Sotheby’s Metaverse has announced the largest NFT charity auction
One of the oldest art and luxury auction house in the world, Sotheby’s, has announced it is collaborating with the public health care advocate, nonprofit organization Sostento for auctioning off its latest NFT collection through the Sotheby’s Metaverse.
The auction is titled “Gifted: The 140 Collection” and is being considered to be Sotheby’s “biggest NFT charity auction ever,” as all of the event’s proceeds would go towards Sostento.
The NFTs had originally been gifted by Twitter in its popular giveaway of 140 NFTs distributed among 140 random followers in June 2021. The recipients of these NFTS came to be known as “The Besties.”
7 of the total 140 Besties have now elected to sell the full set of 7 NFTs for supporting Sostento frontline health care workers who are working against the Covid-19 pandemic and the opioid overdose crisis.
The NFT giveaway had followed Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s $2.9 million sales of the platform’s first tweet ever made into NFT that was originally tweeted in March 2021. Proceeds from that sale had reportedly aided the Covid-19 pandemic response in Africa.
Global Head of Science and Popular Culture at Sotheby’s, Cassandra Hatton, has notably said that it is “inspiring” to work alongside “an organization like Sostento” as well as collaborating with the group of Besties is rewarding since they recognize the significance of their NFTs and “are harnessing that power for a good cause.”
Among Sostento’s other partners is the Giving Block, which provides a platform for mission-driven charities, universities, organizations, and faith-based groups of all sizes in order to utilize cryptocurrency and accept crypto funding.
Joe Agoada, the Sostento CEO, said that all the proceeds raised from the upcoming sale would be processed by the Giving Block, before they are “invested directly into fulfilling the mission” of helping frontline healthcare workers.
Sotheby’s is the first auction house that is launching a dedicated marketplace for NFTs, i.e., Sotheby’s Metaverse. Launched in October, the dedicated platform would be exclusively hosting all of Sotheby’s NFT sales.
