto simply transforms the concept into digitized and tokenized art, making it efficient to also move value. It is a sophisticated and modern platform for trading art, much as one might trade gold, securities, or bitcoin.
The bank believes that by tokenizing artworks, it can eliminate costly “trusted third-parties” and increase market transparency while offering investors a chance to own an invaluable piece of art history.
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Jay Speakman is a technology writer based in San Francisco, California. He writes on the topics of blockchain, cryptocurrency, DeFi and other disruptive technologies. Clients include Avalanche, Be[in]Crypto, Trust Machines and several blogs devoted to blockchain gaming. He will not rest until fiat currency is defeated.
