Christie’s has quietly dissolved its dedicated digital art department, laying off two staff members including vice president Nicole Sales Giles, as part of a strategic shift to fold digital art sales into its broader 20th and 21st Century Art category. The move follows a two-year contraction in the art market and a dramatic decline in NFT trading volume from $2.97 billion in 2021 to $197 million in 2024, mirroring similar downsizing at Sotheby’s and the shuttering of platforms like Async Art and KnownOrigin.
The closure marks the end of a pioneering era in which Christie’s helped legitimize digital and NFT art, from the first AI-generated portrait sold at auction in 2018 to the record-breaking $69 million sale of Beeple’s "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" in 2021. While some see the move as a retreat, others interpret it as a sign that digital art has matured into a category that no longer requires a separate department, potentially integrating more seamlessly into the traditional art market.