The auction company claims that LayerZero Labs, a business creating tools to support omnichain decentralised apps, will be the recipient of its first investment.
The auction company Christie's, which specialises in selling luxury goods and works of art, has established an investment fund to help young businesses that have technology that enables "seamless consumption of art."
The auction house announced on Monday that the fund, Christie's Ventures, will provide financial assistance to businesses in Web3, "art-related financial products and solutions," and technologies pertaining to fine art and high-end commodities.
According to Christie's, its initial investment will go to LayerZero Labs, a business that is working on tools to enable omnichain decentralised apps, which will make it easier to transfer assets between blockchains.
Devang Thakkar, worldwide head of Christie's Ventures, stated, "We will concentrate on products and services, which may solve actual business difficulties, improve client experiences, and extend development potential, both across the art market directly and for interactions with it.
Christie's took another step toward assisting projects in the cryptocurrency sector with the entry into blockchain-related assets.
The business held an auction in 2021 to raise more than $69 million for charity for a nonfungible piece of art by Mike Winkelmann, popularly known as Beeple.
Since then, it has hosted a number of well-known auctions for NFT artwork and collaborated with the OpenSea online market for on-chain sales.
In terms of venture capital for blockchain-related projects, 2022 is expected to set a record.
According to Cointelegraph, companies with a focus on blockchain and cryptocurrencies raised $14.8 billion in the first three months of the year, or around half of the totals for 2021.
The bear market has caused activity to slow down, although firms with a focus on Web3 and the Metaverse continue to get substantial funding.
