Art and cryptocurrency

A Pablo Picasso artwork, "Danse du ventre devant homme impassible", has been sold for cryptocurrency—the first time an entire, original work by the world famous artist has been sold in this way. The artwork, translated as Belly dance before impassive man, was bought from a private seller by a Swiss company called Idoneus, which made the announcement on Tuesday. It states its aim as expanding the value of the luxury asset market. 

"According to the research we have done, this is indeed the first time full ownership of an original artwork by Pablo Picasso has been transferred formally with payment in cryptocurrency,” Idoneus CEO Jarrett Preston told Decrypt.   Preston declined to say how much the firm had paid for the 1971 etching, which is printed on wove paper with the artist's stamped signature.  Tokenizing private islands, luxury services and aircraft The cryptocurrency used to make the payment was Idoneus’s native IDON token.

IDON has also been used to pay for other high-value assets, even prior to its first listing on the P2PB2B crypto exchange on June 1, 2020.  “IDON has already been used as [a] method of payment for multiple seven figure valued properties, diamonds, fine jewellery, gold and silver,” he said.  The company’s stated goal is to transition the entire luxury goods industry to the blockchain, so that transactions of all kinds can be made more swiftly, transparently and securely.

On its site, it offers anything from private islands and luxury services to aircraft.  “Idoneus is building an entirely new digital economy for all things luxury and this transaction is extremely impactful as it further demonstrates that owners of significant assets prefer to own IDON, [as] opposed to their current holding,” said Preston.